A supporter of Cook County Attorney Kim Foxx, whose office recently dropped all charges against Empire actor Jussie Smollett, referred to the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police as the “Blue Klux Klan” in a Saturday afternoon press conference — a racial slur the top prosecutor would not refute when asked whether she concurred with the comparison.
Fox News correspondent Matt Finn reported the eye-opening comment was made by
Black Lives Matter activist Jamal Greene ahead of Foxx’s remarks on the Smollett case at Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr.’s Rainbow PUSH Coalition office in Chicago. As Kim Foxx made her way out of the press conference, Finn pressed the attorney repeatedly about whether she endorsed Greene’s remarks.
“Ms. Foxx, do you think the FOP is the blue klux klan? Do you think that every police officer is racist in this city?” You’re going to let somebody say that?” the reporter asked Foxx, who did not once acknowledge the question.
A rally in support of Kim Foxx just happened in which at least one speaker flat out called the FOP racist “blue klux klan.” Foxx did not object to that and carried on with her speech. After her extemely short presser I asked if she agrees that all police are racist: pic.twitter.com/kqM4G8hAze
— Matt Finn (@MattFinnFNC) April 6, 2019
In her remarks before supporters and the media, Foxx openly wondered if her race had something to do with the harsh criticism she has faced since her office announced that charges against Smollett had been dropped. The actor is accused by the Chicago Police Department of staging what he claimed to be a racist and homophobic attack in January. The Empire actor told officers two masked men assaulted him, doused him with an unknown chemical substance, and shouted “This is MAGA country! before fleeing.
“I have been asking myself for the last two weeks what is this really about,” Kim Foxx said. “As someone who has lived in this city, who came up in the projects of this city to serve as the first African American woman in this role, it is disheartening to me … that when we get in these positions somehow the goalposts change.”
Foxx, who claimed to have recused herself from the case after she communicating with a Smollett relative during the probe, reiterated that she welcomes of an independent investigation into the way she and her office handled the case. She also said that under the law, Smollett could be fined a maximum of $10,000 and that the actor did pay that amount because his $10,000 bond was forfeited.
However, Foxx did not address specifics of the case, or the criticism leveled by legal experts and others who said it was highly unusual not to require an admission of guilt by Smollett, particularly since at the time they dropped charges, prosecutors said they believed they could have proven the charges against the actor.
“In my 48 years of practice, I certainly have never seen a deferred prosecution done like that,” Richard Kling, an IIT-Kent Law School professor told the Chicago Sun-Times last week.
Foxx also responded to the calls by various critics to resign, saying that she will complete her term that ends next year and has plans to run for re-election.
Chicago law officials plan on filing a civil lawsuit against Smollett to recoup the roughly $130,000 the city spent on alleged hate hoax investigation.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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