Jussie Smollett Convicted Despite Best Efforts of Former Michelle Obama Aide

Actor Jussie Smollett was convicted of five counts of felony disorderly conduct Thursday for faking a hate crime in Chicago, after former Michelle Obama aide Tina Tchen had urged Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx not to prosecute him.

Tchen admitted reaching out to Foxx on behalf of an unnamed Smollett relative. Foxx, who received over $400,000 from left-wing billionaire donor George Soros for her campaign in 2016, dropped the charges and later recused herself from the case.

A judge appointed a special prosecutor, Dan K. Webb, who later indicted Smollett and investigated Foxx’s office. As the New York Times reported at the time: “Mr. Webb’s office said that it unearthed evidence that supports ‘substantial abuses of discretion and operational failures’ by the state’s attorney’s office in prosecuting the initial case in 2019.”

Tchen would later be appointed chief executive officer of Time’s Up, the organization attempting to drive sexual misconduct out of Hollywood. But she had to resign earlier this year after offering advice to then-New York Governor Andrew Cuomo as he faced claims of sexual harassment.

As the Associated Press reported:

The chief executive of the sexual harassment victims’ advocacy group Time’s Up resigned Thursday amid outrage over revelations that its leaders advised former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration after he was first accused of misconduct last year.

…

Tchen’s resignation comes after the Aug. 9 departure of the organization’s chair, Roberta Kaplan. Both women had been the target of ire from Time’s Up supporters over the idea they had offered any help to Cuomo, who resigned Monday, three weeks after an investigation overseen by New York’s attorney general concluded he sexually harassed at least 11 women.

Smollett also received a White House “shout-out” from then-President Barack Obama in 2016.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

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