Lake County Gazette

Former GOP House candidate Thomas McCullagh wants to see Jussie Smollett be held fully accountable now that he’s been found guilty of orchestrating a fake hate crime attack.

“The gravity of what he did at a time when there are deep racial divides in this country, if he doesn’t get jail time it shows that there are two systems in this country, one for the rich and one for the poor,” McCullagh told the Lake County Gazette. "Hate crimes are atrocious and there is no place for them in this society. And to fake one is just as bad and he did it all for his own gain." 

The former “Empire” actor was recently found guilty by a Chicago jury of filing five fake hate crime accusations. In rendering its verdict in the year-old case, the jury deliberated for just a few hours before returning with a decision in a case that attracted widespread attention and much commentary based on its racial overtones, USA Today reported.

Smollett, who is Black and gay, told police his attackers placed a noose around his neck and yelled racist and homophobic slurs at him. Throughout the trial brothers Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo testified that Smollett recruited them to stage the attack near his downtown Chicago home as part of a plot to draw more public attention to himself.

McCullagh argues Democratic leaders from Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot to Vice President Kamala Harris to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi all jumping to speak out on the case before all the facts were publicly known only served to make it easier for Smollett to sell his lies.

“I have a big problem with that,” he added. “All those people skipped right to the court of public opinion. We need to let the courts do their jobs, let the investigations happen before we jump on the PR train right away.”

The conviction came at a time when 2021 was already set to enter the books as one of the most violent years in city history.

By early December, over 1,000 homicides had already been committed in Cook County and by the end of November, 927 of the 1,009 homicides documented by the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office were gun-related crimes.

And much of the violence hasn’t just been restricted to the city’s inner-city neighborhoods, with a 12-year-old girl recently being shot in the back near North Michigan Avenue as large groups of teens gathered in the area, NBC Chicago reported.

The shooting was one of several violent acts that occurred in the area. In another incident, a CTA bus driver was driving in the 100 block of North Michigan Avenue at approximately 8:40 p.m. when he heard a loud noise.

The driver got out of the bus to investigate, and when he did, he was assaulted by two minors, who punched him in the head and body.

At least 21 minors were arrested throughout the evening, which also ended with two Chicago police officers being injured and two replica firearms recovered.

McCullagh worries the worst may not be over without a serious change in direction coming from the top.

“When you have a States Attorney like Kim Foxx taking away felony bail and other things it just perpetuates a culture of lawlessness,” he said. “The first order of any elected official is to ensure safety, and we’re not seeing that now by not following the rule of law.”