Chicago Mayor-Elect Lori Lightfoot will formally be sworn into office on May 20 and some are wondering if Jussie Smollett’s case has made its way onto her agenda. Lightfoot says she has bigger issues to deal with.
In a statement to ABC 7 Chicago, 56-year-old Lightfoot said Smollett’s case “doesn’t rank as a matter of any importance to me.”
“I’m not going to comment on any pending litigation. Obviously, this was a decision that was made by the current mayor, Rahm Emanuel,” Lightfoot said. “We’ve got a lot of things on our plate, a lot of pressing issues that are truly affecting people’s lives. This doesn’t rank as a matter of any importance to me.”
The facts surrounding Smollett’s alleged racial and homophobic attack took many twists and turns, chief among them being the dismissal of all 16 of his felony charges. Lightfoot’s comment about Smollett comes after the county inspector general has been asked to review Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s handling of the criminal case.
In a statement last week, Foxx offered her “full cooperation.”
News of Foxx’s investigation just after the City of Chicago sued the actor for failing to pay $130,000 the city reportedly spent investigating a false hate crime.
“This action is brought by the City to recover civil penalties, statutory treble damages, and attorney’s fees and costs arising from Defendants false statements to the City,” the lawsuit alleges.
