MSNBC Legal Analyst on Smollett: Chicago PD Has History of Racism, ‘Lying and Covering Up’

EXCERPT:

CHARLES: "It sure does, it sure does. This is surprising on one hand and not surprising on the other. It’s surprising in the sense where, as professor Butler just outlined, you had a police chief, you had a judge, you had so many people sort of coming down on Jussie and saying that, you know, he was charged with a 16-count indictment and what he had done was so terrible. But on the other hand, which is something I wrote about in an article I wrote for essence.com, Chicago PD is known for basically having problems in terms of being, you know, forthright and truthful. While his allegations may have been met with support, with concern, and whatever, it just was surprising to me that no one questioned the manner in which information was leaked, once this incident occurred. The indictment appeared to be excessive, it appeared to be vindictive, given the circumstances. And I think professor Butler was right to say that this was not a serious crime when compared to other crimes. And yet, you have this police chief come out, and you had a full press conference, and you would have thought that five or six people had been killed, although that was not the case.”

(h/t Mediaite)