The Rev. Al Sharpton portrayed Mayor Rahm Emanuel as a hypocrite Saturday for criticizing Cook County States Attorney Kim Foxxs handling of the Jussie Smollett case when the mayor long was silent on the police murder of Laquan McDonald.
For days, Emanuel has been sharply criticizing the decision by Foxxs office to allow Smollett to walk in the case, after Chicago police collected evidence that showed the Empire actor allegedly staged a racist and homophobic attack on himself. In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, Sharpton described Emanuels behavior as Hypocrisy 101.
The reason this is of national significance to me, there is a marked difference between how they reacted to this and how they reacted to the Laquan McDonald case. They were not outraged when the video was withheld until after the mayors election, Sharpton said of Emanuel, police Superintendent Eddie Johnson and other top police officials. There was a fox in the henhouse then, but the fox wasnt Kim then. The name of that fox was whoever was in the mayors race.
Emanuel spokesman Matt McGrath said, This isnt worthy of a response.
Sharpton made the remarks during a Saturday visit to Chicago to give a keynote speech at the Rev. Jesse Jacksons Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. The purpose of Sharptons visit was to preach black unity in the mayors race between former federal prosecutor Lori Lightfoot and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, one of whom on Tuesday will be elected Chicagos first African-American female mayor.
But during a rousing 20-minute sermon before an energetic crowd at PUSHs South Side headquarters, Sharpton also offered a full-throated defense of Foxx, a former top aide to Preckwinkle who has served as the countys top prosecutor since 2016. In doing so, he recalled Emanuels handling of the 2014 shooting of McDonald.
For much of 2015, Emanuel fought the release of dashcam footage of Officer Jason Van Dyke shooting McDonald 16 times in a Southwest Side street as the black teen walked away from the officer as he held a small folding knife. When a county judge ordered Emanuel to release the video, then-States Attorney Anita Alvarez charged Van Dyke with murder as the graphic footage was made public. That, coupled with the Emanuel administration paying McDonalds family a $5 million settlement before a lawsuit had even been filed, led to accusations of a City Hall cover-up, weeks of street protests and calls for the mayors resignation.
Van Dyke was convicted of second-degree murder in connection with McDonalds death and in January was sentenced to nearly seven years in prison. Garry McCarthy was police superintendent at the time of the McDonald shooting, while Johnson held a leadership role in the departments brass and became the citys top cop after McCarthys firing.
I found it strange that the mayor who didnt hold a national press conference when the Laquan McDonalds tape wasnt released, I find it strange that the police chief that didnt say a word, when they let an election go by and couldnt find the tape, but all of the sudden, you have selective outrage and you start attacking Ms. Foxx, Sharpton preached as a crowd of a couple of hundred people rose to its feet and cheered. This is of national concern. We are not going to sit by and allow her to be questioned when you didnt question Van Dyke, you didnt question the tape, you didnt question anything else.
Prosecutors on Tuesday dropped all charges against Smollett in exchange for community service and his forfeiture of the $10,000 hed posted as bond. The decision sparked vehement criticism from Johnson and Emanuel, who called it a whitewash of justice and appeared frequently on national television to discuss the case.
President Donald Trump also weighed in, tweeting Thursday that the U.S. Department of Justice would be looking into the case.
Maybe the only time Ive ever agreed with the mayor of Chicago, Trump said at a political rally in Michigan later that night. Thats a terrible situation. Thats an embarrassment not only to Chicago, that is an embarrassment to our country what took place there.
Foxx had previously said she recused herself in the case after revealing she had contact with Smollett's representatives early on in the investigation. This week, her office said Foxx did not formally recuse herself in a legal sense."
Smollett had been facing felony charges for allegedly staging the attack on himself in downtown Chicago in order to further his career. Smollett, who is African-American and openly gay, said he was walking from a Subway sandwich shop to his apartment in the 300 block of East North Water Street about 2 a.m. Jan. 29 when two men walked up, yelled racial and homophobic slurs, hit him and wrapped a noose around his neck.
Smollett said they also yelled, This is MAGA country, in a reference to Trumps campaign slogan of Make America Great Again.
Police initially treated the incident as a hate crime, but their focus turned to Smollett after two brothers who were alleged to have been his assailants told police that Smollett had paid them $3,500 to stage the attack, with a promise of an additional $500 later.
After the charges were dropped, Smollett and his legal team maintained he had been wrongfully accused all along and said the city of Chicago owed him an apology. Nevertheless, the city has sent Smollett a letter seeking to recover $130,000 or face further legal action.
On Friday, Foxx submitted an op-ed to the Chicago Tribune in which she said that some of the evidence and testimony against the Empire star would have made securing a conviction against Smollett uncertain. Foxx noted that Smollett, however, had not been exonerated or found innocent
For a variety of reasons, including public statements made about the evidence in this case, my office believed the likelihood of securing a conviction was not certain, Foxx wrote without elaborating.
Foxx also said she welcomed an independent investigation into her offices handling of the case.
As for Sharpton, he told the crowd Saturday that he wasnt going to weigh in on whether Smollett was guilty.
I dont know where that falls in judicial lines, Sharpton said, when asked whether Smollett at a minimum should have been forced to apologize and express guilt before Foxxs office dropped the charges. What she did or didnt do, coulda, woulda, shoulda done does not, in any way to me, justify the hypocrisy shown by city officials that, in my opinion, helped to influence the last election.
Sharpton also said he was against anybody misusing hate crimes, but vowed a nationwide push to defend Foxx from criticism.
I think they need to understand there will be a national reaction to them trying to profile Kim Foxx, Sharpton said. This hasnt nothing to do with Jussie Smollett, this has something to do with a black woman having the power that every prosecutor has.
bruthhart@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @BillRuthhart
Read more:
Rev. Al Sharpton defends Kim Foxx on Jussie Smollett case ...