Chicago Police Union calls for probe into the way Jussie Smollett's case was handled by attorney Kim Foxx
Chicago Police Union calls for probe into the way Jussie Smollett's case was handled by attorney Kim Foxx
The Chicago Police Union has requested that the Department of Justice open an investigation into Cook County state’s attorney Kim Foxx’s handling of the Jussie Smollett case.
Foxx ultimately recused herself from the investigation, but only after asking Chicago Police Department superintendent Eddie Johnson to turn the case over to the FBI following request from one of Smollett’s relatives and a former Obama administration official, according to emails and text messages obtained by the Chicago Sun Times.
The unnamed relative of Smollett's was reportedly put in contact with Foxx by Tina Tchen, a private attorney who formerly served as chief of staff to Michelle Obama and as an assistant to Barack Obama.
Tina Tchen and Kim Foxx
In an email sent just two days after Smollett filed a false police report, Foxx reached out to Tchen to let her know that she had contacted Johnson, as Tchen had previously requested.
"Spoke to Superintendent Johnson. I convinced him to reach out to FBI to ask that they take over the investigation," Foxx wrote to Tchen.
"OMG this would be a huge victory," Tchen replied to a text message from Foxx containing the same information as was included in the email.
Foxx responded: "I make no guarantees but I’m trying."
The FBI never took control of the investigation, which resulted in Smollett’s being charged with disorderly conduct, but Fraternal Order of Police president Kevin Graham believes Foxx should be investigated for trying to interfere in the investigation, Yahoo reports.
"Private attorneys are not allowed to interfere with ongoing police investigations, particularly at the request of private individuals associated with subjects being investigated by the police," Graham wrote in a letter sent Friday to John R. Lausch, the U.S. attorney in Chicago, obtained by CWBChicago.
"In order for Ms. Foxx to properly charge and try this case, her entire office should have recused itself and a special prosecutor been appointed," Graham added.
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