State's Attorney Kim Foxx has been accused of being 'behind the decision' to drop the charges against Jussie Smollett, who could still face federal charges as the FBI and the US Postal Inspection Service investigate whether or not the Empire star sent a racist and homophobic letter to himself three months ago.
Foxx recused herself from the case because she had exchanged text messages with a member of Smollett's family in the days after the incident.
She has been accused of trying to wrestle the case out of the hands of the Chicago Police Department and have the FBI take it over at the request of Smollett family friend Tina Tchen, who is Michelle Obama's former chief of staff.
The police union in Chicago says it should have gone to a special prosecutor and believe it is especially suspicious given Tuesday's outcome.
'Recusing herself, but not her administration, is a distinction without a difference,' Fraternal Order of Police Second Vice President Martin Preib told The New York Post. 'What underling is going to go against their boss’s wishes?'
Last week, the union called for Foxx to face investigation from the Attorney General for her handling of the investigation.
Among their concerns are text messages exchanged between Foxx and Smollett's relatives.
One, written by Smollett's relative after Foxx told them she was trying to convince the police to hand over the probe, is of particular worry.
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State's Attorney Kim Foxx (left) has been accused of being 'behind the decision' to drop the charges against Jussie Smollett (right on Tuesday), who could still face federal charges as the FBI and the US Postal Inspection Service investigate whether or not the Empire star sent a racist and homophobic letter to himself three months ago
Foxx recused herself from the case because she had exchanged text messages with a member of Smollett's family in the days after the incident. She has been accused of trying to wrestle the case out of the hands of the Chicago PD
Foxx has also been accused of trying to get the FBI to take over the case at the request of Smollett family friend Tina Tchen (pictured with the former president and first lady), who is Michelle Obama's former chief of staff
Smollett's relative, who was not identified when the texts became public earlier this month, replied: 'OMG this would be a huge victory' when Foxx said she was 'trying' to get it handed over.
The union says her recusing herself from the probe once Smollett was charged was not enough.
Kevin Graham, the union's president, said: 'In order for Ms. Foxx to properly charge and try this case, her entire office should have recused itself and a special prosecutor been appointed.'
Meanwhile, the FBI will continue investigating a threatening letter that Smollett received at the studio in Chicago where Empire is filmed on January 22, just days before he was attacked.
Chicago police later said that they believed Smollett sent the letter himself. No photographs of it emerged until after the alleged attack on January 29.
On Tuesday, First Assistant State's Attorney Joe Magats, the prosecutor who decided to drop the charges against Smollett, admitted that he does not believe the actor is innocent. Magats claimed he dropped the case because the actor has no criminal background.
'I do not believe he is innocent,' Magats told CBS on Tuesday afternoon.
Magats said that he thought Smollett was guilty but that 'based on the facts and circumstances' of the case and his 'lack of criminal background', the decision was made not to pursue the 16 felony disorderly conduct charges that a grand jury returned.
It came after a furious press conference from Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie T. Johnson who decried it as a 'whitewash of justice' and said Smollett got off 'scot-free' because he is famous.
Meanwhile, the FBI will continue investigating a threatening letter (pictured) that Smollett received at the studio in Chicago where Empire is filmed on January 22, just days before he was attacked
Chicago police later said that they believed Smollett sent the letter himself. No photographs of it emerged until after the alleged attack on January 29
As Magats spoke out, more details of Smollett's 'deal' with prosecutors emerged.
Between Saturday and Monday, he spent 16 hours performing community service at Rainbow PUSH Coalition, a civil rights organization in Chicago where he 'worked in bookstores, sold merchandise, stuffed envelopes, spoke to students and helped in the video department'.
Smollett's family has claimed that even though he forfeited $10,000 in bond money and completed community service, they did not make a deal with prosecutors. They claim he has been completely vindicated by the outcome and that it proves he was telling the truth all along.
Magats also dismissed the mayor's criticism, saying: 'Not true, it’s just not. It’s not a whitewash, he did community service, he has forfeited his bond, it’s just not a whitewash.'
The attorney also insisted that Foxx did not impact his decision.
Mayor Emanuel said the sudden decision to drop the charges proved there is 'one set of rules for the powerful and influential' and another for others which he said sent a 'clear' and 'wrong' 'message'.
He and Johnson were blindsided by the announcement which they learned of while attending a police academy graduation ceremony.
'Without a doubt this is a whitewash of justice and sends a clear message that if you are in a position of influence and power, you'll be treated one way. It is wrong,' Mayor Emanuel said.
'Not only do I support the hard work of the police department, I'd like to remind everybody a grand jury indicted this individual based on only a piece of the evidence the police had gathered,' he said.
He went on to condemn Smollett for speaking out after the court hearing and protesting his innocence.
'Mr. Smollett is still saying that he is innocent, still running down the Chicago Police Department... how dare him. How dare him after everybody saw. Is there no decency in this man?'
First Assistant Joe Magats said that he thought Smollett was guilty but that 'based on the facts and circumstances' of the case and 'based on his lack of criminal background', the decision was made
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel joined Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie T. Johnson (left) on Tuesday at a press conference to condemn the outcome of the Smollett case
'He did this all in the name of self promotion. And he used the laws of the hate crime legislation.'
Johnson, who publicly condemned Smollett last month and said his lies were 'despicable', also slammed the star for asking that the evidence be sealed.
'I would want my day in court to clear my name.
'They wanted their day in court with TV cameras,' he said, referring to Smollett's team's eagerness to allow cameras in the courtroom.
'[Now] they chose to hide behind secrecy. You all know what the bond proffer said.
'We all know what it said if they want to dispute those facts the place to do that is in court not in secrecy,' he said.
You cannot have, because of a person's position, one set of rules apply to them and another set of rules apply to everybody else...Nobody else would ever get close to this type of treatment
- Mayor Rahm Emanuel
'Our job as police officers is to present them with the evidence.
'If you want to say you are innocent of a situation then you take your day in court
'I would never, if someone falsely accused me, I would never hide behind a brokered deal and secrecy,' he said.
Emanuel added: 'This is not on the level. From top to bottom' when asked if they had been told about the decision.
Smollett was indicted on 16 felony counts that were returned by a grand jury which Emanuel said it proved that it was not just the police department which thought he was guilty.
'This is not the superintendent's word against his.
'The grand jury saw a sliver of the evidence and they came to a conclusion,' he said, adding that the judge's decision to grant make all of the evidence sealed meant that the truth would never come out.
'This is a person now who has been left off scot-free with no sense of accountability of the moral and ethical wrong of his actions, from top to bottom.
'This sends an unambiguous decision that there is no accountability and it's wrong,' Emanuel said.
He also slammed Smollett's $10,000 bond forfeiture which is a tiny fraction of the amount spent trying to investigate the case, he said.
Anthony Guglielmi, the Chicago PD spokesman, fired off this tweet after the news on Tuesday
'This $10,000 doesn't even come close to what the city spent in resources to actually look over the cameras, gather all the data, get all the information that actually brought the indictment by the grand jury.
'Where is the accountability in the system? You cannot have, because of a person's position, one set of rules apply to them and another set of rules apply to everybody else,' he added.
He compared the incident to the college bribery scandal and said: 'You have a person because of their position and their background who is getting treated in a way that nobody else would ever get close to this type of treatment.'
Magats said it had decided not to pursue the charges because his office prioritized 'violent crime' and that Smollett's alleged wrongdoing did not fall into that category.
The pair said there was enough evidence to convict Smollett but that it would never see the light of day because of the judge's decision to seal the case.
'We did not exonerate him. We work to prioritize violent crime and the drivers of violent crime.
'Public safety is our number one priority. I don't see Jussie Smollett as a threat to public safety,' Joe Magats, Assistant State's Attorney, told https://twitter.com/juliebosman/status/1110591523794632704
Smollett read from a small piece of paper which had handwritten notes on it during a press conference on Tuesday
Smollett had been facing up to 48 years behind bars on 16 felony counts of lying to police by claiming he was attacked on January 29 by two men he said he could not identify and who he said called him racial and homophobic slurs.
'Hey everybody,
'I just made a couple of notes. First of all I want to thank my family, my friends, the incredible people of Chicago and all over the country and world who have prayed for me, who have supported me and who have shown me so much love. No one will ever know how much that has meant to me. I want you to know that not for a moment was it in vain.
'I have been truthful and consistent on every single level since day one. I would not be my mother's son if I was capable of even one drop of what I have been accused of.
'This has been an incredibly difficult time, honestly one of the worst of my entire life. But I am a man of faith and I am a man that has knowledge of my history.
'I would not bring my family, our lives or the movement through a fire like this. I just wouldn't.
'I want to thank my legal counsel from the bottom of my heart, and I would also like to thank the state of Illinois for attempting to do what's right. I would like nothing more than to just get back to work and move on with my life but make no mistakes, I will always continue to fight for the justice, equality and betterment of marginalized people everywhere.
'So again, thank you for all the support. Thank you to faith and thank you to God.
'Bless y'all. Thank you very much.'
On Tuesday, an emergency hearing was scheduled during which the charges were suddenly dropped. Smollett agreed to surrender his $10,000 bond and walked out of court a free man.
His lawyers say there was no plea deal but CBS gave details of the community service he completed as part of their agreement and his attorney admitted he paid the bond because he wanted to move on with his life.
Smollett spent 16 hours between Saturday and Monday at the Rainbow PUSH Coalition where staff say he was 'accessible' to people and gave 'critique' to young people on film making.
The question of why prosecutors who had boasted about their evidence against him suddenly dropped the case remains.
In his statement on Tuesday, Smollett gave no other explanation for the attack - which his personal trainers carried out on him - but said he had been truthful all along in his claims that he did not recognize them when they jumped him.
'I want to thank my family, my friends, the incredible people of Chicago and all over the country and world who have prayed for me, supported me and shown me love.
'No one will ever know how much that has meant to me. Not for a moment was it in vain,' he said.
After making his statement, Smollett took selfies with fans outside the courthouse then got into a waiting car.
He refused to say whether he planned to fight against the Chicago Police Department or the prosecutor's office for accusing him of staging the January 29 attack, but said he would continue to 'fight for justice' and for the 'marginalized' people of the world.
It remains unclear what prompted the decision but the Cook County's State's Attorney's office said it was due in part to Smollett's 'volunteer service in the community'.
20th Century Fox said it was 'gratified' that he had been cleared.
'Jussie Smollett has always maintained his innocence and we are gratified that all charges against him have been dismissed,' a spokesman said.
On Tuesday morning, a State's Attorney's Office spokesman told DailyMail.com it was confident in the police investigation into him and still satisfied with its decision to bring charges but would not say why then he was not being prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
'After reviewing all of the facts and circumstanced of the case, including Mr. Smollett's volunteer service in the community and agreement to forfeit his bond to the City of Chicago, we believe this outcome is a just disposition and appropriate resolution to this case,' they said.
Smollett walks past a bank of photographers, adjusting his sunglasses, before leaving the court with his lawyers
Smollett said in his statement that he would 'not be his mother's son' if he was capable of 'even a drop' of what he had been accused of.
He promised to continue to 'fight for the marginalized' in society and said he had been truthful 'on every single level since day one.'
His lawyers refused to answer reporters' questions about whether Smollett would sue the city and admitted that Smollett had agreed to forfeit his bond in order to 'move on'.
Joe Magats
The Assistant State's Attorney whose decision it was to drop the charges against Smollett said that he had done so because he wanted to prioritize 'violent' crime but said it did not vindicate the actor entirely.
'We did not exonerate him. We work to prioritize violent crime and the drivers of violent crime.
'Public safety is our number one priority. I don't see Jussie Smollett as a threat to public safety,' Joe Magats told The New York Times on Tuesday.
Initially, his office would only say that it had decided this was the best outcome given Smollett's service in the community.
He also accepted his $10,000 bond forfeiture.
The State's Attorney's Office said in a statement it stood behind the police work and investigation which led to Smollett's arrest.
'I have no idea what occurred in this case or why it occurred. I can just say that things seem to spiral somewhat out of control.
'We've gotten to a result that is the right result and we are happy for that,' his lawyer, Patricia Brown Holmes said.
She said that brothers Abel and Ola Osundairo were the ones who attacked Smollett but gave no explanation as to why they did it.
There was confusion over whether or not the decision was part of a deal.
Smollett's attorneys insisted that it was not but admitted he had agreed to pay the $10,000 bond forfeiture in order to move in with his life.
Police also said it was not usual for someone who has been vindicated and had the charges against them dropped to still give money to the city.
The Fraternal Order of Police, which represents 8,000 cops, has already called for the Attorney General to investigate Foxx for her handling of the case because she tried to have it turned over to the FBI at the request of Smollett's family in the days after the attack.
She was contacted by Tina Tchen, Michelle Obama's former chief of staff, on February 1, on behalf of the Smollett family.
Smollett took selfies with fans outside the court before getting in to a waiting car
Smollett arrives back at his apartment building with his attorneys and some relatives on Tuesday
Smollett returned back to his apartment building, near where he was attacked, with his attorneys after the hearing on Tuesday
Tchen wanted her to convince Chicago PD to hand the investigation over to the FBI and Foxx agreed to try to.
She then exchanged text messages with an unnamed relative of Smollett's about it who said: 'OMG this would be a huge victory.'
On Tuesday, Smollett's family welcomed the news and said they were 'looking forward to bringing the real perpetrators to justice.'
-Two letters with homophobic and racist slurs inside envelopes containing white powder addressed to Smollett and sent to the set of Empire on January 22 . A month later, police state that Smollett wrote these letters, but the FBI refuses to confirm.
-Surveillance footage taken throughout the city during the early hours of January 29, which shows Nigerian brothers Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundair arriving to the area near Smollett's apartment around the time of the attack and then leaving, getting in a car and being dropped of near their apartment in Chicago.
-Smollett's subsequent interview with a detective on January 29 after his first statement to police early that
