{"id":1066462,"date":"2021-11-29T22:14:31","date_gmt":"2021-11-30T03:14:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1066462"},"modified":"2021-11-29T22:14:49","modified_gmt":"2021-11-30T03:14:49","slug":"prosecutor-jussie-smollett-orchestrated-fake-hate-crime-to-look-like-attack-by-supporters-of-donald-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/prosecutor-jussie-smollett-orchestrated-fake-hate-crime-to-look-like-attack-by-supporters-of-donald-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"Prosecutor: Jussie Smollett Orchestrated &#039;Fake Hate Crime&#039; to Look Like Attack by Supporters of Donald Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">32<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fprosecutor-jussie-smollett-orchestrated-fake-hate-crime-to-look-like-attack-by-supporters-of-donald-trump%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1066462&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"subheading\">CHICAGO (AP) \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/tag\/jussie-smollett\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jussie Smollett<\/a> staged a racist and homophobic assault and told police he was the victim after the television studio where he worked didn\u2019t take hate mail he had received seriously, a prosecutor said during opening statements in the ex-\u201cEmpire\u201d actor\u2019s trial Monday.<\/p>\n<p>Smollett has maintained he was attacked in downtown Chicago in January 2019 by supporters of then-President Donald Trump, a report that ignited political and ideological divisions around the country. But special prosecutor Dan Webb said the actor recruited two brothers to help him carry out the fake attack, then reported it to Chicago police, who classified it as a hate crime and spent 3,000 staff hours on the investigation.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cWhen he reported the fake hate crime that was a real crime,\u201d said Webb, who was named as special prosecutor after Cook County State\u2019s Attorney Kim Foxx\u2019s office dropped the original charges filed against Smollett. A new indictment was returned in 2020.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_10311987\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" readability=\"36\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/KimFoxx22.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-10311987\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/KimFoxx22.jpg\" alt width=\"800\" height=\"600\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Cook County State\u2019s attorney Kim Foxx speaks with reporters and details the charges against R. Kelly\u2019s first court appearance at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse on February 23, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. (Nuccio DiNuzzo\/Getty Images)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Smollett, who arrived at the courthouse in Chicago Monday with his mother and other family members, is charged with felony disorderly conduct. The class 4 felony carries a prison sentence of up to three years, but experts have said it is likely that if Smollett is convicted he would be placed on probation and perhaps ordered to perform community service.<\/p>\n<p>Webb told jurors that the two brothers \u2014 who worked on the \u201cEmpire\u201d set with Smollett \u2014 say the actor paid them $3,500 to pose as his attackers after he was unhappy about how the studio handled the letter he received. That letter included a drawing of a stick figure hanging from a tree and \u201cMAGA,\u201d a reference to Trump\u2019s Make America Great Again campaign slogan, Webb said.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>He said Smollett then concocted the fake attack and had a \u201cdress rehearsal\u201d with the two brothers, including telling them to shout racial and homophobic slurs and \u201cMAGA.\u201d Smollett also told the brothers to buy ski masks, red hats and a rope, Webb told jurors.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe told them to use a rope to make it look like a hate crime,\u201d Webb said.&nbsp;Smollett \u201cdeveloped a secret plan that would make it appear that there was actually a hate crime that actually occurred against him by supporters of Donald Trump,\u201d special prosecutor Dan Webb <a href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/news\/jussie-smollett-had-secret-plan-234600470.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told<\/a> jurors.<\/p>\n<p>The 12 jurors plus three alternate jurors were sworn in late Monday for a trial that Judge James Linn said he expects to take about one week. Cameras are not allowed inside the courtroom and the proceedings are not being livestreamed, unlike in other recent high-profile trials.<\/p>\n<p>Whether Smollett, who is Black and gay, will testify remains an open question. But the siblings, Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo, will take the witness stand and are expected to repeat what they have told police officers and prosecutors: that they carried out the attack at Smollett\u2019s behest.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_18939738\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" readability=\"43\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/AP20055645728768-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-18939738\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/AP20055645728768-1.jpg\" alt width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Brothers Olabinjo Osundairo, right, and Abimbola Osundairo, who claim actor Jussie Smollett hired them to stage an attack on him, appear outside the Leighton Criminal Courthouse in Chicago, Monday, Feb. 24, 2020, after Smollett\u2019s court appearance on a new set of charges alleging that he lied to police about being targeted in a racist and homophobic attack in downtown Chicago early last year. (AP Photo\/Charles Rex Arbogast)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Jurors also may see surveillance video from more than four dozen cameras that police reviewed to trace the brothers\u2019 movements before and after the reported attack, as well as a video showing the brothers purchasing a red hat, ski masks and gloves from a beauty supply shop hours earlier.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-192 Component-p-0-2-183\">Smollett\u2019s attorneys have not spelled out how they will confront that evidence. Lead attorney Nenye Uche declined to comment ahead of this week\u2019s proceedings. But there are clues as to how they might during the trial.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-192 Component-p-0-2-183\">Buried in nearly 500 pages of Chicago Police Department reports is a statement from an area resident who says she saw a white man with \u201creddish brown hair\u201d who appeared to be waiting for someone that night. She told a detective that when the man turned away from her, she \u201ccould see hanging out from underneath his jacket what appeared to be a rope.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-192 Component-p-0-2-183\">Her comments could back up Smollett\u2019s contention that his attackers draped a makeshift noose around his neck. Further, if she testified that the man was white, it would support Smollett\u2019s statements \u2014 widely ridiculed because the brothers, who come from Nigeria, are Black \u2014 that he saw pale or white skin around the eyes of one of his masked attackers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-192 Component-p-0-2-183\">Given there is so much evidence, including the brothers\u2019 own statements, that they participated in the attack, it is unlikely that Smollett\u2019s attorneys will try to prove they did not take part. That could lead the defense to contend that Smollett was the victim of a very real attack at the hands of the brothers, perhaps with the help of others, who now are only implicating the actor so they won\u2019t be charged.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-192 Component-p-0-2-183\">The $3,500 check could be key, although Smollett says he wrote it to pay one of the brothers to work as his personal trainer.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B4\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-192 Component-p-0-2-183\">\u201cI would assume the defense is going to zero in on that,\u201d said Joe Lopez, a prominent defense attorney not involved with the case.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-192 Component-p-0-2-183\">What they will almost certainly do is attack the brothers\u2019 credibility, reminding jurors that they are not facing the same charges as Smollett, despite admitting they took part in the staged attack.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-192 Component-p-0-2-183\">\u201cEverything Smollett is responsible for, they are responsible for,\u201d said David Erickson, a former state appellate judge who teaches at Chicago Kent College of Law and is not involved in the case.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-192 Component-p-0-2-183\">Finally, Smollett\u2019s career could take center stage. Prosecutors could make the same point that <a class href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/jussie-smollett-music-police-us-news-eddie-johnson-fac8abf87fa4431aaf0e0abce6f67c22\">then-Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson made when he announced Smollett\u2019s arrest in 2019: that Smollett thought the attack<\/a> would win him more fame and a pay raise.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-192 Component-p-0-2-183\"><strong><em>Watch below:&nbsp;<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" readability=\"9.7368421052632\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">&#8220;Mr. Smollett is the one that orchestrated this crime,&#8221; police say. &#8220;He has to be accountable for what he did.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Smollett maintains his innocence. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/TuRvyKbBqp\">pic.twitter.com\/TuRvyKbBqp<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/dcexaminer\/status\/1098607586276970499?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 21, 2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-192 Component-p-0-2-183\">But Lopez said the defense attorneys might ask the jury the same question he asked himself.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-192 Component-p-0-2-183\">\u201cHow would that help him with anything?\u201d he asked. \u201cHe\u2019s already a star.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CHICAGO (AP) \u2014 Jussie Smollett staged a racist and homophobic assault and told police he was the victim after the television studio where he worked didn\u2019t take hate mail he &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1066462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1066462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1066462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1066462\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1066462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1066462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1066462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}