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Podcast: Special Prosecutor issues moral indictment of Kim Foxx

Kim Foxx was denounced as a liar who misled the public in her mishandling of the arrest and release of Jussie Smollett, who was finally convicted on five charges of lying to Chicago Police about being the victim of a racist, homophobic assault by two individuals who it turned out he knew and paid to stage the attack to boost his sagging Hollywood career.

Smollett’s lies lit the fuse that polarized the nation causing people from the president of Good Morning America’s biased anchor Robin Roberts to politicize the incident and foment racial divisions. Roberts sympathized with Smollett and allowed him to weave a fabricated tale of deceit that she and many other media refused to challenge.

But a special prosecutor with impeccable credentials, former U.S. Attorney Dan Webb, released a report that resulted in Smollett’s indictment, trial and later conviction. Although the public expected Smollett’s lie to be exposed, the real shock was the lengths at which Foxx went to help Smollett avoid punishment.

The moral indictment of Kim Foxx by a Special Prosecutor is the focus of a podcast hosted by former Congressman Bill Lipinski and former Chicago City Hall reporter Ray Hanania, called “Two Guys on Politics.”

The Centrist commentators discuss not only the details of Webb’s scathing moral indictment of Foxx but also the consequences of how her actions have fueled the rising crime rate in Cook County.

You can listen to the podcast on all major podcasting systems including iTunes and Spotify. Or, go to the website www.TwoGuysOnPolitics.com to download it and listen to other podcasts in the series. You can also use the widget below to listen to the podcast on this website.

On January 22, 2019, it was reported to CPD that Mr. Smollett received a letter sent to the studio where the show ‘Empire’ is filmed, containing threatening language and drawings and laced with a small amount of a white powdery substance. The FBI initiated an investigation into the source of the threatening letter. The FBI investigation remains pending.

On January 29, 2019, Mr. Smollett reported to CPD that two unknown assailants wearing masks had attacked him at around 2:00 a.m., near 340 E. North Water Street in Chicago. Mr. Smollett reported that the men attacked him physically, used racial and homophobic slurs, placed a rope fashioned like a noose around his neck, and poured bleach on him. Mr. Smollett also reported that one of the men yelled, ”This is MAGA country,” an apparent reference to a slogan popularized by President Donald J. Trump.

Here are some of the primary conclusions from the Web Report which you can read in full by CLICKING THIS LINK.

After the CCSAO dismissed the Initial Smollett Case on terms that many believed were very favorable to Mr. Smollett, there was speculation in the media regarding whether something illegal or improper had gone on behind the scenes at the CCSAO to allow Mr. Smollett to achieve the particular resolution he received. Among otber things, there was public speculation that Cook County State’s Attorney Kimberly M. Foxx may have been influenced in an improper manner by prominent people who reached out to her to discuss the Initial Smollett Case. Thus, as part of its investigation, the OSP thoroughly investigated and evaluated whether State’s Attorney Foxx or anyone working at the CCSAO committed any crime relating to the prosecution or resolution of the Initial Smollett Case. As a result of this investigation, the OSP has concluded that it did not develop evidence that would support any criminal charges against State’s Attorney Foxx or any individual working at the CCSAO. However, as a result of this investigation, the OSP did develop evidence that establishes substantial abuses of discretion· and operational failures by the CCSAO in prosecuting and resolving the Initial Smollett Case. As set forth in this Summary Report, the OSP has reached five (5) final conclusions relating to the conduct of the CCSAO and three (3) final conclusions relating to the conduct of the CPD in the lnitial Smollett Case. First, as to the CCSAO, the following are the OSP’s five (5) major final conclusions:

( 1) The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) [Dan Webb] did develop evidence that establishes substantial abuses of discretion and operational failures by the CCSAO in prosecuting and resolving the Initial Smollett Case. Specifically, the OSP concluded:

• The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office’s (CCSAO) process and decision-making for resolving the Initial Smollett Case were a substantial abuse of discretion and represented a major failure of the operations of the CCSAO;

• The CCSAO engaged in a substantia.l abuse of discretion and breached its obligations of honesty and transparency by making false and/or misleading statements to the public regarding the nature and reasons for the dismissal of the Initial Smollett Case;

• The CCSAO engaged in a substantial abuse of discretion and breached its obligations of honesty and transparency by making false and/or misleading statements regarding State’s Attorney Foxx’s recusal to the public; and

• The CCSAO engaged in a substantial abuse of discretion and breached its obligations of honesty and transparency when State’s Attorney Foxx made false and/or misleading statements to the public that she stopped communicating with Jumee Smollett, Mr. Smollett’s sister, after State’s Attorney Foxx. had become a
aware that Mr. Smollett had become a subject of the investigation.

(2) The OSP did develop evidence that may rise to the level of a violation of legal ethics by State’s Attorney Foxx and tbe CCSAO· lawyers relating to false and/or misleading public statements made about the prosecution and resolution of the Initial Smollett Case. Under Illinois Supreme Court Rule 751, tho OSP has no authority to make findings determining ethical violations by lawyers. However, the OSP will comply with applicable reporting obligations as . required by • the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct (see IRPC Rules 8.3(a) and 8.4(c)). Based on these reporting obligations, once able under Illinois law, the OSP will submit this report to the Illinois Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission so that it can do the appropriate review to determine if any ethical violations occurred;

(3) While the OSP did not develop evidence showing State’s Attorney Foxx was involved in decision-making on the Initial Smollett Case after she was recused, the OSP did develop evidence that she was provided with frequent updates about the Initial SmoUett Case after her recusal;

(4) The OSP did not develop evidence that would support any criminal charges against State’s Attorney Foxx or any.individual working at the CCSAO; and

(5) The OSP did not develop evidence of improper influence by any outside third parties in the decision-making by the CCSAO in the Initial Smollett Case.

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Ray Hanania

Ray Hanania is an award-winning opinion columnist, author & former Chicago City Hall reporter (1977-1992). A veteran who served during the Vietnam War and the recipient of four SPJ Peter Lisagor Awards for column writing, Hanania writes weekly opinion columns on mainstream American & Chicagoland topics for the Southwest News-Herald, Des Plaines Valley News, the Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers, and Suburban Chicagoland.  

His award winning columns can be found at www.HANANIA.COM Subscribe FREE today

Hanania also writes about Middle East issues for the Arab News, and The Arab Daily News criticizing government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.

Email Ray Hanania at [email protected].

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