Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, who had recused herself from Jussie Smollett’s prosecution, is taking heat after all charges were dropped against the Empire actor on Tuesday. The move left Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson livid.
Foxx’s actions in the Smollett case have been under scrutiny since she tried to get Johnson to transfer the Smollett case to the FBI a few days after the alleged hate crime took place.
The Sun-Times reported at the time: “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. … 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 as the actor faces disorderly conduct charges for allegedly making a false police report.”
The Sun-Times reports: “The [Fraternal Order of Police] initially demanded a federal investigation to determine whether Foxx acted inappropriately when she tried to persuade Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson to transfer the investigation of Smollett’s claim of being the target of a hate crime to the FBI. In renewing the call for a federal investigation into what he called Foxx’s political ‘interference’ on behalf of the Smollett family, [Martin Preib, the FOP’s second vice president] argued that the state’s attorney’s office’s decision to drop the charges ‘only gives more foundation to our claims.'”
The FOP called Foxx’s actions “utterly arbitrary, capricious and suspicious.”
Preib told the paper that “the entire country is getting a window into the absurdity of the Chicago political and legal system” and, asked why he believes the charges were dropped, Preib replied, “I have my dark suspicions, but it’s not appropriate to give voice to them just yet.”
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel joined Wolf Blitzer on Tuesday evening to continue expressing his anger about the Smollett case.
