{"id":32486,"date":"2019-03-29T15:16:33","date_gmt":"2019-03-29T19:16:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cosmicconvergence.org\/?p=32486"},"modified":"2019-03-29T15:16:33","modified_gmt":"2019-03-29T19:16:33","slug":"smollettgate-cook-county-states-attorney-kim-foxx-never-even-recused-herself-unlawfully-dropped-charges-constitutes-prosecutorial-misconduct","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cosmicconvergence.org\/?p=32486","title":{"rendered":"SMOLLETTgate: Cook County State\u2019s Attorney Kim Foxx Never Even Recused Herself, Unlawfully Dropped Charges Constitutes Prosecutorial Misconduct"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>State&#8217;s attorney did not &#8216;formally&#8217; recuse herself in Jussie Smollett case, her office says<\/h1>\n<p><!--more-->By Gerren Keith Gaynor | Fox News<\/p>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/video.foxnews.com\/v\/embed.js?id=6019166898001&#038;w=466&#038;h=263\"><\/script><noscript>Watch the latest video at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\">foxnews.com<\/a><\/noscript><br \/>\n<strong>Cook County State&#8217;s Attorney Kim Foxx defends decision to drop Smollett charges<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable\">Cook County (Ill.) State\u2019s Attorney\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/us\/internal-email-from-foxxs-office-shows-push-to-defend-move-to-drop-smollett-charges\">Kim Foxx<\/a>\u00a0did not \u201cformally\u201d recuse herself from the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/insider.foxnews.com\/2019\/03\/27\/jussie-smollett-charges-dropped-gianno-caldwell-says-actor-betrayed-america\">Jussie Smollett<\/a>\u00a0case, her office said in a statement Thursday, explaining that Foxx used the term &#8220;recuse&#8221; in a &#8220;colloquial&#8221; sense rather than a legal sense when she left the case in February.<\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable\">The statement was the latest twist in the saga centering around Smollett, the &#8220;Empire&#8221; actor whom Foxx&#8217;s office decided not to prosecute Tuesday\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/entertainment\/jussie-smollett-wont-be-prosecuted-on-charges-he-faked-attack\">in a stunning reversal<\/a>\u00a0after Smollett faced a\u00a016-count indictment for allegedly staging an assault against himself in January.<\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable\">Foxx\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/entertainment\/cook-county-states-attorney-recuses-herself-from-jussie-smollett-case\">announced Feb. 19<\/a>\u00a0that she was leaving the case, clarifying later that her decision stemmed from her contact with a relative of Smollett. But Thursday&#8217;s statement said Foxx&#8217;s decision was not based &#8220;on any actual conflict of interest,&#8221; implying that Foxx was concerned about the appearance of a conflict.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cInstead, in an abundance of caution, she informally separated herself from the decision-making over the case and left it to her First Assistant State\u2019s Attorney Joe Magats, a 29-year veteran prosecutor,&#8221; the statement added. &#8220;Although we used the term \u2018recuse\u2019 as it relates to State\u2019s Attorney Foxx\u2019s involvement in this matter, it was a colloquial use of the term rather than in its legal sense.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Shortly after the alleged attack on Jan. 29, Tina Tchen, a Smollett family friend, reached out to Foxx about concerns relating to leaks from the police department to the media, the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.chicagotribune.com\/news\/local\/breaking\/ct-met-jussie-smollett-kim-foxx-interview-20190327-story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chicago Tribune<\/a>\u00a0reported.<\/p>\n<p>Foxx later exchanged text messages with a Smollett relative, which ultimately led to her announced decision to step away from the case.<\/p>\n<p>On Wednesday,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/us\/internal-email-from-foxxs-office-shows-push-to-defend-move-to-drop-smollett-charges\">Fox News obtained an internal email<\/a>\u00a0from Foxx&#8217;s office that asked assistant state&#8217;s attorneys to dig for any examples to bolster\u00a0Foxx\u2019s claim that the dropped charges in\u00a0the Smollett case weren\u2019t as uncommon or shocking as they seemed.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier Thursday, Fox News learned that the City of Chicago delivered a letter to Smollett&#8217;s legal team,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/entertainment\/jussie-smollets-attorney-demands-apology-from-mayor-police-chief-jussie-has-paid-enough\">seeking reimbursement for $130,000<\/a>\u00a0in costs related to the investigation. The dropping of\u00a0all charges against Smollett had prompted backlash from Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson as well as Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who called the decision a \u201cwhitewash of justice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>President Trump also weighed in on the controversy Thursday, announcing that the FBI and Justice Department would review the case. On Twitter, he called it \u201can embarrassment to our nation.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">FBI &amp; DOJ to review the outrageous Jussie Smollett case in Chicago. It is an embarrassment to our Nation!<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/realDonaldTrump\/status\/1111214993293357056?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 28, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Smollett claimed he was attacked by two masked men who hurled racial and homophobic slurs. The star also said they poured bleach on him and placed a rope around his neck before yelling, \u201cThis is MAGA country!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Though the case was initially opened as a possible hate crime, it quickly unraveled as evidence prompted investigators to suspect that Smollett had staged the attack. Smollett, however, maintains his innocence.<\/p>\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/entertainment\/cook-county-states-attorney-kim-foxx-did-formally-recuse-herself-smollett-case-office-says\">https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/entertainment\/cook-county-states-attorney-kim-foxx-did-formally-recuse-herself-smollett-case-office-says<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>State&#8217;s attorney did not &#8216;formally&#8217; recuse herself in Jussie Smollett case, her office says<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cosmicconvergence.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cosmicconvergence.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cosmicconvergence.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cosmicconvergence.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cosmicconvergence.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cosmicconvergence.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32486\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cosmicconvergence.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cosmicconvergence.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cosmicconvergence.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}