Chicago seeking $130,000 from Jussie Smollett to cover cost of police investigation


A letter from the city's legal department to Smollett and his attorneys said that figure covers overtime worked by more than two dozen detectives and officers who spent weeks looking into Smollett's claim, including reviewing video and physical evidence and conducting interviews.

Those resources, the letter said, "could have been used for other investigations."

Hours earlier, President Donald Trump tweeted that the FBI and the Department of Justice would review the "outrageous" case, calling it an "embarrassment" to the country.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel emphatically urged President Trump to butt out of the ongoing drama over "Empire" actor Smollett.

"My recommendation is the president go to Opening Day baseball, sit on the sidelines and stay out of this," Emanuel told a group of reporters.

The mayor then called Chicago a "Trump-free zone" and blamed the president for creating a "toxic" and "hate-filled" environment that allowed Smollett to think he could get away with faking a hate crime.

Emanuel is a frequent critic of the president, who said this week he'd have federal authorities look into the tangled Smollett case. The mayor said Trump and Smollett are part of the same "vicious, toxic cycle," a cycle he wants to break.












Smollett has repeatedly said the two masked men shouted slurs, wrapped a rope around his neck and poured a substance on him. He also told detectives that the attackers yelled that he was in "MAGA country," an apparent reference to Trump's "Make America Great Again" campaign slogan, police said.



During Thursday's court hearing, prosecutors promised to notify media outlets if Smollett's lawyers tried to expunge his record. But lawyers for major news organizations, including The Associated Press, told the judge that the case has not been transparent.

"The public is entitled to know what happened and what's happening in this proceeding," media attorney Natalie Spears argued.

Judge LeRoy Martin said court proceedings had followed the law and that there was "no nefariousness."

Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx said Wednesday that the law allows Smollett to have his police records sealed, but that the court files "should never have been sealed." She said she believes it was done in error but "that should not have happened."


"For all of the noise and all of the media attention, it's a step up from a misdemeanor," Foxx said. Most comparable cases are resolved with probation or an agreement such as Smollett's if the defendants "don't' have a long rap sheet or a violence in their background."

Foxx recused herself before Smollett was charged because she had discussed the case with a Smollett family member. The case was then handed to First Assistant State's Attorney Joseph Magats.

On Wednesday, the ex-chief of staff for former first lady Michelle Obama said she approached Foxx regarding the case on behalf of the actor's family. Tina Tchen released a statement saying she's a friend of Smollett's family and knows Foxx "from prior work together."

Tchen said her "sole activity" was to put the prosecutor in touch with "an alleged victim's family." Tchen said the Smollett family "had concerns about how the investigation was being characterized in public."


Foxx told the Chicago Tribune that she regretted dealing with the relative in the investigation's early phases.