The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 2.21 DISGUSTING! Jussie Smollett Arrested & Charged For MAGA Hoax & Terrifying Plot Uncovered

Episode Date: February 21, 2019

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Sup you beautiful bastards, hope you're having a fantastic Thursday. Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco show and let's just jump into it. And the first thing we're going to talk about today is, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, this Jussie Smollett situation. And to start things off, I'm going to kind of do a TLDR to the updates we're going to talk about today. If you want a more detailed version, I highly recommend you watch our previous videos on this. But, that said, as you might remember, at the end of January, Jussie Smollett, an actor on the TV show Empire, claimed he was assaulted in a hate crime by two men in Chicago. But as we discussed, there were initial weird things with the reporting.

There were also later reports that alleged that Smollett may have staged the attack himself, since some of the evidence really wasn't adding up. His story was also changing. Also regarding who did this, the police took two suspects into questioning, but then released them without charges. And that led to Wednesday, where Chicago police announced

that Smollett was actually a suspect in a criminal investigation as to whether or not he filed a false police report and staged that attack. Later that day, a grand jury heard evidence on Smollett staging the event and prosecutors charged him with a felony count of disorderly conduct, which brought us to five o'clock in the morning today where Smollett turned himself into authorities and he is currently in the custody of detectives. And a massive note here, felony disorderly conduct for falsifying a police report is a class four felony in Illinois that could result in one to three years

in prison for Smollett. And actually, that's along with possible restitution to the police force to repay what it cost to do the investigation, which sounds like kind of a side thing, but money may have been a major factor here. And I say that because of what came out this morning when Chicago police gave a press briefing about this incident and the arrest.

In that briefing, Chicago police superintendent Eddie T. Johnson said that Smollett paid two men $3,500 to stage the attack, with another $500 upon return. They also said that while a staged attack did actually happen, most of the injuries that they saw on Smollett's face were likely self-inflicted. Also, what was really interesting from this is how they said they figured all of this out. They said they watched footage from 35 cameras set up by the city, as well as 20 private security cameras to follow the movements of the two attackers to figure out their identity. They managed to track their movements just before the attack where they had gotten into a cab from a rideshare vehicle. Tracking down that vehicle led to them getting the attackers identities and from there things moved forward. Also because apparently this story didn't already

seem like a TV cop show. They explained that after detaining the two men they refused to speak without a lawyer. Their lawyer then spoke to them, then authorities, and finally they confessed details of the entire plot at the 47th hour of detention, which is the last hour police could hold them in custody without charges. Johnson also added that Smollett had initially sent a fake racially charged letter to himself,

a letter that had a white powder that caused the set of Empire to be shut down and a hazmat team sent in, which on that note, the US Post Office and FBI are currently investigating that, and Smollett could be facing even more serious charges in the future with long prison terms. And as far as the why, you know, why do this? There were some initial reports saying

that he might've been getting kicked off of his show and then the show said, no, there's no truth to that. Police say they believe he staged the attack because he was unsatisfied with his salary on Empire and hoped the publicity would boost his profile. And kind of around this, I think it's important to just listen to Superintendent Johnson talking about these claims and the effect that it had

on the city of Chicago and more. This announcement today recognizes that Empire actor Jussie Smollett took advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career. How can an individual who's been embraced by the city of Chicago turn around and slap everyone in this city in the face by making these false claims? Bogus police reports cause real harm. They do harm to every legitimate victim who's in need of support by police and investigators as well as the

citizens of this city. And along with him talking about being pissed off, his words, with Jussie Smollett's motive, he also criticized the spreading of false rumors and also talked about the impact it had on the investigation. So we gave him the benefit of the doubt up until that 47th hour. But when we discovered the actual motive, quite frankly, it pissed everybody off. You know, because we have to invest valuable resources. A lot of what I want you all to really understand is when you all put things out there into the universe, that's not actual facts.

Then it causes us to have to chase all that stuff down. Those are resources and time spent that we'll never get back. In the latest update as we were finishing this video, we found out that Smollett's bond has been set at $100,000 and that he will be asked to surrender his passport. You know, following this news, we've seen massive, massive reactions all over the place. I mean, even before today when we started seeing reports, there was a massive shift to the story. You had the likes of Cardi B chiming in saying Smollett messed up Black History Month. Last night you had Don Lemon saying if Jussie's story isn't true he squandered a lot of goodwill.

And adding, He even lied to a lot of people, if it's not true, including me. And that's not cool. This is playing out every single moment in cable news. Sean Hannity's gonna eat Jussie Smollett's lunch every single second. Tucker Carlson is gonna eat Jussie Smollett's lunch every single second. The President of the United States. The President of the United States is gonna eat his lunch. And who does the President

of the United States watch every night? You. Cable news. Well, cable news. And in fact we did see President Trump chime in this morning with a tweet writing, at Jussie Smollett, what about MAGA and the tens of millions of people you insulted with your racist and dangerous comments? But also I mean you had people talking about the real impact this is going to have. People like British actress Natalie Emmanuelle tweeting Jussie Smollett man you have hurt so many people with this lie.

Mostly the real victims of racial and homophobic slash transphobic attacks. You give people who want to silence the stories of marginalized communities license to disbelief and dismiss them. You should be ashamed. And as far as my reaction to all of this, obviously, you know, we live in America. We're supposed to presume innocence until proven guilty. But everything coming out now seems incredibly damning. And it's hard not to just be completely outraged and disgusted that someone would do this. That you would have someone that would take advantage of and really weaponize people's desire to protect people that are part of vulnerable groups as a way to

Self-promote to get what you want money wise to become a bigger deal in a different Avenue You know, here's a question What if there hadn't been enough cameras or there were some cameras that happened to have two or three white guys and MAGA hats nearby? Would Jussie have said yeah, I think that might be them. Was he willing to demonize through a false story Not only a group in general, but would he have helped put innocent people behind bars? I don't know, it's just, it's all just a ridiculous situation, but all that said, of course, I pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts around this story? And then let's talk about this just absolutely horrifying story.

So some of you may have heard the news last week surrounding the Coast Guard officer who was arrested, and details are coming out now, and they're just seriously chilling. So, for those who don't know, Christopher Paul Hasson is a 49-year-old man from Silver Spring, Maryland, who is a U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant who has been working at the U.S. Coast Guard headquarters

in Washington since 2016. He also served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1988 to 1993, and in the Army National Guard for about two years in the mid-'90s, according to court documents. But then we fast forward to see that on February 15th, he was arrested on gun and drug charges and for allegedly wanting to conduct a mass killing. According to court documents,

he was a self-identified white nationalist who wanted to kill Democrats and journalists. Coast Guard Chief Warrant Officer Barry Lane, who was a spokesperson for the US Coast Guard headquarters, said in a statement that the arrest was actually part of an investigation led by the Coast Guard in cooperation with the FBI and the Justice Department. We also had federal prosecutors saying that Hassan had acquired a cache of weapons that he stockpiled to launch this widespread terrorist attack.

Reportedly, when law enforcement searched his home, they found 15 guns and more than a thousand rounds of ammunition. And the first page of the court documents, they really don't mince words. First page reads, The current charges, however, are the proverbial tip of the iceberg. The defendant is a domestic terrorist bent on committing acts dangerous to human life that are intended to affect governmental conduct. And adding, The defendant intends to murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country. And also for that reason, prosecutors ask the court to detain him while he awaits trial. And the further you get into the details of this case, the more horrifying they are. According to court documents, Hassan has had extremist views for years. He found a draft email dated back in June of 2017 case, the more horrifying they are. According to court documents, Hassan has had extremist views for years.

He found a draft email dated back in June of 2017 saying, "'I am dreaming of a way to kill "'almost every last person on the earth. "'I think a plague would be most successful, "'but how do I acquire the needed Spanish flu, "'botulism, anthrax? "'Not sure yet, but will find something.'" Interesting idea the other day.

Start with biological attacks, followed by attack on food supply. They also found another draft letter he had sent to himself in September, where he identified himself as a white nationalist for over 30 years and advocated for focused violence Which the prosecution says is in order to establish a white homeland this also based on the timing would have been just after Charlottesville, Virginia in August of 2017 They also found Hassan's internet searches which included most liberal senators Where do most senators live in DC senators have SS Secret Service, Secret Service protection, and are Supreme Court justices protected.

Additionally, he also searched for Joe Scarborough and where is Morning Joe filmed, this referring to his morning show after viewing a headline claiming that Scarborough referred to Trump as the worst ever. And federal investigators said that Hassan created a spreadsheet on his computer of people that he would target, and they included Joey, most likely Joe Scarborough, Chris Hayes, Sen Blumenjew, which is presumably Senator Blumenthal, Pelosi, Senator Kaine, Chuck Schumer, Don Lemon, Polka Warren, presumably Senator Elizabeth Warren, Cortez, which is believed to be AOC, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, and more. Also according to reports, Hassan made thousands of visits to websites that sell firearms and tactical gear. There's also a record of his firearm equipment purchases over the last two years. And if all of these tactics sound familiar, it's because it's actually similar to something that we and so many others have talked about in the past.

Specifically, the Norwegian domestic terrorist attack that killed 77 people in 2011. Hassan referred to that as a martyrdom operation. In that instance, the attacker spent three years prior to the incident producing a detailed manifesto where he attacked multiculturalism and Muslims, which he saw as the greatest threat to Western culture. And according to the court documents, Hassan found inspiration for his plan in the manifesto, which provided planning and preparation prior to the attacks. And actually, according to court documents, that was intended to serve as a blueprint for future single-seller lone wolf terrorist operations. And adding that from early 2017 up until the day of Hassan's arrest, he routinely followed instructions in the manifesto that said to amass appropriate firearms, food, disguises, and survival supplies. And so as far as the details there, that is what we know. As far as Hassan himself, he appeared in federal court today and a federal judge ordered that he be detained for 14 days. And that's time that the prosecutors will use to gather evidence to support their much larger charges. According to reports, as far as Hassan's defense, his attorney reportedly accused the FBI of going after Hassan to show, quote,

it is not just targeting Muslims. Also, the government arguing Hassan was using his work computer to plot attacks against politicians and media figures, to which the defense said it's, we're probably gonna find out a lot more. Just, man, I know that we only talked about two stories today, but the world's crazy. Horrifying, ridiculous place. Where I would personally want to end this story is a big thank you and show of appreciation to the people in the Coast Guard, the FBI, the DOJ who prevented this, who caught this, who worked on it, who acted on it. It's my personal opinion based off of the information we have at hand right now, that there are going to be people alive that wouldn't have been if they had not acted. So thank you, and of course, also, like we end every story, I'd love to know your thoughts around this one. Both on the story in general, but also,

and maybe this will change, but it feels like this story, which is far more horrifying, is being kind of downplayed to other news right now. And that's where I'm going to end today's show. And remember, if you like this video, you like these dives into the news, let us know. Hit that like button. Also, if you're new here,

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to watch those. But with that said, of course, as always, my name's Philip DeFranco, you've just been filled in, I love yo faces, and I'll see you tomorrow.