Fuming from the stunning decision by prosecutors to drop charges in the “hoax” attack case against “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel blasted the move Wednesday, saying all the evidence police collected against the TV star should be unsealed as the FBI opened a review of the disposition of the case.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is reviewing the circumstances surrounding the dismissal of the criminal charges against Smollett, two law enforcement sources briefed on the matter told ABC News on Wednesday. The sources insisted it is not an investigation, but a “review.”
“He’s saying he’s innocent and his words aren’t true,” Emanuel told ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos on “Good Morning America.” “They better get their story straight. This is actually making a fool of all of us.”
But Cook County State Attorney Kimberly Foxx, whose office dismissed the charges against Smollett, insisted that the actor did not receive any special treatment. She said Smollett was allowed to dispose of his case through an alternative prosecution program, just like 5,700 other people her office has charged with low-level felonies over the past two years.
In an interview with ABC News, Foxx said Smollett qualified for alternative prosecution because he doesn’t have a history of violence, lacks a criminal record and was charged with a class four felony, which is one step above a misdemeanor. She said her office would rather put resources towards prosecuting violent criminals.Smollett is African-American and openly gay. As soon as he reported his attack, members of the African-American and LGBT communities jumped to condemn it. Sens. Cory Booker and Kamala Harris both called it “an attempted modern day lynching.” GLAAD issued a statement: “We condemn these despicable acts, as well as the racism and homophobia that drove them.”
Everyone is using their identity politics to frame this story for their own purposes, instead of pointing out the real rotten tooth in this national grimace.
Lying.
Bold, bald-faced, bang-your-fists-and-swear-it’s-real lying.
The biggest victim here isn’t race, sexual preference or a political party. The biggest victim is the truth.
Advocacy organizations, politicians and fellow actors who were loudly holding up Smollett to bolster their positions and are now saying, essentially, “Well, whatever he did, let’s not lose sight of the real issues …” have already lost sight of the real issue.
We can’t lie like that. We can’t abuse people’s trust like that. In a world where video can be edited, sound can be deleted, and we increasingly cannot believe our eyes or ears, the real issue, the greatest threat of all, is when we cannot believe each other.
The Valley Viewpoint 