The city of Chicago has since sued Smollett for the cost of the overtime the police department incurred while investigating the hoax and the actor has counter-sued for malicious prosecution.
But despite that legal wrangling over dollars and cents, Smollett is not yet in the clear on the criminal charges he initially faced.
Cook County Judge Michael Toomin in June of 2019 appointed a special counsel to investigate what actually happened after information about Smollett hiding evidence and the involvement of Michelle Obama’s former chief of staff, Tina Tchen, in the case.
Toomin said that Foxx had was right to recuse herself from Smollett’s trial after she asked Commissioner Johnson to turn over the case to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) after talking to Tchen, but that she did not have the authority to appoint her second-in-command to the prosecution in her stead, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Texts obtained by public records requests showed that Foxx herself called the Cook County Prosecutor’s Office’s excuse for withdrawing from the case “bulls--t,” the Chicago Tribune reported.
Toomin gave Special Prosecutor Dan Webb a broad mandate to investigate what had happened with the case from beginning to end and what all parties involved had done.
And when the judge signed off on the search warrants for Google four months into the investigation, he ordered the tech giant not to disclose that the information was being sought because it could “jeopardize an ongoing criminal investigation,” according to the Chicago Tribune.
It was unclear whether Google had turned over the files to investigators yet.
But despite that legal wrangling over dollars and cents, Smollett is not yet in the clear on the criminal charges he initially faced.
Cook County Judge Michael Toomin in June of 2019 appointed a special counsel to investigate what actually happened after information about Smollett hiding evidence and the involvement of Michelle Obama’s former chief of staff, Tina Tchen, in the case.
Toomin said that Foxx had was right to recuse herself from Smollett’s trial after she asked Commissioner Johnson to turn over the case to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) after talking to Tchen, but that she did not have the authority to appoint her second-in-command to the prosecution in her stead, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Texts obtained by public records requests showed that Foxx herself called the Cook County Prosecutor’s Office’s excuse for withdrawing from the case “bulls--t,” the Chicago Tribune reported.
Toomin gave Special Prosecutor Dan Webb a broad mandate to investigate what had happened with the case from beginning to end and what all parties involved had done.
And when the judge signed off on the search warrants for Google four months into the investigation, he ordered the tech giant not to disclose that the information was being sought because it could “jeopardize an ongoing criminal investigation,” according to the Chicago Tribune.
It was unclear whether Google had turned over the files to investigators yet.
