Jussie Smollett’s hate crime story seems to be falling apart by the hour. As of last night, the home of two Nigerians were raided with bleach, shoes and electronics confiscated for the investigation. At the time they were considered to be persons of interest, but today have been upgraded to suspect status and have just now been arrested. Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi
said they had “probable cause that they may have committed a crime.” He also added that there was “no evidence to say that is a hoax” and that Smollett “continues to be treated by police as a victim, not a suspect.”
They were questioned by police Wednesday evening as they were just returning from Nigeria where they traveled to the evening of Jussie Smollett’s attack. A law enforcement source said that Uber and Yellow Cab aided in tracking the men’s whereabouts the night of the attack as well.
Smollett did Good Morning America with Robin Roberts speaking on his frustration with people failing to believe his story. “I’m pissed off. It’s the attackers, but it’s also the attacks,” he told Robin Roberts. “Like, you know, at first it was the thing of like, listen, if I tell the truth then that’s because it’s the truth. Then it became a thing of, like, how can you doubt that? How can you not believe that? It’s the truth.”
He also turned over heavily redacted phone records to police in the form of an excel spreadsheet, turned PDF which was rejected by Chicago police due to the possibility for them to have been edited. His crisis manager Chris Bastardi told Fox News, “Jussie is the victim here, which has been stated by the Superintendent of Police. Jussie has voluntarily provided his phone records from within an hour of the attack and given multiple statements to police. Chicago PD has repeatedly informed us that they find Jussie’s account of what happened that night consistent and credible. Superintendent Johnson has been clear from Day 1 that Jussie is a victim.
Smollett did not initially submit his phone records to investigators when asked but later submitted a redacted version that detectives have judged to be “insufficient. We are continuing to work closely with the Chicago PD and remain confident that they will find Jussie’s attackers and bring them to justice,” he continued.
New updates will be posted as they come.
Here are the two Nigerian brothers Olabinjo Osundairo and Abimbola Osundairo who are at the center of the LGBT incident that happened in Chicago involving Jussie Smollett pic.twitter.com/iXzvk5Fcbu
— Tariq Nasheed 🇺🇸 (@tariqnasheed) February 15, 2019
