Jussie Smollett’s defense attorney Mark Geragos appeared on CNN Friday and declared on air that Smollett is the victim of a “media gangbang.”

“You know, Anderson, even if [Smollett] were supposedly the one who had orchestrated this, this is an outrage. The fact that he maintains his innocence makes it more outrageous,” Geragos told Anderson Cooper.

“16 counts? I defy anybody to find any indictment, anywhere, where somebody has brought 16 counts for being a victim of a–of a hate crime, basically.”

The attorney also said that the media has swung so far against Smollett that it’s “startling.”

“What is happening here is frankly, a media gangbang of this guy of unprecedented proportions. That’s the reason I got into this,” he said. “I’ve never seen a media pendulum swing more quickly and more viciously, and rob somebody of their presumption of innocence like this case. It’s startling the way people assume he’s guilty.”

“He hasn’t been given one stitch of discovery. Not one. There isn’t one police report. Your package just said he paid $3,500. I have the text, those texts, and they conceded that the check and the texts were for training. It wasn’t to pay anything.” – READ MORE