Police Begin Internal Investigation Into Jussie Smollett Case

The Chicago Police Department has launched an internal investigation into the leaked information from the Jussie Smollett case that has been relayed to the media. 

"I would like to point out that a lot of the information out there was inaccurate and there were numerous agencies involved in this investigation," Chicago P.D. Sergeant Rocco Alioto said in a statement, perET. "As a standard procedure when there are allegations of information being leaked, an internal investigation has been opened and we are also looking at our vulnerabilities."

The announcement of the internal investigation comes on the same day as a report that dozens of workers and nurses at Northwestern Hospital were fired for inappropriately gaining access to Smollett's medical records. Smollett was rushed to Northwestern after he was allegedly attacked by two men. 

Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson appeared on the nationally broadcasted show Good Morning America in late February and claimed that the department was sitting on "a lot more evidence" that would further the narrative that Smollett staged the alleged hate crime, but he also maintained that the Empire actor still has the "presumption of innocence."

"Any time you get law enforcement drip-drip-drip leaks, that to me is a telltale sign that something else is going on here," Smollett's lawyer Mark Geragos said while on CNN. "I haven’t seen anything except leaks according to law enforcement sources. To me, that screams out somebody is trying to manipulate something."