The Latest: Foxx pledges cooperation with special prosecutor

CHICAGO (AP) — The Latest on the appointment of a special prosecutor to look at the dropping of charges in the Jussie Smollett case (all times local):

11:10 a.m.

Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx has promised to cooperate with a newly appointed special prosecutor looking into why her office abruptly dropped charges against actor Jussie Smollett that accused him of staging a racist, anti-gay attack against himself.

Foxx said in a statement after former U.S. Attorney Dan Webb’s appointment Friday that her office pledged its “full cooperation” to the special prosecutor. She also said “public trust is paramount” to the work of prosecutors.

Webb served as Chicago’s U.S. attorney in the 1980s and went on to become perhaps its most prominent defense attorney in recent decades.

Depending on what his investigation finds, Webb could end up recharging Smollett, who maintains that the January attack was real and wasn’t staged.

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10 a.m.

An Illinois judge has named a special prosecutor to look into why state prosecutors abruptly dropped charges against actor Jussie Smollett that accused him of staging a racist, anti-gay attack against himself.

Cook County Judge Michael Toomin’s appointment of former U.S. attorney Dan Webb during a hearing Friday raises the possibility that the special prosecutor could bring new charges against the former “Empire” actor. Smollett maintains that the January attack wasn’t staged.

The Cook County state’s attorney’s office charged Smollett in February with 16 counts of disorderly conduct for allegedly orchestrating the incident. However, it dropped all of the charges a month later with little explanation, angering city officials and the police.

A former state appellate judge, Sheila O’Brien, petitioned for a special prosecutor, leading to Toomin’s surprise ruling in June that one was warranted.