In a shocking turnabout (unless you are familiar with Chicago “justice”), Jussie Smollett’s lawyers announced, “All criminal charges … were dropped and his record has been wiped clean. … He was a victim who was vilified and made to appear as a perpetrator.”

Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, the George Soros-backed prosecutor who claimed to have recused herself in the Smollett hate-hoax case after discovery of her communications with some of Chicago’s well-connected political mobsters, made sure that in the end, their request prevailed — her office abruptly dropped its prosecution of 16 felony counts against Smollett.

According to her office: “After reviewing all of the facts and circumstances of the case, including Mr. Smollett’s volunteer service in the community and agreement to forfeit his bond to the City of Chicago, we believe this outcome is a just disposition and appropriate resolution to this case.”

No, the outcome might have been “a just disposition and appropriate resolution” if the prosecutors had secured, first and foremost, an admission of guilt. But they did not do so — thus Smollett was free to proclaim his innocence and victimhood!

Smollett did just that: “I have been truthful and consistent on every level since day one. … This has been an incredibly difficult time, honestly one of the worst of my entire life. But I am a man of faith… Now I would like nothing more than to just get back to work and move on with my life. But make no mistake, I will always continue to fight for the justice, equality and betterment of marginalized people everywhere.”

I’m not sure who wrote those lines for the “Empire” actor, but his delivery was unbelievable – as in not believable. However, 20th Century Fox bought it, announcing his return to the network: “Jussie Smollett has always maintained his innocence and we are gratified that all charges against him have been dismissed.”

Smollett’s assertion of innocence notwithstanding, the assistant state’s attorney curiously insists, “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.”

In other words, he is guilty but is being released in exchange for his “community service” (18 hours stuffing envelopes for Jesse Jackson’s hate-hoax factory) and forfeiture of his $10,000 bond. I suspect most Democrats consider Smollett’s greater community service was diverting attention from Robert Mueller’s exoneration of Donald Trump.

The state’s attorney implied this decision was made purely on prioritization of what cases to prosecute and did not believe Smollett presented a threat to the public. But clearly prosecutors did not want to pursue a case against a politically-connected black, leftist, homosexual celebrity after a former senior Obama adviser had lobbied on his behalf, and his “cause” had been embraced by Democrat presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Cory Booker, among others. If his case went to trial, their premature support for Smollett would be highlighted repeatedly.

As for Foxx, the Chicago Tribune reports that Foxx did not recuse herself, as confirmed by her office: “The State’s Attorney did not formally recuse herself or the Office based on any actual conflict of interest. Although we use the term ‘recuse’ as it relates to State’s Attorney Foxx’s involvement in the matter, it was a colloquial use of the term rather in its legal sense.”

Right, it was just a “colloquial” recusal.

Based on Foxx’s recusal subterfuge, the National District Attorneys Association has chastised her bias and negligence in this case, writing, “When a chief prosecutor recuses him or herself, the recusal must apply to the entire office, not just the elected or appointed prosecutor,” and noting further, “Prosecutors should not take advice from politically connected friends of the accused.”

In regard to the fact there was not guilty plea from Smollett, NDAA concludes: “When a prosecutor seeks to resolve a case through diversion or some other alternative to prosecution, it should be done so with an acknowledgement of culpability on the part of the defendant. A case with the consequential effects of Mr. Smollett’s should not be resolved without a finding of guilt or innocence.”

But the case may not be closed if the FBI enters the feud. When Smollett’s lawyer Patricia Brown Holmes was asked if he could be subject to federal charges, she replied, “I have no idea.”

Of course, the Chicago Police Department is furious. Recall that the CPD has reams of solid evidence substantiating Smollett’s guilt, including phone records, video footage, magazines used to create the threat letter, a $3,500 check paid to his co-conspirators and their confessions, purchase records for the items used in the hoax assault — and CPD says it has more evidence. One of the case detectives said, “We have a lot more evidence than we told the media about and we were fully prepared to go to trial. We’re very angry this happened.”

While the CPD records and investigative files on Smollett are now under seal by court order, we obtained access to them in conjunction with an FOIA request to CDP. The two reports can be viewed here and here.

Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson protested: “Do I think justice was served? No. It was Mr. Smollett who committed this hoax. Period. If he wanted to clear his name, the way to do that was in a court of law. At the end of the day it was Smollett who committed this hoax.” Notably, in the weeks that CPD focused enormous resources on solving this high-profile attack-turned-hoax, 18 people were murdered in the Windy City.

Even leftist Mayor Rahm Emanuel claimed to be furious about this “whitewash of justice,” an interesting metaphor because Smollett claimed his assailants threw bleach on him: “Where is the accountability in the system? You cannot have, because of a person’s position, one set of rules apply to them and another set of rules apply to everyone else. Our officers did hard work day in and day out, countless hours working to unwind what actually happened that night. The city saw its reputation dragged through the mud. … It’s not just the officers’ work, but the work of the grand jury that made a decision based on only a sliver of the evidence [presented]. Because of the judge’s decision, none of that evidence will ever be made public. [This case] sends a clear message that if you’re in a position of influence and power, you’ll be treated one way, and if you’re not, you’ll be treated another way.”

I say he “claimed to be furious” because this is the same Rahm Emanuel who did the bidding of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and her hubby Bill. He may be feigning outrage to provide Obama cover.

Likewise, former Obama adviser David Axelrod claimed outrage, saying, “Here’s the lesson of this weird turn in the Smollett case: You can contrive a hate crime, make it a national news, get caught and – if you are a well-connected celebrity – get off for $10K and have your record expunged and files sealed. Hate crimes are loathsome. Faking them is insidious and shouldn’t be excused.”

Chicago’s police union has asked the FBI to step in and investigate Foxx. Specifically, police want to know how Michelle Obama’s former chief of staff and Chicago fixer, Tina Tchen, influenced the case.

Ironically, it is Tchen who has been tapped by the board of the Southern Poverty Law Center to review allegations of sexual and racial discrimination under the “leadership” of its hate-hustling co-founders. Maybe she will determine those allegations were a hoax.

Now that the Smollett charges have been dropped and he has declared his innocence, shouldn’t he and his attorneys insist that the full resources of Chicago PD again be focused on finding the white racists who assaulted him? Meanwhile, #LiberalPrivilege is trending!

Finally, from the “life imitates art imitates life imitates art” ad nauseam file, when I read this headline — “Jussie Smollett is nominated for an NAACP Award” — I thought it had to be satire, but noooo.

If you ever needed evidence that the NAACP is a race-bait charade run by hoax and scam hustlers, look no further than this award nomination.

Six-time host of Saturday’s festivities, “Black-ish” star Anthony Anderson, said, “I hope he wins. I’m happy for him that the system worked in his favor… So I’m glad it worked out for him.” Yeah, “the system” definitely “worked in his favor.”

I join Anderson, hoping Smollett wins — and I hope Jesse Jackson and fellow hate-hoaxer Al Sharpton handle the presentation. If he wins, perhaps he can use the award money to help pay off the $130,106 bill he just received from the city of Chicago to pay for all the police overtime to solve his hoax.

(Updated)