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Jussie Smollett Attack: As Mystery Deepens, Investigation Changes Course

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Here’s a timeline to help keep track of the twists and turns in the reported assault on Jussie Smollett, the “Empire” actor.
The strange case of the “Empire” star Jussie Smollett took another turn this weekend with the police in Chicago saying the investigation’s trajectory had changed amid news media reports that detectives were reviewing whether the attack Smollett reported late last month had been a hoax.
The announcement came after investigators released two men — brothers who know Smollett — without charging them after having identified them as potential suspects on Friday. At least one of them had appeared on “Empire,” and Smollett, through his lawyers, has acknowledged hiring one of the men as a personal trainer.
Several news outlets, including CNN, reported that law enforcement sources unnamed in the news item said the brothers had told investigators they were paid to take part in a hoax.
On Sunday, Anthony Guglielmi, the chief spokesman for the Chicago Police Department, reported the latest official developments in a Twitter post.
On Friday, Smollet’s lawyers issued a strong statement in which the actor rejected any suggestion that he had any role in staging an assault on himself.
The episode has been in the national spotlight for weeks, and even President Trump has weighed in on it. As of Sunday, the police said they were interested in interviewing Smollett again as they sort out what occurred.
Here’s a timeline of how we got here.
Jan. 29: Smollett, who is black and openly gay, tells police that at about 2 a.m., two masked men he believed to be white attacked him on the 300 block of East Lower North Water Street in Downtown Chicago. The assailants, according to Smollett, hurled homophobic and racial slurs at him, put a rope around his neck and poured a chemical substance on him.
Smollett says he went home and a close associate of his reported the incident to the police 40 minutes after it happened. Guglielmi later told The Chicago Sun-Times that Smollett had been hesitant to call the police because of his status as a public figure.
Law enforcement officials say they are treating the incident “as a possible hate crime.” At a follow-up visit by investigators, Smollett says the attackers mentioned “MAGA country,” a reference to President Trump’s campaign slogan.
Several A-list celebrities, politicians, and advocacy groups offer their support to Smollett. Fox, the network on which “Empire” airs, issues a statement saying the “entire studio, network and production stands united in the face of any despicable act of violence and hate.”
Detectives comb through surveillance camera recordings but say they can’t find images of the attack.

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