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Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, whose office is under fire after dropping all charges against Empire actor Jussie Smollett, recently attended at a fundraiser hosted by Alex Soros, the son of progressive billionaire George Soros, who donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to a super PAC that supported her.
Foxx spoke at a fundraiser for the Justice and Public Safety PAC hosted at the New York apartment of Alex Soros on March 5th, roughly three weeks prior to Smollett being let off the hook for allegedly staging a racist and homophobic attack on himself, according to photos shared to social media.
Thank you to all who attended our #JusticeandPublicSafety PAC fundraiser! pic.twitter.com/jkiaLgdzGj
— Alexander Soros, PhD (@AlexanderSoros) March 6, 2019
As Breitbart News reported Tuesday, state campaign records show that George Soros personally donated $333,000 to a PAC supporting Foxx, who was running against incumbent top prosecutor Anita Alvarez, prior to the March 15h, 2016 primary. The far-left hedge fund manager also contributed another $75,000 after Foxx won, bringing the total to $408,000.
Chicagoist.com reported in 2016:
But Kim Foxx has also found two other sources of cash, in the form of twin $300,000 donations to a Super PAC supporting her called Illinois Safety & Justice. The sole donors to the PAC are neoliberal superdonor and conservative-boogeyman George Soros and a “dark-money” group called Civic Participation Action Fund. A Super PAC is a fundraising group, created by the 2010 Supreme Court Citizens United decision, that can raise as much money as they want for any candidate or cause—as long as they don’t coordinate on any level with political campaigns, which have much smaller campaign limits.
Since the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2014, George Soros has backed progressive candidates in local prosecutorial races across the U.S. to the tune of millions of dollars.
Cook County prosecutors infuriated the Chicago Police Department and Mayor Rahm Emanuel this week when they abruptly dropped 16 felony counts that accused Smollett of making a false police report about being the target of a racist, anti-gay attack in downtown Chicago on January 29. Contrary to publicly announcing her recusal from the Smollett case, Cook County State’s Attorney Office spokesperson confirmed this week that Foxx did not “formally” recuse herself, doing so only in a “colloquial” manner. Foxx “recused” herself before Smollett was charged because she had discussed the case with a Smollett family member. The case was then handed to First Assistant State’s Attorney Joseph Magats.
On Wednesday, the ex-chief of staff for former first lady Michelle Obama admitted she approached Foxx regarding the case on behalf of the actor’s family. Tina Tchen released a statement saying she’s a friend of Smollett’s family and knows Foxx “from prior work together.” Tchen said her “sole activity” was to put the prosecutor in touch with “an alleged victim’s family.” Tchen said the Smollett family “had concerns about how the investigation was being characterized in public.”
Former Michelle Obama Chief of Staff Tina Tchen releases a statement about reaching out to @SAKimFoxx on behalf of Jussie Smollett. pic.twitter.com/nCEii7XJXb
— Charlie De Mar (@CharlieDeMar) March 27, 2019
Email and text messages that Foxx’s office provided to the Chicago Sun-Times show Tchen contacted Foxx to set up a telephone conversation with the Smollett relative. Foxx told the Sun-Times the relative expressed concerns over leaked information.
Investigators believe Smollett, who is black and gay, hired two brothers to stage the attack in and that Smollett hoped the attention would help advance his career. Police also allege that before the attack, Smollett sent a letter threatening himself to the Chicago television studio where Empire is filmed.
Smollett has repeatedly insisted the attack was real, saying two masked men shouted racial and homophobic slurs, wrapped a rope around his neck and poured a substance on him. He also told detectives that the attackers yelled that he was in “MAGA country,” an apparent reference to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan, police said.
President Donald Trump tweeted Thursday that the FBI and Department of Justice will review the “outrageous” case of Jussie Smollett in Chicago, calling it an “embarrassment” to the country.
FBI & DOJ to review the outrageous Jussie Smollett case in Chicago. It is an embarrassment to our Nation!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 28, 2019
A city official said Thursday that Chicago is seeking $130,000 from Smollett to cover the costs of the investigation into his reported beating.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
