president biden is handling rogue nations around the world when dan hoffman joins us later this hour. bill: to chicago we go. cross examination of jussie smollett continues this morning. he took the stand in his own defense just yesterday. he gave bombshell testimony about drug-fueled nights with the prosecution s star witness. matt finn back in chicago live with details again today. good morning, matt. good morning, bill. justy smollett is scheduled to take the stand in a matter of minutes. he testified on the stand for the majority of the day yesterday and there were some rather jaw dropping moments. smollett did testify under oath that there was no hoax. he also insists that he suffered real injuries from his alleged attack saying he still has a scar under one of his eye s, even though the northwestern doctor who treetd him testified that smollett suffered no injuries. he also testified he had sexual encounters with one of the brothers who he also
occasionally paid up to $200 for cocaine. claims that the brother denied under oath. special prosecutor why he chose to stop cooperating with police saying he did not turn over phone data, medical records or take a dna swap. he testified he is a famous person with a lot of sensitive info on his phone and wanted privacy. smollett was asked why he didn t call police after the alleged hate crime attack. he testified he is a black man in america who doesn t trust police. he also briefly mentioned that during the investigation he got a text message from don lemon saying chicago police were not believing his story. smollett testified one of his attackers was pale skined which would eliminate the brothers as their attackers. the security guard said he saw two people run away from the alleged attack. one of those people was a pale
skinned white person. smollett will take the stand within the hour and keep you updated throughout the day. bill: bombshells yesterday. see what we get today. thank you, matt, nice to see you. dana: follow matt finn on twitter for more of his reporting and more on this from criminal defense attorney jonna spilbor. one, i guess did he have to take the stand in his own defense? i suppose not but he decided to. they know they are watching an actor. they have already had all the other testimony. with what he said yesterday on the stand, are they planting seeds of reasonable doubt? you know, i think they might be. for the last week many of us have been wondering what the defense strategy in the case would be, dana. myself included. it seemed like there was an open and shut case after the state rested. now that jussie smollett took the stand we know his strategy is to gas light this entire jury and here is what he is doing. he is basically giving the jury