Jussie Smollett and his lawyer's responses to the charges being dropped against him raises questions, according to ABC News Chief Legal Affairs anchor Dan Abrams.
He said that Smollett and his attorney, Patricia Brown Holmes, would have taken a different tone if Smollett had been proven totally innocent.
"If the police decided, 'We got this all wrong,' I think you'd be hearing a different message from the lawyers, which is, 'They owe us an apology. This is an outrage,'" he said. "Instead what you're hearing is, 'Well, we didn't want to fight anymore, so we forfeited the bond.'"
Smollett was accused of paying two brothers to stage an attack on him last January in Chicago's Streeterville neighborhood and charged with 16 counts of disorderly conduct. He made an emergency court appearance on Tuesday shortly before it was announced that the charges were being dropped. Afterward, he and Holmes told the media that he's ready to move on with his life.
"Not for a moment was it in vain," Smollett said. "I have been truthful and consistent on every single level since day one. I would not be my mother's son if I was capable of one drop of what I was accused of."
Later in the day, Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson and Mayor Rahm Emanuel expressed their frustration at the decision to drop the charges. Emanuel called the decision to drop the charges "a whitewash of justice."
Like Emanuel, Johnson said he stands by the investigation.
"If you want to say you're innocent, then you take your day in court. I would never hide behind a brokered deal and secrecy," he said.
WATCH: Jussie Smollett speaks after charges dropped
Abrams said he doesn't think the full story has come to light yet, given that Holmes did not vehemently call for Smollett's alleged attackers to be prosecuted.
"If these guys attacked him out of nowhere and put a noose around his neck and yelled 'MAGA' chants and all this other stuff out of nowhere, she should be absolutely horrified and outraged that this happened," he said of Holmes' remarks. "And of course they should be prosecuted."
"The fact that she's not saying that makes me think there is more to this story that we're not getting," he added.
Get the latest on the Jussie Smollett story here.
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