President Trump on Thursday condemned the reported attack on “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett, which is being investigated as a possible hate crime.
“That I can tell you is horrible. It doesn’t get worse,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
{mosads}Smollett has said two men approached him on Tuesday and hit him while yelling racist and homophobic slurs, then placed a rope around his neck. The incident has drawn national attention.
TMZ reported Tuesday that the two suspects referenced Trump’s 2016 “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) campaign slogan during the alleged ambush, yelling, “This is MAGA country.”
“We can not confirm what the offenders stated,” a Chicago Police Department spokesman said when asked about any MAGA-related language in the incident.
Chicago police have released surveillance footage of “potential persons of interest” in the incident but have not verified details of the alleged attack as described by Smollett.