LinkedIn/Cook County Kim Foxx (r) and Tina Tchen.
Kim Foxx, the Cook County State’s Attorney, tried to convince Chicago police to turn the Jussie Smollett case over to the FBI, Chicago newspapers reported.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the effort by Foxx came after a former Michelle Obama chief of staff reached out to Foxx. The newspaper reported that the chief of staff and lawyer was a supporter of Smollett. She was described as Tina Tchen, “a Chicago attorney and former chief of staff for former First Lady Michelle Obama,” by the Sun-Times.
On March 26, 2019, the
Empire actor’s attorneys dramatically revealed that prosecutors
had dropped charges against Smollett, who stood accused of multiple felonies for allegedly faking a hate crime attack. “He was a victim who was vilified and made to appear as a perpetrator as a result of false and inappropriate remarks made to the public causing an inappropriate rush to judgment,” his lawyers said in a statement. Foxx had not yet commented nor explained the decision. It was a dramatic and stunning about-face in the case, and it’s renewed scrutiny over what happened between Kim Foxx and Tina Tchen. That isn’t sitting well with Chicago police, according to some reports.
According to CNN, the records
were sealed.
Here’s what you need to know:
Foxx Was Accused of Writing Tchen & a Smollett Relative About the Case
Getty
Tina Tchen is deeply embedded in the highest echelons of Chicago politics through the Emanuels as well as the Obamas.
Tina Tchen is also close friends with the wife of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel,
according to The Chicago Tribune, which also reported on the contact. Foxx reached out to the police Superintendent Eddie Johnson after Tina Tchen emailed Foxx “saying the actor’s family had unspecified ‘concerns about the investigation.’”
GettyTina Tchen, Chair of the Recording Academy’s Diversity and Inclusion Task Force speaks onstage during the 61st Annual GRAMMY Awards – Entertainment Law Initiative at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel on February 08, 2019 in Santa Monica, California.
The Tribune described Tchen as a “close friend of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s wife” who said she “was acting on behalf of” Jussie Smollett and his family. According to The Tribune, a relative “later exchanged texts with Foxx.” The Tribune summarized some of the electronic communications documenting contact as follows:
The newspaper reports that Foxx wrote Tchen on February 1, with the message reportedly saying: “Spoke to the Superintendent Johnson. I convinced him to Reach out to FBI to ask that they take over the investigation.”
Foxx is alo accused of texting the unnamed Smollett relative and writing, “Spoke to the superintendent earlier, he made the ask. Trying to figure out logistics. I’ll keep you posted.” When the relative wrote back, “Omg this would be a huge victory,” Foxx responded, “I make no guarantees, but I’m trying,” the Tribune reported.
Foxx told the Sun-Times that the family member was worried about leaks from the police investigation. Foxx told the newspaper: “They had no doubt about the quality of the investigation, but believed that the FBI would have a tighter lid on the information.”
Patricia Holmes, Smollett’s attorney, told the news media the state “made a motion to drop the charges against Jussie Smollett and to seal the record in this case.”
Chicago’s Police Union Wants a Federal Investigation of Foxx’s Handling of the Jussie Smollett Case
Joined by Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx announces that charges have been filed against singer R. Kelly on February 22, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois.
Despite the later dropped charges, Foxx had recused herself from the Smollett case after the messages emerged between her, the Smollett relative, and Tina Tchen,
WGN-TV reported.
That led Chicago’s police union to assert that a federal investigation was necessary into her handling of the case. That call for an investigation came on March 19 even before the charges against Smollett were dropped.
Foxx had recused herself from the Smollett case in February and a statement explained, “Out of an abundance of caution, the decision to recuse herself was made to address potential questions of impartiality based upon familiarity with potential witnesses in the case.”
According to ABC 7, she recused herself “after having a conversation with a relative of Smollett about the case.”
Tina Tchen Spent Eight Years at the White House
US President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and cabinet secretaries meet with the Council on Women and Girls in the Oval Office of the White House on January 22, 2014 in Washington, DC. From left: Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, Biden, Obama, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Attorney General Eric Holder, and Executive Director of the White House Council on Women and Girls Tina Tchen.
On her LinkedIn page, Tina Tchen describes herself as a “Litigation lawyer, former Chief of Staff to Michelle Obama, and activist for women’s issues.” Since 2017, she has been a partner at Buckley Sandler, LLP.
Before that, she spent eight years at the White House. Her LinkedIn page lists the following positions there:
Executive Director, Council on Women and Girls
Dates Employed 2011 – 2017
Employment Duration 6 yrs
Title Chief of Staff to the First Lady Michelle Obama
Dates Employed 2011 – 2017
Employment Duration 6 yrs
Title Assistant to the President
Dates Employed 2011 – 2017
Employment Duration 6 yrs
Title Director, Office of Public Engagement
Dates Employed 2009 – 2011
Employment Duration 2 yrs
Before working in the White House, Tchen was a litigation lawyer. She is a graduate of Northwestern and Harvard Universities, according to her page.
Kim Foxx Is the First African-American Woman to Lead the Cook County Prosecutor’s Office
Kim Foxx attends Raising Our Voices: Supporting More Women in Hollywood & Politics at Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles in Beverly Hills on February 19, 2019 in Los Angeles, California.
According to her bio, Kim Foxx, also known as Kimberly M. Foxx, is “the first African American woman to lead the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office – the second largest prosecutor’s office in the country.” She took office in 2016 promising to make the office fairer and more transparent.
She has focused, in part, on exonerating people convicted as a result of what she sees as misconduct by Chicago police.
“She has revamped the office’s Conviction Integrity Unit, resulting in overturned convictions in over 60 cases, including the first-ever mass exoneration in Cook County for 15 men whose convictions stemmed from misconduct by a Chicago Police Officer,” the bio says. She was previously a Guardian ad litem and assistant prosecutor.
