Jussie Smollett’s attorney, Tina Glandian, stopped by NBC’s ‘Today’ and shared her insight about her client’s mindset after prosecutors dropped all charges against him. She also suggested that the Osundairo brothers, who claim Smollett hired them to stage the attack, may have been wearing “whiteface” during the incident.
Smollett previously claimed to police that he believed his attackers were white and Trump supporters after directing racist and homophobic insults at him during the incident. Glandian told Savannah Guthrie on the show, “He only saw one of the attackers. One of them he didn’t see. He saw one through a ski mask. Again, he could not see their body. Everything was covered, and he had a full ski mask on except the area around the eyes.”
Glandian expressed that she believes the Osundairo brothers previously worn whiteface and it wouldn’t be hard to believe that they would do it again. “Well, you know, I mean, I think there’s — obviously, you can disguise that. You can put makeup on. There is, interestingly enough, a video.”
She continued, “You know, I think police had minimal investigation in this case, it took me only five minutes to Google. You know, I was looking up the brothers, and one of the videos that showed up actually was of the brothers in whiteface doing a Joker monologue with white makeup on him. So it’s not — it’s not implausible.”
Glandian told Guthrie that she and Smollett are not concerned with the FBI and Department of Justice reviewing the case after #DonaldTrump called the dismissal of the charges “an embarrassment to our Nation!” She said, “We have nothing to be concerned about because there was nothing on our end to request this or do anything improper. And, to my knowledge, nothing improper was done.”
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said on WGN Radio that the city plans on billing Smollett for the police investigation into his hate crime report. “The police are right now finalizing the cost that was used, police resources, to come to the understanding this was a hoax and not a real hate crime. What we spent. The corporation counsel, once they have it finalized and feel good about the numbers, will then send a letter to Jussie Smollett and his attorneys, trying to recoup those costs for the city,” Emanuel said.
