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| Lori Lightfoot and Jussie Smollett | Lightfoot for Chicago; CBS |
Fresh off her victory to become Chicago’s next mayor, Lori Lightfoot on Wednesday again said the public deserves a better explanation of how the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office resolved the Jussie Smollett case. Lightfoot went on to say that the public had seen “a very compelling case” that Smollett “staged a hoax.”
“He’s got to be held accountable,” said Lightfoot, the first openly gay person and the first black woman to be elected mayor in the city, in an interview on MSNBC.
The state’s attorney’s office, headed by Kim Fox, “has to give a much more fulsome explanation. We cannot create the perception that if you’re rich or famous or both that you got one set of justice and for everybody else, it’s something much harsher. That won’t do, and we need to make sure that we have a criminal justice system that has integrity.”
“The state’s attorney’s office has to provide more information about the rationale for the decision to drop the charges,” Lightfoot continued.
Turning to the alleged hate crime itself, the former federal prosecutor pointed to the publicly-available evidence: “I saw…a very compelling case, with videotapes, witness statements, and other information that looked like he had staged a hoax. And if that happens, he’s got to be held accountable.”
Meanwhile, CWBChicago sources have said that another “emergency hearing” in the Smollett matter is scheduled for Thursday. Details regarding the subject matter and who requested the hearing were not immediately available.
