Jussie Smollett’s lawyer responded to Chicago police’s new trajectory in the investigation of his attack, in anticipation of the “Empire” actor’s next interview with law enforcement.
“As a victim of a hate crime who has cooperated with the police investigation, Jussie Smollett is angered and devastated by recent reports that the perpetrators are individuals he is familiar with. He has now been further victimized by claims attributed to these alleged perpetrators that Jussie played a role in his own attack. Nothing is further from the truth and anyone claiming otherwise is lying,” wrote Smollett’s lawyers Todd S. Pugh and Victor P. Henderson, in a statement obtained by Deadline.
The statement comes after Chicago police interviewed the previously sought persons of interest in the still image taken from surveillance video.
Police arrested the potential suspects on Feb. 13, then released them without charge on Feb. 15. The two men, Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo, are brothers. One of them was an extra on “Empire” three seasons ago, according to Deadline.
Turns out Jussie and his Nigerian buddies actually REHEARSED the attack days earlier. How non-racist we MAGA Republicans must be that a guy like Jussie needs to fabricate racism to pin the rap on us https://t.co/wo1ma48IYI
— Dinesh D’Souza (@DineshDSouza) February 17, 2019
In the statement, Smollett’s lawyers admit Smollett knew one of the suspects.
“One of these purported suspects was Jussie’s personal trainer who he hired to ready him physically for a music video,” read the statement.
But then the lawyers cast doubt on what the investigation of the suspects has led police to believe.
“It is impossible to believe that this person could have played a role in the crime against Jussie or would falsely claim Jussie’s complicity,” said the statement.
A CNN article indicates police sources have come to believe Smollett paid the two men to stage the attack. A source also told CNN that police traced the purchase of the rope found around Smollett’s neck to a purchase made by one of the arrested brothers at a Chicago hardware store.
BREAKING:Police raided the home of two persons of interest in Jussie Smollett case last night. Both men are of Nigerian decent and have appeared as extras on the show. Police took bleach, shoes electronics and more.Officers asked family if they knew #Jussiesmollett. @cbschicago pic.twitter.com/PDSFtf5jwb
— Charlie De Mar (@CharlieDeMar) February 14, 2019
Today reported that the two brothers are from Nigeria, and that police searched their home, finding a black ski mask, bottles of bleach, and an “Empire” script.
On Feb. 15, the same day the Osundairo brothers were released, Today published a video interview with Smollett. In the interview, Smollett said he did not notice the rope around his neck until after the attack was over, despite claiming he fought back hard against the alleged attackers until they ran away. He also said the attackers wore ski masks, and that he only gave the police a description of the alleged attackers’ body type, and that he didn’t make out anything else about them.
Yet Smollett confirms that the people in the image released by police are his alleged attackers.
“I don’t have any doubt in my mind that that’s them. Never did,” he said.
Smollett said that he first noticed bleach during the time after the police were called and before they arrived, while checking his injuries after the attack.
“But I smelled bleach. I know the smell of bleach. And I saw on my sweatshirt, it had marks on it, like spots on it when you have a bad bleach job.”
He said he did not change out of the clothing with the bleach substance, nor did he remove the rope from around his neck, while he waited for police to arrive. He also said he told them to turn their body cams off when they arrived.
Interviewer Robin Roberts brings up that people supported him earlier, but now have doubts as time has passed.
So these are the white supremacists that attacked #JussieSmollett ?
Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo
And all he had was a tiny scratch on his face? ???????? pic.twitter.com/gxBaqqF0rc
— Melanisha ♣️ (@bl_melanisha) February 15, 2019
“It feels like if I had said it was a Muslim, or a Mexican, or someone black, I feel like the doubters would have supported me a lot, much more. A lot more. And that says a lot about the place that we are in our country right now.”
He seems unaware that the two arrested by police were black, which were the same two he confirmed must have attacked him. And his reasoning for why he isn’t getting the support he got when the alleged attack was first publicized, has to do with society as a whole, and not the lack of evidence in this specific case.
In addition to racial and homophobic slurs, Smollett claimed his attackers shouted “MAGA country,” though he disputes reports they wore “Make America Great Again” hats.
When asked why he feels he was targeted, Smollett said it is because he speaks out against President Trump. But Roberts reminds him that President Trump said, “I think that’s horrible. It doesn’t get worse as far as I’m concerned” when asked about Smollett’s alleged attack. A clip of that response is included in the interview video.
@JussieSmollett thank you for reminding us all how #MAGA we have progressed under @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/4chDP4oJ71
— Mike Bayham (@MikeBayham) February 17, 2019
“It appears that Jussie Smollett tried to manufacture a hate crime to make Trump supporters look bad and most of the media not only uncritically accepted his lies as facts for weeks but attacked those who questioned the validity of his false story,” tweeted Donald Trump Jr., as the idea that Smollett manufactured the incident started to spread.
