Here's a statement to make you scrunch your nose and scratch your head: Jussie Smollett's lawyer, William J. Quinlan, actually said that even if the actor did lie about being attacked by two white men in MAGA hats, it's the police's fault for taking him so seriously.
Yep, that's right. The lawyer is blaming the police for Smollett's crime! How is that even a valid argument?
“My client from the beginning has maintained his innocence and disputed the city’s allegations,” Quinlan stated, “We contend the city is wrong … The mere fact somebody filed a police report doesn’t presume the investigation will be done and certainly not to the extent of what the city is claiming.”
The "Empire" star was charged after he staged an attack on himself in January, in which he hired two men to attack him. Then he turned to the police and the media and cried wolf, claiming that he was attacked by anti-gay Trump supporters.
He told investigators that the men doused him with chemicals and then placed a noose around his neck as they yelled, "This is MAGA country!" This caused widespread anger across the country because it appeared as though a hate crime had been committed in the name of the president. Low and behold, it was just another ploy by the left to make Trump and his supporters look bad.
Smollett was charged with 16 counts of making a false report, however, the charges were dismissed by the Cook County State's Attorney Office. How convenient.
In a court motion reported by the Chicago Sun-Times on Wednesday, Smollett’s lawyers are claiming that even if the actor was behind a faked attack, it wasn’t his fault that the Chicago Police Department decided to investigate the case so thoroughly.
According to the Sun-Times, the bizarre claim was made by Smollett’s legal team in the case where the city is attempting to recover more than $130,000 spent in overtime and other costs related to investigating the alleged attack.
In the filing reported by the Sun-Times, Smollett’s attorneys did not admit that Smollett had lied to police but stated that even if he did, he had no control over the cops’ decision to launch a large investigation.
According to Sun-Times, “Mr. Smollett disputes any and all assertions that he made a false statement and was not a victim of a crime."
“The filing of a police report, in and of itself, does not necessitate a sprawling investigation nor does it, as a practical matter, usually result in an investigation as extensive as the one the CPD chose to undertake in this case," the argument read.
Trending Topics:
“The City has failed to allege that Mr. Smollett was similarly ‘well aware’ that his statements to police would result in 1,836 hours of police overtime, or any other reasons why he should have known this would have been the case," it added.
Here is his tearful "recount" of his attack, where he pretends to be upset that people doubted his story:
