Chicago Police: Jussie Smollett Is A Criminal Suspect In Investigation Over Attack Report

Chicago police confirmed on Wednesday that they are officially considering Empire actor Jussie Smollett a criminal suspect in an investigation of filing a false report over an alleged racist and homophobic attack.

Case Update: Jussie Smollett is now officially classified as a suspect in a criminal investigation by #ChicagoPolice for filing a false police report (Class 4 felony). Detectives are currently presenting evidence before a Cook County Grand Jury. pic.twitter.com/FhDcbBKsuU

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Case Update: Jussie Smollett is now officially classified as a suspect in a criminal investigation by #ChicagoPolice for filing a false police report (Class 4 felony). Detectives are currently presenting evidence before a Cook County Grand Jury. pic.twitter.com/FhDcbBKsuU
Anthony Guglielmi (@AJGuglielmi) February 20, 2019

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi tweeted that Chicago police detectives are presenting evidence before a grand jury. Filing a false police report is a Class 4 felony.

Police were initially investigating a possible hate crime after Smollett, 36, filed a police report saying that two masked men assaulted him at about 2 a.m. Jan. 29 in downtown Chicago by wrapping a rope around his neck, pouring bleach on him and yelling racial and homophobic slurs as they fled the scene. Chicago police confirmed Feb. 16 that the investigation shifted after anonymous sources came forward alleging Smollett might have paid the men, who are brothers, to stage the attack .

The two brothers police arrested on suspicion of assaulting Smollett one of whom had been hired to be the actors personal trainer were released without charges the day law enforcement announced the shift in the investigation. Local media spotted the brothers entering the courthouses grand jury room, but Chicago police declined to tell HuffPost whether the men were testifying.

BREAKING: Our news crew spots Chicago brothers and their attorney in Smollett investigation at courthouse entering a grand jury room. Unclear if they are actually testifying before a grand jury.

Rob Elgas (@RobElgasABC7) February 20, 2019","type":"rich","meta":{"author":"Rob Elgas","author_url":"https://twitter.com/RobElgasABC7","cache_age":86400,"description":"BREAKING: Our news crew spots Chicago brothers and their attorney in Smollett investigation at courthouse entering a grand jury room. Unclear if they are actually testifying before a grand jury. 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BREAKING: Our news crew spots Chicago brothers and their attorney in Smollett investigation at courthouse entering a grand jury room. Unclear if they are actually testifying before a grand jury.
Rob Elgas (@RobElgasABC7) February 20, 2019

The announcement by Chicago police came just hours after news that celebrity attorney Mark Geragos joined Smolletts legal team , which also consists of Todd Pugh and Victor Henderson. The actors attorneys have previously denied reports that Smollett may have staged his own attack, saying he has been further victimized by the claims.

Here is the latest statement from the attorneys that Jussie Smollett has retained: pic.twitter.com/E6L8KytPgy

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Here is the latest statement from the attorneys that Jussie Smollett has retained: pic.twitter.com/E6L8KytPgy
(@WashNews) February 17, 2019

The attorneys did not immediately respond to HuffPosts request for comment.

Cook County States Attorney Kim Foxx announced this week that shes recusing herself from the case. Her office released a statement Wednesday saying her reasoning for recusal is because she had conversations with a family member of Jussie Smollett about the incident and their concerns, and facilitated a connection to the Chicago Police Department who were investigating the incident.

Smollett had previously said he was pissed off that people were questioning his story.

At first it was a thing of like, Listen, if at first I tell the truth, then thats it, cause its the truth. Then it became a thing of like, Oh, how can you doubt that? How do you not believe that? Its the truth, he said in an interview with Good Morning America . And then it became a thing of like, Oh, its not necessarily that you dont believe that this is the truth, you dont even want to see the truth.

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