In yet another wrinkle to the Jussie Smollett “hoax hate crime” case that’s raising some eyebrows, USA Today reported this week that the former chief of staff for Michelle Obama pushed to get the Chicago Police Department to turn over its Smollett investigation to the FBI. The Chicago PD’s investigation eventually resulted in the actor being charged with 16 felony counts of disorderly conduct for filing a false report after allegedly orchestrating a fake hate crime against himself.
According to USA Today, court documents reveal that Obama’s former chief of staff, Tina Tchen, contacted Kim Foxx, the Chicago-area’s lead prosecutor, before charges were brought against Smollett in February to request that the police department let the FBI take over the investigation into the since-fired “Empire” star.
The paper reports that texts and emails provided by the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office show that Tchen told Foxx that Smollett’s family had “concerns” about how the Chicago PD were handling the case, which eventually turned dramatically against the actor and singer. Tchen, an attorney based in Chicago who co-founded the Times Up Legal Defense Fund, encouraged Foxx to contact Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson to ask him to cede the investigation to federal authorities.
“Spoke to the Superintendent Johnson,” Foxx told Tchen in a February 1 email. “I convinced him to Reach out to FBI to ask that they take over the investigation.” – READ MORE