Online
\nWashington
\nUS President Donald Trump said that the Department of Justice would \u201creview\u201d the uproar surrounding actor Jussie Smollett, who was charged with staging a fake hate-crime attack on himself in Chicago before prosecutors abruptly dropped the case this week.
\nHours after Trump announced the review in a Twitter message calling the case a national embarrassment, the city sent the actor a letter demanding he reimburse police for $130,000 in overtime costs for the investigation.
\nSmollett, who is black and gay, said two men attacked him on the street at night in January, yelling homophobic and racist slurs, pouring a chemical on him and putting a noose around his neck while shouting support for Trump.
\nInvestigators later charged Smollett with paying $3,500 to the men to stage the attack to garner public sympathy. Prosecutors dropped the charges on Tuesday, saying they stood by the accusation but that an agreement by Smollett to forfeit his $10,000 bond was a just outcome.
\nSmollett, 36, insists he is innocent and was the victim of a real attack.
\nTina Glandian, one of his defense lawyers, told media that she was unconcerned by the review, saying, \u201cTo my knowledge, nothing improper was done.\u201d The county prosecutors\u2019 decision stunned the city\u2019s police chief, prompted the police union to demand a federal investigation, and enraged Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a Democrat, who called it a \u201cwhitewash\u201d that made a fool of the city.
\nTrump, a Republican, echoed those remarks on Thursday.
\n\u201cFBI & DOJ to review the outrageous Jussie Smollett case in Chicago,\u201d Trump wrote on Twitter, referring to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Justice. \u201cIt is an embarrassment to our Nation!\u201d
\nOn Thursday, the mayor said he would seek to have Smollett reimburse Chicago for investigation costs, and rejected Trump\u2019s federal review, telling the president to \u201csit this one out.\u201d
\nChicago Corporation Counsel Edward Siskel, who heads the municipal Department of Law, sent Smollett a letter on Thursday demanding payment within seven days of more than $130,000 to cover police overtime expenses.
\n\u201cIf the amount is not timely paid, the Department of Law may prosecute you for making a false statement to the city\u201d under city ordinances, Siskel warned Smollett in the letter.
\nLaw Department spokesman Bill McCaffrey said enforcement of the city\u2019s false statement code amounts to a civil action, not a criminal case, carrying a maximum fine of $1,000 plus up to three times the amount of damages to the city.
\nThe city could also seek to recover court costs, collection costs and attorneys fees, but Smollett would face no jail time, McCaffrey said.
\nThe Department of Justice declined to comment.
\nThe FBI has already had some involvement in the case, with agents investigating a threatening letter Smollett said he received prior to the attack, according to the Chicago Police Department.
\nThe initial reports of two Trump supporters attacking a gay, black celebrity drew widespread sympathy for Smollett, particularly from Democrats.
\n That faded quickly after the actor\u2019s arrest, and the case was seized on by some as an example of what Trump likes to deride as \u201cfake news.\u201d
\nSmollett is best known for playing a gay musician on the Fox drama \u201cEmpire.\u201d His lawyers said he hopes to move on with his career, but it remains unclear whether he will return to Empire after being written out of the last two episodes of the most recent season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Online Washington US President Donald Trump said that the Department of Justice would \u201creview\u201d the uproar surrounding actor Jussie Smollett, who was charged with staging a fake hate-crime attack on himself in Chicago before prosecutors abruptly dropped the case this week. Hours after Trump announced the review in a Twitter message calling the case a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n