https://heavy.com/news/2019/03/kim-foxx-tina-tchen-obama/

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. 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.

Foxx had recused herself from the case, and her top deputy, Joe Magats, made the decision, according to a journalist for the New York Times, who quoted Magats as saying, “We stand behind the investigation, we stand behind the decision to charge him and we stand behind the charges in the case. The mere fact that it was disposed of in an alternative manner does not mean that there were any problems or infirmities in the case or the evidence.” New York Times reporter Julie Bosman quoted Joseph Magats as saying, “We didn’t exonerate him.”

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That isn’t sitting well with Chicago police, according to some reports.

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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.’”

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.”

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Tina Tchen Spent Eight Years at the White House

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

Foxx’s campaign was funded in part by George Soros money, according to Politico, which wrote, “Soros next piled money into two of the biggest jurisdictions in the country: Houston’s Harris County (his lone losing effort so far) and Chicago’s Cook County, where he funded one of several groups that helped Kim Foxx defeat incumbent state’s attorney Anita Alvarez.” The primary focused on the police shooting of Laquan McDonald.