Free Republic

A political action committee founded by liberal billionaire philanthropist — and Donald Trump nemesis — George Soros kicked $2 million to a committee supporting Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx in her re-election bid against three Democratic primary challengers.

Prosecutors on Monday charged 20-year-old Alvin Thomas with two counts of first-degree murder for the shooting deaths of 36-year-old Huayi Bian and 38-year-old Weizhon Xiong in a parking lot on the 2000 block of South Wells around 2:13 a.m. Sunday. Responding police officers tracked Thomas down by following a set of bloody footprints from the crime scene to the 2100 block of South Archer, according to an officer who is familiar with the case. In August 2018, Police arrested Thomas, 19-year-old Herbert Sanderfer, and 22-year-old Dijon Williams near the Belmont Red Line station. A grand jury indicted all of the...

Handing a small victory to Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, the hearing officer who listened to arguments on whether her nominating petition to run for office was legitimate, has recommended the first-term prosecutor stay on the ballot in her bid for reelection, records show. Foxx’s nominating petition signatures had been challenged in an effort to keep her name off the March 17 primary election ballot in Cook County. Objectors argued that Foxx had too many invalid signatures in her petition and that represented a “pattern of fraud,” but hearing officer Barbara Goodman wrote in her decision that they didn’t...

A hearing officer (Barbara Goodman) has recommended Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx and Clerk of the Circuit Court hopeful Michael Cabonargi appear on the March primary ballot despite challenges to their nominating petitions. Goodman also recommended Cabonargi appear on the March ballot. Cabonargi, who serves on the county’s Board of Review, is running for clerk of the circuit court. Foxx had 3,362 signatures more than the required minimum (7,279) to appear on the ballot after a petition challenge filed by former 2nd Ward Ald. Bob Fioretti’s campaign. Fioretti’s team alleged Foxx’s petition sheets showed a pattern of fraud.

Although Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx submitted nearly three times the number of signatures needed to be placed on the ballot, challengers argued on Monday that more than half of her nominating petitions were improperly completed and she should be disqualified from seeking reelection. “We have a clear fraud,” said Jeffrey Greenspan, adding that because Foxx is the county’s highest-ranking law enforcement official, she has a special obligation to get it right.” Foxx’s attorneys said that there is no evidence to support such bold claims and that Foxx collected well above the required number of signatures, anticipating that some...

As is now demonstrably clear, 2020 countywide Democratic candidates Kim Foxx and Mike Cabonargi are not feeling blessed. In fact, they are probably feeling angry, paranoid and downright disgusted. Both were the slated candidates for the state's attorney and Clerk of Circuit Court, respectively. Both were on the same nominating petition. Each gave the Democratic Party $40,000 to get the necessary minimum of 7,279 signatures, as well as to be on the party sample ballot and have a countywide mailer. And both are now in serious jeopardy of being knocked off the March 17 primary ballot due to an insufficient...

Why risk provoking the Carol Moseley Braun defense? You know, when pointing out obvious deficiencies of public officials who are black is portrayed as a form of bigotry. Thus, if I observe, that Foxx wasn't ready for the job her main qualifications being a law degree and a cozy spot under the wing of Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who elevated her for reasons mysterious then suddenly I'm Bull Connor tightening my grip around an axe handle. When in reality, the defense itself is racist: the racism of low expectations, the unsupportable notion that certain public figures are exempt...

A few days ago, the Frank Report reviewed the timeline in the Jessie Smollett case – and the reasons why Cook County Circuit Court Judge Michael P. Toomin appointed Dan Webb to serve as a Special Prosecutor in the matter. Dan Webb As we noted at the time, Webb was appointed to investigate allegations that Jussie Smollett staged a fake racist, anti-gay attack against himself – and to determine why the Cook County State Attorney’s Office dismissed all the charges on which he had been indicted. So, what kinds of charges could Smollett be facing as a result of Dan...

Jussie Smollett’s PR team says “every iota” of his account of being the victim of a racist, anti-gay attack in Chicago is supported by police evidence despite police repeatedly saying it was all staged. A statement emailed Wednesday follows a city filing Monday defending its lawsuit seeking to recoup costs of investigating what it says was a January publicity stunt. The statement says “every iota of information … Smollett has stated has been fully corroborated.” The statement didn’t say what evidence allegedly backs Smollett’s claim that masked men hurling racist and homophobic insults beat him and looped a noose around...

“You think she’ll take the Fifth?” retired Judge Sheila O’Brien asked on my podcast, “The Chicago Way.” Stunning questions are often the simplest. I was stunned to the soles of my shoes. “That’s my question. Does she take the Fifth? Think of it,” O’Brien said. “You’re Kim Foxx now, and you’re thinking, ‘I’ve got to hire a lawyer.’ The county can’t pay for that, I don’t think. Hope not. You’re her lawyer now. What do you do? She has that right. Do you have her take the Fifth?” But could a Cook County prosecutor seeking reelection find refuge in the...

<p>CHICAGO (AP) — Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx says the work of a special prosecutor investigating why her office dropped charges against Jussie Smollett accusing the actor of staging an attack on himself has begun.</p> <p>Her remarks to reporters Tuesday were her first extensive comments since a judge Friday appointed former U.S. Attorney Dan Webb as special prosecutor.</p>

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Thanks to almost $1 million contributed by George Soros, Parisa Dehghani-Tafti defeated the incumbent DA in Arlington and Steve Descano defeated the incumbent in Fairfax. Those two victories bring the total number of campaigns that Soros has tried to buy to at least 23. The $583,000 that Soros gave Tafti represented 78 percent of her total campaign budget. The $392,000 George sent Descano was marginally less at 71 percent of his budget. In those two true blue counties winning the Democrat primary means winning in November, too. So, what did Soros buy? Two more DAs who won’t be prosecuting “quality...

Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx changed her explanation on Friday for her recusal from the Jussie Smollett case, as her office released more than 2,000 pages of documents on the case. Foxx said she was advised to withdraw from the case based on unfounded rumors that she was related to the "Empire" actor, who was accused of faking a hate crime against himself. That explanation conflicts with the statement her office gave in February, which said she stepped aside due to conversations she had with a Smollett relative about the investigation. [snip] In her statement on Friday, Foxx said...

The former chief of staff to Michelle Obama evaded a subpoena Wednesday from retired Illinois Appellate Judge Sheila O’Brien. O’Brien wants Tchen to hand over records related to her conversations with Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx regarding the ‘Empire’ actor. Chicago attorney Tina Tchen — who was in contact with Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx before the charges were dropped against former “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett — refused to be served with a subpoena on Wednesday, according to the process server. Tchen, who previously served as former First Lady Michelle Obama’s chief of staff, refused to accept a...

Tina Tchen, the former chief of staff to first lady Michelle Obama, declined Wednesday to be served with a subpoena by a retired Illinois judge seeking the appointment of a special prosecutor in the Jussie Smollett case, according to the process server. In an email to former Illinois appellate judge Sheila O'Brien obtained by Fox News, the process server wrote that a security guard at the Chicago law firm where Tchen is a partner "called up to her and spoke with her and she said that she in [sic] never going to accept service and to not allow me up...

A Cook County judge on Friday swatted down a request that a judge from outside the county make the decision whether a special prosecutor should be appointed to investigate the abrupt dismissal of charges against "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett. During a long and sometimes testy hearing, Judge Michael Toomin rejected the request by Sheila O'Brien, a former appellate judge, saying she had failed to show that Cook County judges would be too prejudiced to make the decision. Toomin also denied O'Brien's attempt -- hastily written out longhand during the hearing at the Leighton Criminal Court Building-- to automatically substitute Toomin...

Keeping Jussie Smollett’s criminal records under wraps is pointless since the high-profile charges against him — and their subsequent bombshell dismissal — made news all over the world, attorneys for the Chicago Tribune and other news organizations argued Thursday in court in a bid to unseal the files. “There is no way to secrete the fact of Jussie Smollett’s arrest. At this point it is widely and publicly known from here to Helsinki and back,” said Natalie Spears, a Tribune attorney. “No potential employer, let alone anyone with a pulse, does not know about Jussie Smollett’s arrest at this point.”...

"Law and Order" fans, how's this for an episode? A retired judge calls for a special prosecutor to examine how Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx mishandled the notorious case of actor Jussie Smollett -- a case abandoned under peculiar circumstances that imply Foxx improperly gave the celebrity special and unfair treatment by dropping charges that he had faked and lied about a racist, homophobic attack by supporters of President Trump. The effort by Foxx's office to pre-empt appointment of a special prosecutor only intensifies questions: What's the full list of outsiders who sought to influence Foxx? Who motivated a...

The Narcotics Division is being done away with. Narcotics cases will be handled by the general trial division. (Just like when they were put on bond and their cases continued forever until they pick up a new case and pled out to concurrent time). Many of the ASAs who were in the narcotics unit were transferred into a new unit called Restorative Justice. Restorative Justice: The victim is invited to come to court and met the guy who stole their property or burglarized their house so he can say he’s sorry. If he does this, he gets to avoid prison....