After publicly recusing herself from the Jussie Smollett case, newly released text messages and emails show that Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx continued discussing the actor with staff.
Through a Freedom of Information Act Request, thousands of internal communication documents were obtained on Tuesday.
At the time of the conversation in question, Foxx texted First Assistant State’s Attorney Joseph Magats, who was officially handling the case.
In the messages, Foxx expressed that Smollett’s charges were excessive and even compared Smollett’s charges to those of singer, R Kelly.
“Pedophile with 4 victims 10 counts. Washed up celeb who lied to cops, 16. On a case eligible for deferred prosecution I think it’s indicative of something we should be looking at generally,” Foxx wrote.
Chicago police charged Smollett for allegedly falsifying information about a hate crime.
All charges were dropped against Smollett by Cook County Prosecutors. The actor also agreed to perform 16 hours of community service and forfeit his $10,000 bond.
Foxx had originally recused herself from the case because of conversations she had with Smollett’s family prior to his trial.
In a statement released on Tuesday night, Fox attempted to make the intent of her messages to Magats clear.
“After the indictment became public, I reached out to Joe to discuss reviewing office policies to assure consistencies in our charging and our use of appropriate charging authority,” Foxx said. “I was elected to bring criminal justice reform and that includes intentionality, consistency, and discretion. I will continue to uphold these guiding principles.”
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