Getty Rahm Emanuel is furious about the Jussie Smollett case.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is mincing no words about Cook County prosecutors’ decision to drop all charges against Empire actor Jussie Smollett. He is also blasting Jussie Smollett himself, accusing the Empire actor of having “no decency.”
“This, without a doubt, is a whitewash of justice and sends a clear message that if you’re in a position of influence and power you’ll get treated one way. Other people will be treated another way,” Emanuel said in a joint news conference with Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson, who also criticized the decision. “There is no accountability then in the system. It is wrong, full stop.”
“A whitewash of justice,” says @ChicagosMayor Rahm Emanuel after all charges against Jussie Smollett dropped. “It is wrong. Full stop. t.co/x4ioZtOMbp
Here are more of Emanuel’s comments on Jussie:
“Is there no decency in this man?” Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel asks about Jussie Smollett after prosecutors dropped all charges against the “Empire” actor t.co/FTXteyXy0Z
“Mr. Smollett is still saying that he’s innocent. Is still running down the Chicago police department. How dare him. How dare him,” said an irate Emanuel. He pointed out that a grand jury had reviewed the evidence. “This is not the superintendent and the detectives’ department word against his… and even after this whitewash, there is still no sense of ownership over what he has done. He says in fact that he has been wronged in this case.”
Continued Emanuel: “This is a person now who has been let off scot-free with no sense of accountability of the moral and ethical wrong of his actions, from top to bottom.”
He expressed anger that Smollett, in his words, used “hate crime laws that are on the books to then turn around to use those laws to advance your career…Is there no decency in this man?”
Emanuel compared the decision to drop the charges against Smollett to the high-profile college admissions scandal. “Where is the accountability in the system? You cannot have because of a person’s position one set of rules applies to them and another set of rules apply to everyone else,” the mayor said on March 26, 2019.
He was joined in his outrage by Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson, who said: “If someone ever falsely accused me (of committing a crime), I would never hide behind a brokered deal and secrecy.”
Eddie Johnson added, “You all know where I stand on this. Do I think justice was served? No? I think this city is still owed an apology.” He said he heard that they “chose to hide behind secrecy to broker a deal to circumvent the judicial system.” He said, “I stand behind the detectives’ investigation.”
Here’s what you need to know:
The Prosecutor Says The Decision to Drop Charges Was Not an Exoneration of Smollett
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Joe Magats made the decision to drop charges because his boss, State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, recused herself after text messages she revealed she’d communicated about the Smollett matter with Michelle Obama’s former chief of staff and a Smollett relative.
Magats told the Sun-Times that the Cook County prosecutor’s office was not repudiating the work of Chicago PD: “Absolutely not. We stand behind the CPD investigation done in this case, we stand behind the approval of charges in this case. They did a fantastic job. The fact there was an alternative disposition in this case is not and should not be viewed as some kind of admission there was something wrong with the case, or something wrong with the investigation that the Chicago Police did.”
But Rahm Emanuel wasn’t having it, saying, “This is a person now who has been let off scot-free with no sense of accountability of the moral and ethical wrong of his actions.”
Eddie Johnson also said he thinks that Chicago is owed an apology.
Smollett’s lawyer Patricia Holmes told the Sun-Times newspaper: “There is no deferred prosecution . . . The state dismissed the charges,” Holmes said. “We believe it was the correct result . . . We are very anxious for Jussie to get on with his life.”