Senator Cory Booker says that he is now “withholding judgement” about the Jussie Smollett case — after originally calling the likely-hoax a “modern-day lynching.”
Democratic politicians and celebrities are now unsurprisingly silent after it was reported that the men who allegedly attacked Smollett claim that they were paid by the Empire actor — and even rehearsed the “assault” prior to the incident taking place.
Speaking to reporters in New Hampshire, Booker said that he will now reserve judgment “until all the information actually comes out from on-the-record sources.”
The AP reports, “the Democratic presidential candidate turned his focus back to combating hate crimes broadly. Booker called for a unified pushback against ‘attacks on people because they’re different.’”
.@eschor asks @CoryBooker to respond to reports that the Jussie Smollett attack may have been planned by the actor.
He called the attack a "modern day lynching" when the news broke. pic.twitter.com/8Zf8y7vhrv
— Megan Pratz (@meganpratz) February 17, 2019
“We know in America that bigoted and biased attacks are on the rise in a serious way,” Booker said. “We actually even know in this country that since 9/11 a majority of the terrorist attacks on our soil have been right wing terrorist attacks, a majority of them white supremacist attacks,” Booker said.
The two brothers who were considered persons of interest in the case have now been released and are working with Chicago law enforcement. The department acknowledged over the weekend that the focus of the case has “shifted” and Smollett is no longer considered a victim.
Smollett’s attorneys have continued to claim that their client did not orchestrate a hoax.
“(Smollett) has now been further victimized by claims attributed to these alleged perpetrators that Jussie played a role in his own attack,” the statement read. “Nothing is further from the truth and anyone claiming otherwise is lying,” Smollett’s lawyers said in a statement on Saturday.
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