President Trump Praises Appointment of Special Prosecutor in Smollett Case

The president called the decision "great" in a tweet Friday

After former U.S. Attorney Dan Webb was appointed as a special prosecutor in the Jussie Smollett case, President Donald Trump endorsed the move on social media.

The president sent out a tweet commending the selection of Webb for the post, calling it “great":

“He said MAGA country did it. So terrible!” the president said.

When Smollett reported that he had been assaulted by two men on Jan. 29, 2019, he said that the pair had called him racial and homophobic slurs and had said “this is MAGA country” during the attack.

President Trump described the reported attack as “horrible” after the news became public.

Smollett was later charged with fabricating the attack, but the Cook County state’s attorney’s office later dropped the charges. President Trump criticized the decision as “an embarrassment to our nation,” and called for the FBI and the Department of Justice to look into the incident.

Currently, Smollett is facing a lawsuit from the city of Chicago, alleging that the actor owes the city approximately $130,000 in overtime costs for officers investigating the attack, and a defamation lawsuit from two Nigerian brothers who claim that Smollett paid them to stage the attack.

 The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of Justice will review the case involving “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett, President Donald Trump tweeted early Thursday. Lauren Petty reports.

On Friday, Webb was appointed as a special prosecutor in the case.

“First, (I’ll) investigate if any persons or offices involved in the Smollett case engaged in any wrongdoing,” Webb said at a press conference. “Number two, determine if reasonable grounds do exist to further prosecute Mr. Smollett. And number three, to submit a written report to the court of our findings and conclusions at the end of the special prosecutor’s investigation.”

The Cook County Inspector General’s office is also looking into the case, and is expected to issue a report later this year.  

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