CHICAGO _ Two brothers released without charges after being identified last week as "possible suspects" in the alleged attack on actor Jussie Smollett met with detectives and prosecutors at the Leighton Criminal Court Building on Tuesday, authorities said, as investigators continue to look into whether the "Empire" cast member staged the incident.
Their attorney, Gloria Schmidt, declined to comment as she left the courthouse Tuesday.
Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx has recused herself from the investigation, her office said late Tuesday afternoon. No explanation was given. Foxx's first assistant, Joe Magats, will oversee the case, a spokeswoman for the office said.
Authorities have said they have more questions for Smollett, 36, because of what the brothers said when they were interviewed by police last week. The two men, aged 25 and 27, were released late Friday, 12 hours after police called them "possible suspects." The Chicago Tribune is not identifying the brothers because they have not been charged with a crime.
Smollett, who is African-American and openly gay, has said that at about 2 a.m. on Jan. 29, while walking from a Subway sandwich shop to his apartment in downtown Chicago, two men walked up, yelled racial and homophobic slurs, declared, "This is MAGA country," hit him and wrapped a rope around his neck.
Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi has said "new evidence" was uncovered during the brothers' interrogations last week, making it necessary for police to speak further with Smollett. Smollett did not talk to the police on Tuesday, according to a source close to the actor.
Information from the brothers allowed investigators to discover where the rope Smollett said was wrapped around his neck had been purchased, according to a law enforcement source.
The shift in the investigation's focus toward Smollett took place even as he began addressing public doubts about his story in interviews, and as his attorneys issued a strongly worded statement insisting the attack happened.
"Jussie Smollett is angered and devastated by recent reports that the perpetrators are individuals he is familiar with," read the statement from his attorneys last weekend. "He has been further victimized by claims attributed to these alleged perpetrators that Jussie played a role in his own attack. Nothing is further from the truth."
The statement said one of the brothers was Smollett's personal trainer, the first time he has acknowledged knowing either of them. The two also reportedly worked with Smollett on "Empire."
The two brothers, who are also black, were taken into custody last Wednesday after detectives tracked their movements on surveillance cameras on a quiet street east of Michigan Avenue in the Streeterville neighborhood, where Smollett says the attack took place.
After the brothers were released from a South Side police station Friday night, their lawyer was vague about what information they turned over to police. Pressed about whether Smollett set up the attack, Schmidt said, "There's still a lot of moving parts to this. ... I'm not part of Jussie's defense. I'm not part of what's going on with him. I can just tell you that my guys (are) innocent of the charge and they're going home."
A week before the incident, Smollett told police he received a threatening letter at work. Witnesses told police a postal worker dropped off the letter at the Chicago studio where "Empire" is filmed. It was postmarked in southwest suburban Bedford Park on Jan. 18 and bore two American flag stamps. The letters "MAGA" were written in the upper-left corner of the envelope. Federal authorities are investigating the origin of the letter.
