Kim Foxx reportedly told it was “unethical” to appoint her top assistant in Jussie Smollett case
Two spokeswomen for Foxx’s office say that she was never informed that it would be unethical to appoint First Assistant State’s Attorney Joseph Magats, to oversee the case.
After “recusing” herself from the Jussie Smollett case, sources say that Chicago State’s attorney, Kim Foxx had been informed that it was “unethical” to designate Joseph Magats, to handle the highly controversial case.
After “recusing” herself from the Jussie Smollett case, sources say that Chicago State’s Attorney, Kim Foxx has been informed that it was “unethical” to designate her top deputy, Joseph Magats, to handle the highly controversial case, Page Six reports.
Although Tandra Simonton and Kiera Ellis, the spokeswomen from Foxx’s office, said Foxx was never informed by her colleagues about the severity of the matter, a source in law-enforcement says otherwise.
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The site reported that a public-records request email revealed Magats took the proper measures with the department’s chief ethics officer, April Perry, over whether or not he could oversee the case. They even acquired the documents needed to request a special prosecutor when Magats was informed that he didn’t have the ability to handle the case for Foxx. A source said she was even notified about the matter, but the effort to appoint a special prosecutor was never filed.
Amidst the controversial news, Simonton confirmed that Ellis does not work for Foxx anymore, but did not reveal if the spokeswoman was fired or she resigned.
It was announced on Thursday that Perry and Mark Rotert are planning to step down from their positions as well. He submitted his resignation following the announcement that charges against Smollett were dropped.
It is also being reported that former White House adviser, Tina Tchen, reached out to the Smollett family after Smollett claimed he was attacked and put them in touch with Foxx.
They asked the state’s attorney via text message if the FBI could take over the case since they were concerned about how the Chicago Police Department was handling the matter.
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From there, Foxx spoke to Perry about the exchange and on the exact day, that’s when Perry announced that Foxx would recuse herself from the case and appointed Magats to be the acting state’s attorney on the matter, according to emails.
Foxx’s office has said it will not comment on the “special-prosecutor” order, but they did not contest the argument that Foxx knew that it was unethical to choose Rotert to oversee the case. The inspector general’s office is also examining Foxx’s recusal of herself.
On Friday her office said they would no longer make any public comments regarding the case.
