harris and aoc, who assumed he was telling the truth. right wing talk tv made much of this, ignoring the fact that president donald trump offered sympathetic words. chicago sun-times columnist mary mitchell said the incident sounds so bizarre, it is easy to doubt it happened. when the cook county prosecutor s office tried to make it all go away, chicago s democratic mayor at the time rahm emanuel called it a whitewash of justice, while the police chief released more and more information. ultimately, the trial went forward, the truth came out, but right wing talking heads are still trying to use the verdict to put the media on trial, saying it was complicit in amplifying the hoax. that s a self-serving charge. but let s try to cut through all the situational ethics and apply the same standard across the partisan divide. jussie msmollett s repetition o a lie did not make it true. he thought by playing the