ACTION NOW: REPORT ILLINOIS LAWYERS FOR POSSIBLE WRONGDOING IN SMOLLETT CASE

Illinois Attorney Disciplinary Commission ^ | 3/29/19

[Liz]

Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission

If the office of the lawyer involved is in northern Illinois, please send the request to our Chicago office:
One Prudential Plaza
130 East Randolph Drive, Suite 1500
Chicago, IL 60601-6219
(312) 565-2600 (800) 826-8625
Fax: (312) 565-2320

In central or southern Illinois, we ask that you send the request to our Springfield office:
3161 West White Oaks Drive, Suite 301
Springfield, IL 62704
(217) 546-3523 Toll free (800) 252-8048 Fax: (217) 546-3785

[Liz]

TALKING POINTS: Tina Tchen to the Rescue
High-powered Obama fixer pulls strings for hoaxster Jussie Smollett.
Colluded with Illinois prosecutor who dropped all charges
SOURCE Frontpagemagazine ^ | March 29, 2019 | Lloyd Billingsley / FR Posted by SJackson

As the Chicago Sun-Times reported, “Michelle Obama’s former chief of staff said Wednesday that her behind-the-scenes communications with Cook County’s top prosecutor about the case involving actor Jussie Smollett were not intended at influencing the outcome of the case.” The former chief of staff is Tina Tchen, who said in a statement: “I know members of the Smollett family based on prior work together. Shortly after Mr. Smollett reported he was attacked, as a family friend, I contacted Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, who I also know from prior work together. My sole activity was to put the chief prosecutor in the case in touch with an alleged victim’s family who had concerns about how the investigation was being characterized in public.”

It wasn’t clear if Tina Chen, 63, was actually representing anyone in the Smollett family. On the other hand, with her BA from Harvard and JD from Northwestern, Tchen is well qualified to represent top-drawer clients. “A high-powered lawyer, Tina’s career accomplishments have established her as a powerful advocate for gender equality,” explains the Harry Walker Agency, the “world’s leading speakers’ bureau” representing Jeff Flake and Stacey Abrams, “a dynamic in-demand duo,” along with Ben Rhodes, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama and former UN boss Ban Ki-Moon, among many others.

As the agency notes, Tina is “spearheading the $13.7 million (with a goal to raise $15 million) Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund, which is administered by the National Women’s Law Center’s Legal Network for Gender Equity, and will connect female victims of sexual harassment with lawyers.” Tchen’s profile notes her White House service as chief of staff for the First Lady and special assistant to the president Barack Obama, but there’s more about Tina.

“Energetic, authentic and engaging on stage, she empowers the next generation to raise their voices and take action now to secure a better tomorrow for women and minorities across the country and world.” Who better to intervene on behalf of POTUS 44 pal Jussie Smollett and his family? As Patrick Howley of Big League Politics observes, Tchen intervened with Kim Foxx to convince the judge to drop charges. Howley notes that “George Soros’s money largely helped put Foxx in office” and that the “pro-Bernie Sanders group Reclaim Chicago is sweet on Foxx as a politician.”

According to Reclaim Chicago: “The Jussie Smollett case is a sad commentary on our celebrity obsessed society as well the fact that real hate crimes against Black LGBTQ in Chicago each year go without the same attention from police and the media.” Nearly 30 percent of hate crimes were against African Americans, the group claims, and “the next most frequent targets involved sexual orientation at 17.6 percent.” The victims “are often not believed by police and are more likely the victims of police violence.” So the Smollett hoax plays into the anti-cop narrative, but the story is more layered.

Howley also dug up a 2017 Instagram post from Jussie Smollett’s sister Jurnee Smollett-Bell. She had been invited to introduce Senator Obama during the primaries, when the odds were stacked against him. He said he was “too young, too black, too different” and he was “an other.” Jurnee worked the phone banks for the candidate and as he left office she wrote “You will go down as the greatest president who did the most with the least help from his ‘congressional leaders.’ So I thank you for being you.” This could have been the Smollett family member on whose behalf the dynamic, high-powered Tina Tchen intervened.

Jussie Smollett already had an agent but proved something of a bust as the producer of a hoax. He mailed fake letters to himself and paid two Nigerian men $3500, by check, to pour bleach on him, string a noose around his neck and shout racist and homophobic slurs while proclaiming “this is MAGA country.” This caper recalled the Monty Python sketch about Stig O’Tracy (Eric Idle) who furiously denied that the notorious Dinsdale Piranha nailed his head to the floor. Informed that the police had film footage of the gangster nailing his head to the floor, O’Tracy concedes, “Well he had to, didn’t he? I mean there was nothing else he could do, be fair. I mean, he didn't want to nail my head to the floor. I had to insist. He wanted to let me off.”

In similar style, the police had ample evidence that Smollett faked the whole thing but the office of Illinois state attorney Kim Foxx sealed the records and dropped 16 felony charges. Smollett then proclaimed “I have been truthful and consistent on every single level since day one.” For the actor and his defenders, he was still an innocent victim. That recalls the scene from The Godfather, in which Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) confronts Carlo, who played out a “farce” with Michael’s sister that led to the murder of Sonny. Michael was not fooled. “Don’t tell me you are innocent,” Michael tells Carlo, “because it insults my intelligence and makes me very angry.”

People across the country are angry that Jussie Smollett will not face trial. Some high-powered lawyer in Washington needs to sit down with George Soros protégé Kim Foxx and POTUS 44 fixer Tina Tchen.

[Stosh]

Apparently this is a case for Harry “Snapper” Organs.

[cornfedcowboy]

Let Chicago be Chicago. This is futile.

[cuban leaf]

The Piranha Brothers are going down HARD this time!

[Grampa Dave]

Rahm Emanuel blames Trump for Jussie Smollett controversy, creating ‘toxic environment’, tells him to ‘sit on the sidelines’

Trump tweets FBI, DOJ will review Jussie Smollett case
CHICAGO – Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Thursday emphatically urged President Trump to butt out of the ongoing drama over embattled “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett as he blamed him for creating a “toxic environment” where someone would allegedly fabricate such an attack.

“My recommendation is the president go to Opening Day baseball, sit on the sidelines and stay out of this,” Emanuel told a group of reporters.

The mayor called Chicago a “Trump-free zone” and blamed the president for creating a “toxic” and “hate-filled” environment that allowed Smollett to think he could get away with faking a hate crime.

TRUMP SAYS DOJ, FBI TO REVIEW OUTRAGEOUS DECISION TO DROP CHARGES IN JUSSIE SMOLLETT CASE

“Let me be clear about something. The only reason Jussie Smollett thought he could take advantage of a hoax about a hate crime is because of the environment, the toxic environment that Donald Trump created,” Emanuel said.

“This is a president who drew a moral equivalency between people who are trying to perpetuate bigotry and those who are trying to fight bigotry.

More Rahm trash talk at link below.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/chicago-mayor-urges-trump-to-sit-on-the-sidelines-in-the-smollett-case

[Leep]

Please don’t arrest Martin Luther Rosa Ghandi Smollett.
The greatest modern Civil Rights Activist in recent times.

[robel]

On the hand, rohm blames Trump, then all but orders him to stay out of it. Sounds like he’s taunting him.

[Maskot]

Do these people NOT see that THEY are the ones creating a toxic environment with THEIR vicious rhetoric???

I mean, seriously? We’ve got members of CONGRESS telling their supporters to “get in our faces” and it’s Trump who blamed?? Talk about effed up brains.

[Liz]

IPBA STATEMENT ON JUSSIE SMOLLETT CASE DISMISSAL
Illinois Prosecutors Bar Association ^ | 28 Mar 2019 2:49 PM | Lee Roupas, President, IPBA
Posted on 3/29/2019, 11:04:38 AM by FreedomPoster

The Illinois Prosecutors Bar Association serves as the voice for nearly 1,000 front line prosecutors across the State who work tirelessly towards the pursuit of justice. The events of the past few days regarding the Cook County State’s Attorney’s handling of the Jussie Smollett case is not condoned by the IPBA, nor is it representative of the honest ethical work prosecutors provide to the citizens of the State of Illinois on a daily basis.

The manner in which this case was dismissed was abnormal and unfamiliar to those who practice law in criminal courthouses across the State. Prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges alike do not recognize the arrangement Mr. Smollett received. Even more problematic, the State’s Attorney and her representatives have fundamentally misled the public on the law and circumstances surrounding the dismissal.

The public has the right to know the truth, and we set out to do that here.

When an elected State’s Attorney recuses herself from a prosecution, Illinois law provides that the court shall appoint a special prosecutor. See 55 ILCS 5/3-9008(a-15). Typically, the special prosecutor is a neighboring State’s Attorney, the Attorney General, or the State Appellate Prosecutor. Here, the State’s Attorney kept the case within her office and thus never actually recused herself as a matter of law.

Additionally, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office falsely informed the public that the uncontested sealing of the criminal court case was “mandatory” under Illinois law. This statement is not accurate. To the extent the case was even eligible for an immediate seal, that action was discretionary, not mandatory, and only upon the proper filing of a petition to seal. See 20 ILCS 2630/5.2(g)(2). For seals not subject to Section 5.2(g)(2), the process employed in this case by the State’s Attorney effectively denied law enforcement agencies of legally required Notice (See 20 ILCS 2630/5.2(d)(4)) and the legal opportunity to object to the sealing of the file (See 20 ILCS 2630/5.2(d)(5)). The State’s Attorney not only declined to fight the sealing of this case in court, but then provided false information to the public regarding it.

The appearance of impropriety here is compounded by the fact that this case was not on the regularly scheduled court call, the public had no reasonable notice or opportunity to view these proceedings, and the dismissal was done abruptly at what has been called an “emergency” hearing. To date, the nature of the purported emergency has not been publicly disclosed. The sealing of a court case immediately following a hearing where there was no reasonable notice or opportunity for the public to attend is a matter of grave public concern and undermines the very foundation of our public court system.

Lastly, the State’s Attorney has claimed this arrangement is “available to all defendants” and “not a new or unusual practice.” There has even been an implication it was done in accordance with a statutory diversion program. These statements are plainly misleading and inaccurate. This action was highly unusual, not a statutory diversion program, and not in accordance with well accepted practices of State’s Attorney initiated diversionary programs. The IPBA supports diversion programs, and recognizes the many benefits they provide to the community, the defendant and to the prosecuting agency. Central to any diversion program, however, is that the defendant must accept responsibility. To be clear here, this simply was not a deferred prosecution.

Prosecutors must be held to the highest standard of legal ethics in the pursuit of justice. The actions of the Cook County State’s Attorney have fallen woefully short of this expectation. Through the repeated misleading and deceptive statements to the public on Illinois law and circumstances surrounding the Smollett dismissal, the State’s Attorney has failed in her most fundamental ethical obligations to the public. The IPBA condemns these actions.

This irregular arrangement was an affront to prosecutors across the State, the Chicago Police Department, victims of hate crimes, and the people of the City of Chicago and Cook County. We strongly encourage our members and the public to review the National District Attorneys Associations statement on prosecutorial best practices in high profile cases.

Best Regards,

Lee Roupas President, Illinois Prosecutor’s Bar Association

[Qiviut]

I can't take credit for this, but it's a good one:

Something is rotten in Chicago - I can Smollett.

[Liz]

"I skipped law class the day they taught penalizing multiple felonies. I was getting my nails done."

Chicago columnists blasted Kim Foxx's decision to drop the 16 felony counts against hoaxer Smollett. Chicago police union called for a federal investigation into Kim Foxx’s handling of the case.....her sub rosa actions on the Smollett family’s behalf after she was contacted by Tina Tchen, Michelle Obama's onetime aide. “Amateur hour is over.” ....this is nothing new for Kim Foxx. We’ve been complaining about her for two years on so many levels. Her office is just completely out of control.”

Equally reprehensible are the idiots at Southern Illinois University School of Law who gave her a law degree.
And those at Southern Illinois University Carbondale who let her out.

[Candor7]

The Cook County State’s Attorney may be disbarred?

Oh....I forgot, THAT would be a civil rights violation because she black?

[fishtank]

He who Smollett it,

dealt it.

[outofsalt]

This sounds so much like James Comey’s statement on Hillary Clinton’s private server. A description of everything that stinks about the actions that transpired with absolutely no consequences resulting from them.

Someone paid off the Smollett prosecutor to drop this and I believe the original hoax was also a managed event from the git go. It was a set up to draw sympathy to a fake victim and disparage Trump supporters. Jussie was put up to doing it by someone who was pulling his strings and needed to make this end fast when it threatened to blow up. It was not just a salary issue.

[SierraWasp]

I certainly do enjoy the tireless efforts on your part to fight scoff-laws here on FR!!!

Thanks for the "Pings" to your potent info and analysis and may God Bless You in all your efforts to Make America Straight Again!!!

[Liz]

T/Y

[babyfreep]

Hearing him side with his CPD and actually admit that Jussie perpetuated this hoax was too good to be true. Of course, he had to blame Trump for it.

I know of a few MAGAs who wrote to the mayor and “thanked” him for speaking the truth. I guess that made him think...”hmmmm...Trump supporters thanking me - I better shake that image fast.”

[Flaming Conservative]

Condescending little creep, isn’t he?

[Grampa Dave]

Condescending little creep, isn’t he?

Rahm is below condescending.

[Grampa Dave]

Rahm is now caught in no win situation for him.