Looks like this was a planned hit on Trump supporters. The “plain” red hat - good enough for surveillance cameras or chance passerby witnesses - is a nice touch. I guess even these two bodybuilders were afraid of being confused for Trump supporters after dark in Chicago.
This information is all being leaked by CPD detectives and lower level staff in an attempt to force the city attorney to prosecute. I do hope they tie Smollett to the Federal crimes involved in the hoax hate letter, so Trump’s FBI gets a shot too.
What on earth was the upside of this for him? It just makes me think he hates the president and conservatives so much he had to show how horrible they are, but all he managed to do was the exact opposite. How did he think he wouldn’t be caught?
Now I’ll be curious if there are any consequences for him.
“One of these purported suspects was Jussie’s personal trainer who he hired to ready him physically for a music video.”
This details implies Jussie and his attorney know there is evidence that will be discovered of payment to the suspect, so are attempting an alternate explanation of what the payment was for. Weak, but they’re trying. Up to the police, then possibly the DA, then possibly a judge/jury to decide if it’s plausible that this was a person Jussie hired and worked with but didn’t recognize his form or voice (remember, Jussie reported the two “attackers” were yelling racist things at him even if they were wearing masks) during the “attack”.
^ If they “rehearsed” the charade in advance, perhaps there is video surveillance evidence somewhere. The cops are probably reviewing tapes right now, based on what they just learned from the brothers, and presumably they have the locations narrowed.
I have also seen references that Smollett may have paid for the Lyft for the brothers on the night of the incident. This may be possible. Listen to the GMA video (in which Smollett says “fear mongrels”) and look at his submission of excel spreadsheets of calls made that omitted the calls to the Nigerian brothers (did Smollett not understand that the cops would have already subpoenaed the phone records?) and it is difficult to conclude that Jussie has much going on upstairs.
If they practiced the attack there should be additional surveillage coverage from before the incident. From the size of those guys it should be easy to identify them.
I also saw a report that stamps were seized from Smollett’s apartment. The FBI has been tight-lipped. It is easy to match if the stamps came from the same lot as the stamps on the hate letter.
This story rang false from the very beginning. My first question for this guy is “how dumb can you be?” He owes many apologies. Self sabotage for sure.