Jussie Smollett released after six days in jail
Fox News' Todd Piro provides updates after Smollett's lawyers argued jail was 'too dangerous.'
Jussie Smollett’s brother appeared to cast doubt in the Chicago Police Department’s investigation into the hate crime hoax attack the "Empire" actor was convicted of last month.
Jocqui Smollett took to his brother Jussie’s Instagram account on Friday to pose the question as to why the Chicago Police Department "needs such a PR DEPARTMENT as if they are a Hollywood film studio."
"Because their entire SURVIVAL rides on FEEDING YOU FICTITIOUS STORIES that they DESPERATELY need YOU to buy," Smollett claimed in the caption of a 3:20-minute video shared to the actor’s Instagram profile in which he took aim at Anthony Guglielmi, who at the time of the CPD’s investigation into the Smollett hoax was the acting Chief Communications Officer for CPD and the Office of the Police Superintendent.
"This is Anthony Guglielmi, former spokesperson for the Baltimore Police Department. That is, before he was fired for making insensitive comments about violence in the city," Jocqui Smollett began in the video post.
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"In 2015, Anthony was reassigned to low and behold the Chicago Police Department, where he was their spokesperson for many years. He oversaw communications around tragic events like the killing of Laquan McDonald. He oversaw the communications around when CPD received a consent decree from the federal government, basically telling them that they need to get their act together, and there is way too many acts of corruption happening at that department," Smollett continued.
The actor’s brother went on to claim that Guglielmi "was responsible for creating and casting a lot of doubt in Jussie's story within just 48 hours of Jussie being attacked through his tweets and through his interviews with the media. Also, in the weeks and months that followed, Jussie's attack [Guglielmi] helped CPD run a smear campaign to defame Jussie's name."
"January 30th, 2019, police say no footage yet of alleged attack on 'Empire' actor. January 31st, 2019, Chicago police say 'Empire' actor Jussie Smollett refuses to hand over cell phone to them," Smollett further pressed while displaying headlines of stories that were published at the time.
"Both of those statements were made via tweets by this guy [Guglielmi]. Tweets that are now deleted, of course, but he made them within 48 hours of Jussie being attacked," Smollett said, adding, "CPD was seriously seeding doubt and Jussie's story already within 48 hours."
Brothers Olabinjo Osundairo, right, and Abimbola Osundairo, appear outside the Leighton Criminal Courthouse in Chicago, Feb. 24, 2020. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, file)
The Smollett brother alleged: "February 13th, 2019, just two days before the infamous 'GMA Good Morning America' Robin Roberts interview, Anthony Guglielmi sends out an email to Superintendent Eddie Johnson and other members of the superintendent's office, telling them that he had just gotten a readout from the producer for 'Good Morning America.' They must have spoken at length. He knew the details of what Jussie was going to talk about, as this email states. That same evening that the 'Good Morning America' interview airs, Anthony Guglielmi tweets a case update. In his case update, he tells us that the brothers were released from police custody and interestingly enough, they weren't charged."
"What he doesn't tell you is that the [Osundairo] brothers were legally allowed to only be held for 48 hours. He doesn't tell you that the brothers maintained their story, that they were not involved in any such attack. For the first 47 [hours]. He doesn't tell you that it was not until the very last hour that the brothers magically changed their story. He doesn't tell you that after they magically changed their story in the last hour, they were legally allowed to be held that they were then put into protective police custody – protected by CPD," said the Smollett brother.
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Jocqui continues: "He doesn't tell you that earlier in that day, Jussie still was refusing to press charges against the brothers because CPD would not give him any evidence as to how the brothers were involved. Jussie saw a white man. There are two witnesses who corroborate [Jussie’s] story – Anthony Moore and Rebecca Bell. He was not going to just blindly charge two Black men when he saw a white man. He doesn't tell you that as a result of Jussie not charging these two Black men blindly, that one of the CPD detectives actually calls Jussie's attorney and threatens Jussie's attorney, saying that if Jussie doesn't charge the brothers, it's going to look like he's not cooperating."
"Within three hours, there is a complaint signed against Jussie, not by the brothers, mind you but by the detective."
A jury convicted actor Jussie Smollett of five counts of disorderly conduct for staging a racist, anti-gay attack in Chicago and lying to police. (AP Graphic)
Elsewhere in Jocqui’s Instagram video shared to brother Jussie’s profile, Smollett mentioned that "interestingly enough in Guglielmi's 'About me' page, he says he was crucial in securing that confession. Anthony is now the spokesperson for the Secret Service."
Guglielmi was named U.S. Secret Service Chief of Communications on March 28, according to a news release posted to the Secret Service’s website.
Guglielmi also issued a statement to Fox News Digital on Friday, writing: "The Chicago Police Department treated Jussie Smollett as victim and conducted a methodical investigation into the facts of his alleged attack. When evidence was discovered that he had staged the attack including a sworn confession from the Osundairo brothers, we developed probable cause to charge Mr. Smollett with a crime."
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The memorandum continued: "[Smollett] was convicted by a jury of his peers for lying to police. Additionally, every investigative detail including video clips, police reports, interview transcripts and more were released by the Chicago Police Department to the public so they could form their own independent conclusions."
Former U.S. attorney Neama Rahmani – who is not involved with Smollett's case – told Fox News Digital that Smollett’s social media rant reeks of public relations fodder and questioned its "relevance to a jury verdict."
"Ultimately, people can do things that may be unfair, improper, unethical, but if it's not unlawful, it doesn't matter," the criminal defense lawyer said of the information Jocqui relayed on Instagram. "Look, Guglielmi's job is to communicate with the public, and the issue that Smollett's going to have is he was communicating with the public. He was on social media talking about what happened, he was giving interviews with talk shows, this was a very high-profile case that lots of famous people and politicians were talking about and tweeting about."
Rahmani explained that given the fact "Smollett made it a public case," the involved law enforcement and police departments had been inundated with public and media requests for information regarding the status of their investigation.
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"They have communications teams and they have a duty to keep the public informed and the media informed, Rahmani explained, adding, "they're performing a public service."
"They're not going to compromise the integrity of an investigation but the media and the public have a right for updates on what they believe is a hate crime in the middle of Chicago by two white guys wearing MAGA hats," the attorney continued. "So his job is to communicate. Now, if he's saying things that are untruthful, the question is legally, is the pretrial publicity so prejudicial that it taints the jury pool? Because really, that's all that matters – can you have a fair and impartial jury? So unless there's evidence that these specific jurors knew about these tweets and communications and that they were swayed by it, legally, it has no bearing on the case."
Actor Jussie Smollett speaks to Judge James Linn after his sentence is read at the Leighton Criminal Court Building, Thursday, March 10, 2022, in Chicago. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune via AP, Pool)
A jury convicted Smollett in December on five felony counts of disorderly conduct — the charge filed when a person lies to police. He was acquitted on a sixth count. Judge Linn sentenced Smollett last week to 150 days in jail — with good behavior he could have been released in as little as 75 days.
Smollett maintained his innocence during the trial.
JUSSIE SMOLLETT CONVICTED OF STAGING HATE CRIME, LYING TO COPS
He was granted a release on bond from the Cook County Jail in Illinois pending the appeal of his conviction. A panel of three appellate judges came down with the ruling in a 2-1 decision granting the former "Empire" star’s release after posting a personal recognizance bond of $150,000.
It is nearly the amount of the $120,106 restitution Smollett was ordered to repay after he was convicted of lying to Chicago police about being the victim of a hate crime in 2019.
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As the appellate judges have released Smollett on his own recognizance, he will not fork over any of the amounts so long as he agrees to appear in court as required.
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