Category: Chicago

Texts Show Michelle Obama Aide Intervened in Jussie Smollett Case

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Former Obama aide Tina Tchen (left); Cook County prosecutor Kim Foxx (right).

The stench of corruption in Chicago surrounding the Jussie Smollett fake “hate crime” case has enraged the police chief, the mayor and everybody else with a sense of justice and propriety. Suspicions have focused on Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, who exchanged text messages with former Michelle Obama chief of staff Tina Tchen shortly after Smollett perpetrated his clumsy hoax:

Just days after Jussie Smollett told Chicago police he had fought off a pair of attackers who targeted him in an apparent hate crime, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx tried to persuade Police Supt. Eddie Johnson to turn the investigation over to the FBI.
Foxx’s call to Johnson came after an influential supporter of the “Empire” actor reached out to Foxx personally: Tina Tchen, a Chicago attorney and former chief of staff for former First Lady Michelle Obama, according to emails and text messages provided by Foxx to the Chicago Sun-Times in response to a public records request.
Tchen passed Foxx’s number to a relative of the actor, and the ensuing conversations with the family member were cited by Foxx last month as the reason she recused herself from Smollett’s prosecution . . .
Text messages show Tchen contacted Foxx on Feb. 1, three days after Smollett said he was jumped by two men as he walked home from a sandwich shop near his Streeterville home. Tchen texted Foxx to set up an early morning phone call.
“I wanted to give you a call on behalf of Jussie Smollett and family who I know. They have concerns about the investigation,” Tchen wrote in a text sent before 5 a.m., seeking to set up a call with Foxx before Tchen left on an 8 a.m. flight to New York.
A few hours later, Foxx received a text from a relative of Smollett, who said she’d received the number from Tchen.
In an interview with the Sun-Times this week, Foxx said that the family member expressed concerns about leaked information about the investigation — information that media outlets attributed to “police sources.”
“They had no doubt about the quality of the investigation, but believed that the FBI would have a tighter lid on the information,” said Foxx, adding that Johnson initially seemed receptive to the idea of turning the case over to the FBI.

People are angry about this gross miscarriage of justice:

 

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel stood shoulder-to-shoulder with his city’s police force Tuesday afternoon, denouncing prosecutors for dropping charges against “Empire” star Jussie Smollett and slamming the episode as a “whitewash of justice.”
Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson and Emanuel said they were not only furious with the outcome of Tuesday’s surprise hearing but also blindsided by the decision itself, with the officials only learning Smollett wouldn’t face charges for allegedly faking a hate crime at the same time the public found out.
“Where is the accountability in the system? You cannot have – because of a person’s position – one set of rules applies to them and another set of rules apply to everyone else,” Emanuel said. “Our officers did hard work day in and day out, countless hours working to unwind what actually happened that night. The city saw its reputation dragged through the mud…It’s not just the officers’ work, but the work of the grand jury that made a decision based on only a sliver of the evidence [presented]. Because of the judge’s decision, none of that evidence will ever be made public.” . . .
Emanuel also said: “[This case] sends a clear message that if you’re in a position of influence and power you’ll be treated one way and if you’re not you’ll be treated another way.”
Johnson blasted the prosecution for not consulting with cops and hinted the episode could further strain the relationship between the department and prosecutors.
“I don’t know what’s unusual for the state’s attorney but we found out about when you all did,” Johnson said. “Prosecutors have their discretion of course, we still have to work with the state’s attorneys office — We’ll have conversations after this.”
But Johnson made sure to add, unequivocally: “At the end of the day it was Smollett who committed this hoax.”

Let’s not mince words, eh? Somebody got bought off here, and there needs to be a FBI investigation of the corruption in Cook County, starting with Kim Foxx. Furthermore, federal prosecutors need to pursue charges against Smollett for the hoax “white powder” letters:

Although the state-level criminal charges were reportedly dropped against actor Jussie Smollett, it remains unclear whether the federal government is still investigating whether he was involved in sending a death threat to himself at “Empire’s” Chicago studio.
Before Smollett claimed two men attacked him with a chemical substance, the studio received a letter addressed to the actor containing a white powder, which turned out to be aspirin. A lawyer and a former police superintendent said the mailing the letter could be considered a terroristic hoax under federal law.
The letter used similar language to the supposed physical attack. Its return address said “MAGA,” and it said “You will die black fag” using letters cut out of magazines.
When Smollett’s alleged accomplices in faking the assault were arrested, police took a magazine and a book of stamps from their home.
A source told CBS2 that the letter was at the root of the better-publicized physical attack, saying “When the letter didn’t get enough attention, he concocted the staged attack.”
Two federal officials told ABC News in February that the FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service were investigating whether he was involved in sending the letter. One said the letter was being analyzed in the FBI’s crime lab.
A lawyer told CWB Chicago: “If they have Smollett on the letter, he’ll be facing ‘terroristic hoax’ charges, a felony. There may be federal obstruction charges as well. If they want to bury him, they can.”
CWB also reported that the U.S. Postal Inspection Service was working with the FBI on the mail case and quoted a police officer saying that criminal investigators with the postal unit can be aggressive and deploys sophisticated techniques. “Those postal guys are the real deal,” he said. “They can do amazing things and aren’t afraid of the work.”

My hunch is that Attorney General William Barr’s going to be under pressure from You Know Who to make something happen in Chicago.



 

Crazy People Are Dangerous: Violence Results in Arrests at Chicago Gay Bar

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Nothing good ever happens at 4 a.m. on Sunday in Chicago, especially if you’re in a North Side gay bar called Jackhammer:

Chicago police were called to Jackhammer at 4:24 a.m. Sunday for a report of several people fighting in front of the bar.
Teri Yaki, a Chicago drag performer, captured video showing patrons leaving the bar and then fighting on the sidewalk. Police are called, and a doorman can be heard turning away new customers: “We’re done. Absolutely done.” Exiting patrons are told to use a secondary door to avoid the fight.
Police arrived and 22-year-old Itsi Mayra Tovar, a transgender woman, was taken into custody after a 50-year-old patron of the bar signed a complaint that she “struck him on the top of the head with a closed fist, causing pain and a small bump,” according to a CPD spokesperson.
While Tovar was being taken into custody, 21-year-old Shelby Lynn Morris, who later identified herself to police as transgender, interfered with the arrest and grabbed a police sergeant’s arm, the CPD spokesperson said. Morris was arrested and charged with battery and resisting or obstructing police.
A police unit remained outside of Jackhammer to maintain the peace until the bar was emptied out at its usual 5 a.m. closing time, according to dispatch records.
Within hours, allegations of anti-trans and racist behavior by club personnel began making the rounds online . . .

You can read the whole thing, but my advice is to avoid Chicago altogether. Between Jussie Smollett’s fake hate crime and this kind of deranged violence, the city is just too crazy.

 

 

Chicago PD: ‘Shameful … Despicable’ How Jussie Smollett ‘Smeared This City’

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America just got a lesson: Don’t ever mess with Eddie Johnson.

The Chicago Police Superintendent was visibly angry in a press conference this morning, denouncing the “shameful” and “despicable” way Jussie Smollett “smeared this city” with a hate-crime hoax Johnson said was motivated by the actor’s desire for a higher TV salary.

UPDATE 11:12 a.m. ET: The superintendent and Chicago’s top detective Edward Wodnicki laid out the case of how Smollett, “dissatisfied” with his salary on the Fox series Empire, first mailed a fake hate letter to himself and, when that failed to get the reaction he had hoped for, paid Nigerian brothers Abimbola “Abel” Osundairo and Olabinjo “Ola” Osundairo to stage an attack on him in the wee hours of Jan. 29. Even though police had “questions” about Smollett’s tale from very early in their investigation, Johnson said, they gave Smollett “the benefit of the doubt” as a potential victim until the Osundairo brothers confessed their role Friday.

“But when we discovered the actual motive, quite frankly, it pissed everybody off,” Johnson said in the press conference.

UPDATE 11:26 a.m. ET: There was never a chance that Smollett could have gotten away with the hoax, as Wodnicki detailed how Chicago detectives examined hours of video surveillance, interviewed more than a hundred potential witnesses, and executed more than than search warrants and subpoenas to solve the crime. Tracing the movements of the Osundairo brothers before and after the staged “attack,” investigators were able to locate the cabs and ride-shares they had used, which led them to identify the suspects, who had boarded a flight to Nigeria from O’Hare Airport hours after the incident. One of the Osundairo brothers had been an extra on Empire, and both were acquainted with Smollett.

UPDATE 11:41 a.m. ET: While detectives in Chicago had to wait for the suspects to return from Nigeria Feb. 13 before questioning them, Smollett’s fake hate crime received nationwide attention.

“Celebrities, news commentators and even presidential candidates weighed in on something that was choreographed by an actor,” Johnson said at the press conference, contrasting this publicity with the usual indifference toward Chicago’s violent crime problem. “I wish the families of gun violence [victims] got this kind of attention.”

UPDATE 12:03 p.m. ET: Smollett claimed he was attacked by two white men who called him racial and homophobic slurs and shouted “This is MAGA country!” — a reference to President Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan. This claim of a political motive sparked suspicion by Michelle Malkin and other conservative commentators, who wondered why two white Republicans would be in downtown Chicago at 2 a.m. on a night when a “polar vortex” brought sub-zero temperatures to the city. As I wrote in my Monday column for The American Spectator:

Anyone with common sense could see that Jussie Smollett’s story didn’t add up, but evidently none of the Democrats running for president in 2020 has any common sense. New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and California Sen. Kamala Harris used almost identical language in proclaiming Smollett the victim of “an attempted modern-day lynching.” Former Vice President Joe Biden declared: “We must stand up and demand that we no longer give this hate safe harbor; that homophobia and racism have no place on our streets or in our hearts.” Smollett was the victim of “the latest of too many hate crimes against LGBTQ people and people of color,” said New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, adding: “We are all responsible for condemning this behavior and every person who enables or normalizes it.” Other leading Democrats joined this chorus of condemnation. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the “racist, homophobic attack… an affront to our humanity,” while New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez asserted that the attack on Smollett was indicative of “the rise of hate crimes.” No Democrat more explicitly pointed the finger of blame than California Rep. Maxine Waters who said “this is happening for a reason.… It’s coming from the President of the United States. He’s dog-whistling every day.”

UPDATE 12:21 p.m. ET: During his Thursday morning press conference, Chicago’s top cop focused his anger on the perpetrator of the hoax. “I’m offended by what has happened and I’m also angry,” Johnson said, condemning Smollett for faking a “publicity stunt” that had dragged “Chicago’s reputation through the mud.”

“We do not, nor will we ever, tolerate hate in this city,” the superintendent said, expressing outrage that Smollett “took advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career.”

UPDATE 12:34 p.m. ET: The final word, from the Commander-in-Chief:




 

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Chicago Police Arrest Jussie Smollett in the Dumbest ‘Hate Crime’ Hoax Ever

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Stupid is as stupid does:

“Empire” star Jussie Smollet was charged Wednesday night with lying to cops when he claimed to be the victim of a racist and homophobic attack — and authorities want him to surrender, police said.
Chicago PD spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said Smollett was charged with filing a false police report, a felony, after the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office approved the criminal complaint. Cops were seeking to have Smollett turn himself in as soon as possible, Gugliemi said.
“We’re trying to get in touch with his lawyers,” he told The Post.
Under Illinois law, Smollett, 36, could face up to three years in prison if convicted of the crime.
The development came hours after Smollett was formally classified as a suspect and followed a stream of recent reports that increasingly cast doubt on the TV actor’s story, including that two brothers told investigators Smollett had paid them $3,500 to stage the Jan. 29 incident.
Siblings Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo were escorted into the grand jury offices at Chicago’s Leighton Criminal Court Building about 30 minutes before Smollett was formally named a suspect.
The two men were surrounded by about a half-dozen people in civilian clothing as they walked into the secure area on the fourth floor of the courthouse around 3:45 p.m. local time.
A little over two hours later, 16 members of the grand jury were escorted out of the area and into a pair of elevators while reporters were kept at bay.
The brothers also left the building minutes later. Their lawyer, Gloria Schmidt, told reporters, “Jussie’s conscience is probably not letting him sleep right now.’’

Chicago Police spokesman Anthony Gugliemi announced on Twitter that Smollett was taken into custody this morning and that police superintendent Eddie Johnson and chief detective Edward Wodnicki will hold a press conference at 9 a.m. CT today. The obvious question: How stupid did Jussie Smollett have to be to think he could get away with this?

Well, he’s apparently stupid enough to violate 18 US Code 1038 — mail fraud, a federal crime that could earn him more time than the four years he’s facing under Illinois law. His lawyers insist that Smollett deserves the presumption of innocence, however, despite the fact that he is accused of a crime that was intended to defame innocent white males.




 

 

The Media ‘Think They’re Living in a Cartoon and White Men Are the Villains’

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We do not yet have an official statement about what happened to Jussie Smollett, but we do know what didn’t happen to him. He was definitely not assaulted at 2 a.m. in Chicago by white Trump supporters shouting “This is MAGA country!” Who could believe such a thing?

Over the years, the MSM has fallen for hundreds of hate crime hoaxes, reporting on them as if they were confirmed facts, rather than mere allegations. By the time the story is proven to be a hoax, the media has already moved on to the next manufactured outrage. This phenomenon has only increased since the election of President Trump. Yet people still expressed shock and surprise when it became obvious that Smollett had staged his own hate crime.

Matt Walsh explains the media’s gullibility:

 

 

(Hat-tip: Instapundit.) Apparently, those of us who doubted Smollett’s story from the start — Republicans stalking the streets of Chicago at 2 a.m.? Really? — are guilty of hate for not believing the media’s “hate crime” narrative, as Stephen Green has pointed out:

But it is awful that a hate crime didn’t happen. It’s always awful whenever a hate crime doesn’t happen. Because America is a hateful place full of hateful people who attack virtuous non-hateful intersectional people out of hate.
And when, on rare occasion, a hate crime doesn’t happen, that in itself is a hate crime because it allows the criminally hateful to pretend that they aren’t such hateful criminals.

Well, let’s leave it to police and the grand jury:

Chicago police are investigating a tip that on the same night “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett reported being attacked, he was seen in an elevator in his apartment building with two brothers who were arrested and later released from police custody in relation to the probe, according to a police spokesperson.
Smollett reported being attacked by two masked men who hurled racist and homophobic slurs at him, beat him and looped a rope around his neck in Chicago’s Streeterville neighborhood on the night of Jan. 29.
A person who lives in Smollett’s building or was visiting a resident reported seeing the three men together on the night in question, according to CPD spokesman Anthony Guglielmi.
Police have yet to confirm the person’s account, Guglielmi said. Detectives plan to interview the person on Tuesday.
The brothers and their lawyer were seen at the Leighton Criminal Court Building on Tuesday. The attorney was seen leaving about 3:45 p.m. without comment. Chicago police told ABC News that the brothers met with prosecutors and police but did not testify before a grand jury Tuesday.
On Monday, a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation told ABC News that the brothers told police that Smollett staged the attack on himself because he was upset a threatening letter he received a week prior did not get enough attention.

Oh, let’s talk about that letter, shall we?

If the remarkable grassroots journalists at CWBChicago are correct (as they have been all along), Jussie Smollett has a lot more to worry about than the state rap of a class four felony of making a false police report.  If he was indeed responsible for the sending of a letter to the Fox Chicago studios where Empire is produced, he has triggered federal charges that carry hard time.  Importantly, the feds don’t parole early to relieve overcrowded prisons the way the Great State of Illinois does.
You see, using the mail to make a threat that can be seen as a terroristic threat — even to oneself — is no small deal to Uncle Sam. . . .

According to CWBChicago, the investigation of this threatening letter “has been before a federal grand jury and multiple subpoenas have been generated over the course of the investigation.”

Again, we have no official confirmation at this time, but if this turns out to be the case, Smollett is likely to be in big, big trouble.

How many white guys were involved in this hoax? Zero. Exactly zero. We didn’t have to do anything at all to persuade this Trump-hating gay black guy to wreck his career and maybe earn a prison sentence.

We cartoon villains are fiendish like that.

UPDATE: Welcome, Instapundit readers!




 

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Lynching America: Jussie Smollett and the Prejudice of Anti-Trump Hatred

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“The media have summoned into existence a Hate-Hoax Industrial Complex that keeps manufacturing fake ‘incidents’ …”
— Robert Stacy McCain, Jan. 28

Americans nowadays consider “racist” the worst thing you could call someone, but I’m old enough to remember a time and place where quite the opposite was true. There is an 11-letter hyphenated compound that, in the South in the old days, was perhaps the foulest insult imaginable. The French phrase Amis des Noirs might be the most acceptable euphemistic substitute to describe white people who exhibited unusual sympathy toward African-Americans, an attitude considered philanthropic in 18th-century France, but less so in the Deep South circa 1964.

Have I ever mentioned that I’m from Georgia, and that when I was in second grade, Lester Maddox was elected our governor? So whenever I hear some allegedly clever liberal speak of “racism” or “white supremacy” in America now, it offends me because it insults my intelligence.

Buddy, I know what real racism looks like, and this ain’t it, OK?

Pete Da Tech Guy actually uses that 11-letter hyphenated compound while invoking To Kill a Mockingbird as an analogy for the liberal prejudices we’ve seen in the Jussie Smollett case. Tom Robinson was wrongly convicted “not only because the accusations fit [the jury’s] existing prejudices but they understand that to suggest in public that they believe a black man instead of a white woman might mark them as outside of their community beliefs and norms.” To say the least.

The profound racial prejudice once typical of the Deep South is quite nearly unknown in America today, but has been replaced among liberals by a partisan political prejudice, the belief that “racism” (or some other species of “hate”) is the only reason anyone votes Republican. The relevant “community” in this case are the Democrats and their media allies, whose “beliefs and norms” are offended whenever a Republican wins an election. Consider this news item:

Democratic presidential candidate Cory Booker told reporters Sunday that he would withhold judgment on the alleged attack on “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett after calling the incident “an attempted modern-day lynching” when it was first reported last month.
“I’m gonna withhold until all the information actually comes out from on-the-record sources,” the senator from New Jersey said after meeting with voters in Rochester, N.H. “We know in America that bigoted and biased attacks are on the rise in a serious way, and we actually even know in this country that since 9/11, the majority of the terrorist attacks on our soil have been right-wing terrorist attacks — the majority of them white supremacist attacks.”
Booker cited the deadly shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue this past October as well as the June 2015 shooting at a historically black church in Charleston, S.C.

According to the FBI, more hate crimes have been reported in recent years, however (a) this does not mean “bigoted and biased attacks” have actually increased, nor is it correct to conclude that (b) attacks by “right-wing terrorists” or “white supremacists” are a majority of such crimes. Many incidents that might not have been reported as “hate crimes” in previous years are now being reported because of heightened attention to such crimes, and the category “hate crime” includes a lot of different offenses committed by different people for different reasons.

Go look at the actual FBI statistics for 2017, the most recent year available, and you’ll find that 21% of reported hate crimes (1,359) were committed by black people, and 9% (454) were committed by Hispanics. Whatever sort of “hate” motivated these offenders, I doubt their crimes can be described as “right-wing terrorist attacks.” In terms of motive, of the 7,175 hate-crime incidents reported by the FBI for 2017, more than 10% (741) were classified as “anti-white,” 13% (938) were “anti-Jewish.” There were 1,130 hate-crime incidents (16%) motivated by “sexual orientation” (including 32 “anti-heterosexual” hate crimes) and another 165 incidents (2.3%) motivated by gender or “gender identity,” including 22 “anti-male” hate crimes. My point is that not everything counted as a “hate crime” reflects what Senator Booker intends to suggest, i.e., that such crimes are “on the rise” because of President Trump.

What appears to have happened in the Jussie Smollett case is an effort to inflame and exploit prejudice against Trump voters — a vicious and deliberate slander against 62.9 million Americans:

Four below zero — that’s how cold it was at 2 a.m. in Chicago on Jan. 29, when actor Jussie Smollett claims he was the victim of a racist, homophobic hate crime perpetrated by two white Trump supporters. There were many reasons to be skeptical of Smollett’s story, but the fact that Chicago was experiencing a “polar vortex” of arctic cold was high on the list of doubts. Even if you could believe that two right-wingers would be stalking a not-very-famous actor in downtown Chicago, waiting for a chance to attack him on his way back from a wee-hours trip to a sandwich shop, why would they be doing this in -4°F weather?
Smollett’s story never made sense, and it came completely unraveled last week after Chicago police apprehended two of the Empire actor’s friends when they flew into O’Hare Airport, returning from a trip to Nigeria. According to reports by Chicago’s WBBM-TV and other outlets, brothers Abimbola “Abel” Osundairo and Olabinjo “Ola” Osundairo were paid $3,500 by Smollett to stage the fake hate crime. Police have not yet filed any charges or given an official explanation of exactly what happened, and Smollett’s attorneys issued a statement Saturday asserting his innocence, but there is now every reason to believe that the whole thing was a complete hoax. If this proves to be the case, will any of the liberals who rushed to exploit Smollett’s tale face any consequences for smearing Trump supporters? . . .

Read the rest of my column at The American Spectator.




 

 

Report: Nigerian Brothers ‘Flipped,’ Help Cops in Jussie Smollett ‘Hate Crime’ Hoax

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Gateway Pundit notes that the local CWB Chicago news site has produced outstanding coverage of the Jussie Smollett story. Their latest report indicates that Nigerian brothers Abimbola “Abel” Osundairo and Olabinjo “Ola” Osundairo were released by cops Friday after two days of interrogation because they are cooperating with the investigation, which is now focused directly at Smollett himself:

CWBChicago has learned that federal investigators sat in as Chicago police interrogated the Osundario brothers for two days after the men were taken into custody at O’Hare airport on Wednesday evening. The Osundiros flew into the airport minutes earlier, returning from a trip to Nigeria that began hours after Smollett reported being attacked.
The brothers, who have a relationship with Smollett and served as extras on his TV show, saw their status with police evolve from “potential persons of interest” to “potential suspects” to being “unable to leave” custody because investigators had “probable cause that they were involved in a crime” to being set free in the course of 48 hours.

Smollett has reportedly “lawyered up,” hiring big-name defense attorney Michael Monico, and signs indicate Jussie’s in big trouble:

Federal investigators have been looking into the origins of a hate letter that was mailed to Smollett from the southwest suburbs about a week before he reported being attacked. The mailing, which contained a white powder that reportedly turned out to be Tylenol, mentioned Smollett by name and included anti-black and anti-gay slurs as well as a stick figure bound in a noose. Its return address was “MAGA,” a reference to President Donald Trump’s 2016 “Make America Great Again” slogan. Many of the elements of the letter were reflected in the details of the attack that Smollett gave to police.
The actor has been outspoken about his displeasure with Trump, most recently telling Good Morning America that he believed that his opposition to Trump may have been a motivating factor for his purported attackers.
“I come really, really hard against 45,” he said. “I come really, really hard against his administration and I don’t hold my tongue.” . . .
Standing outside Area Central Police Headquarters Friday night, the Osundairo brothers’ lawyer dropped hints that the road ahead may be rough for Smollett.
“My guys are walking home. They are not charged,” Gloria Schmidt said before indicating that the Osundairos had information about the Smollett case that was shared with police after some “coordination.”
And, she pointed out, “I’m not part of Jussie’s defense.”

Do I need to connect all the dots to draw you a picture here? That “hate letter” was sent through the U.S. Postal Service, and I’m sure there’s a federal law that could make that a felony. Everything we’ve learned so far points toward Smollett attempting to stage a hoax that would make it seem he was attacked by Trump supporters. and you can bet money the Chicago FBI is under heavy pressure to solve this case. You see, this is not just a Chicago police case. Maybe the cops (or their Democrat bosses at City Hall) don’t want to bring any charges against Jussie, but because this was investigated by the feds as a potential “hate crime,” it’s not up to Chicago P.D. Lying to an FBI agent? You can go to prison for that. Obstruction of justice in a federal investigation? Witness tampering? Attempting to destroy evidence? Yeah, the feds have lots of ways to send you to prison, if they want to, and I’m thinking our new Attorney General William Barr might want to see maximum prosecution in a case like this.

“O, what a tangled web we weave . . .”



 

Report: Two Nigerian Brothers Arrested in Jussie Smollett ‘Hate Crime’ Hoax UPDATE: Released Without Charges

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Abimbola “Abel” Osundairo, 25, and his brother Olabinjo “Ola” Osundairo, 27, have been identified as the “persons of interest” taken into custody by Chicago police in connection with last month’s alleged “hate crime” against Empire actor Jussie Smollett:

Two brothers being questioned in the Jussie Smollett case are now under arrest, police said.
Obabinjo Osundairo and Abimbola Osundairo were arrested Friday in connection with an alleged attack on the “Empire” actor. The men were identified by their attorney, Gloria Schmidt.
At least one of the men worked on “Empire,” police said.
Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said authorities had probable cause to believe the men committed assault and battery against Smollett. But they had not been charged as of Friday afternoon.
Guglielmi would not comment on a possible motive.
Meantime, two sources with intimate knowledge of the investigation told CBS Chicago Investigator Brad Edwards the attack on Smollett was potentially orchestrated by the actor himself, and involved two other men.
But police say while there is no evidence documenting the alleged attack, there is also no evidence to say it is a hoax. They say Smullett is being cooperative at this time and continues to be treated as a victim, not a suspect.

More background on the suspects:

Court records show that one was charged with attempted murder in a 2011 stabbing that occurred in the 4200 block of North Ashland. That is less than a block from the home that police raided Wednesday night, and recovered personal effects including cell phones, a source said.
The one brother reached a plea deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to aggravated battery and was sentenced to two years of probation and was ordered to pay a $674 fine. His attorney in that case did not respond to interview requests. . . .
Both men, who are two of five siblings, previously played football at Quincy University, according to the college’s athletics website.
At least one of them went to high school near the home police raided, according to Quincy.
It is unlikely that the two were given scholarships to play, though. Court records show both men filed for bankruptcy in September 2016 and owed more than $120,000 in student loans.

Smollett had claimed he was attacked by two white Trump supporters who shouted homophobic and racist slurs and, “This is MAGA country.”

There were obvious reasons not to believe this story: Even if white racist homophobes were roaming the streets of Chicago in search of gay black men to terrorize, (a) why would they choose this actor and (b) why would they do it on a night when the temperature was below zero? Basic common sense suggested something was wrong with this story, but I guess basic common sense is not a job requirement for journalists.

 

Here’s some of that GQ article by Joshua Rivera:

Whiteness in 21st century America has an endgame, and it is this: to divest itself from the shame of its power, while working to revive the fear it needs in which to thrive. And there is work being done, work done by panels of respectable-seeming men and women on cable news networks dismissing the red MAGA hat as innocuous, work done by politicians who continue to openly lie about the danger immigrants pose to Americans while choosing to ignore that almost all violent extremist crime is committed by right-wing terrorists, by the refusal to acknowledge that bigotry is alive and well, perpetrated by racists and homophobes targeting people like Smollett, criminals who have no qualms in sharing what motivates them. Hate needs to sign its work. That’s how hate persists.
The assault of Jussie Smollett is not an isolated incident.

A fake hate crime is not an isolated incident? Whatever. Much like journalists, a lot of big-name Democrats don’t have basic common sense:

 

The liberal narrative, that America is full of racists and homophobes who routinely inflict violence on helpless minorities, is so deeply entrenched in the minds of Democrats and journalists (but I repeat myself) that they will instantly believe even the most improbable story, so long as it conforms to that narrative. Many liberals still believe that the 2016 Pulse nightclub massacre was a homophobic “hate crime,” despite the fact that the shooter, Omar Mateen, identified himself as an ISIS “soldier.” Muslim jihadists can commit terrorist atrocities in America and expect liberals to blame right-wing homophobes, and Jussie Smollett can have two Nigerians beat him up in Chicago and blame Trump.

UPDATE: Plot twist:

Chicago police on Friday night released two persons of interest without charging them in the alleged hate attack on “Empire” star Jussie Smollett.
“Due to new evidence as a result of today’s interrogations, the individuals questioned by police in the Empire case have now been released without charging and detectives have additional investigative work to complete,” Chicago Police said in a tweet Friday night.

We don’t know what this means. We must wait and see.