Appearing Thursday evening on the Fox News Channel, former Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo told host Laura Ingraham that Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx could serve up to 20 years in prison if convicted of corruption for her handling of the Jussie Smollett case.
Kim Foxx is under fire after all charges were dropped against the Empire star in connection to allegedly staging a hate crime against himself to boost his career. This week, Foxx’s office backpedaled on claims that the top prosecutor formally rescued herself from the case after Tina Tchen, the former chief of staff of former first lady Michelle Obama, pressured her to have the Smollett investigation transferred from the Chicago Police Department to the FBI.
A partial transcript is as follows:
INGRAHAM: What do you think about this? I mean, Rahm Emanuel, suddenly, has like put the brakes, Oh no, President Trump, go to baseball. Cutie.
YOO: First of all, I think a lot of Americans, myself included, are outraged by this, the fact that this fakes a hate crime. Look, I’m a minority, you’re a woman, what if were to be attacked legitimately, and now we’re going to be less believed by police and prosecutors because of the example of this guy. I think that’s terrible. I think a lot Americans realize something ought to be done. Second, this is why we have a U.S. Justice Department. Okay, so maybe they just spent a lot of time investigating President Trump to no good effect. But, now they actually exist to make sure there is no corruption going on in state government. If you look at the details of this case where Mrs. Obama’s chief of staff calls the prosecutor, Kim Foxx, and all of the sudden these machinations occur and then the case gets dropped. That is exactly what the Justice Department is supposed to be involved in — to make sure there is no corruption in state government. So, I hope that President Trump is right and that the FBI is starting an investigation to look into this.
INGRAHAM: What’s the potential criminal exposure here, both for Foxx and the state’s attorney office itself?
YOO: So, Foxx could be potentially liable for what’s called mail wire fraud of depriving citizens of their honest services, which if she is convicted, right? This is the standard law that is used to go after corrupt state officials. Suppose she got a bribe, suppose she was promised a fundraiser or who knows what kind of other influence to drop this case, the maximum sentence is 20 years in prison.