--- ---  # Sen. Kamala Harris Says She Is 'Disappointed' Over Jussie Smollett's Alleged Staged Attack by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Feb 22, 2019 1:50 PM UTC  Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) participates in a interview and question-and-answer session with leaders from historically black colleges and universities during a Thurgood Marshall College Fund event at the JW Marriott February 07, 2019 in Washington, DC. Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) participates in a interview and question-and-answer session with leaders from historically black colleges and universities during a Thurgood Marshall College Fund event at the JW Marriott February 07, 2019 in Washington, DC.Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Feb 22, 2019 1:50 PM UTC Sen. Kamala Harris said she is “sad, frustrated and disappointed” about the recent turn in the case of the actor Jussie Smollett. Harris, a Democratic presidential candidate in the 2020 race, had [joined a flood of support for Smollett](http://time.com/5517142/empire-star-jussie-smollett-chicago-attack/) when he first claimed in January to be the victim of a hate crime attack in Chicago. Smollett’s story drew an outpouring of sympathy and condemnations of the attack from several politicians, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, President Donald Trump and Sen. Cory Booker – also a 2020 candidate. Following weeks of investigation over Smollett’s claims that two people yelled racist and homophobic insults, beat him, put a noose on him and threw chemicals on him, Chicago police charged the _Empire_ star with felony disorderly conduct in filing a false police report. Police said Thursday that Smollett [orchestrated a fake hate crime attack](http://time.com/5534599/jussie-smollett-staged-hate-attack/) on himself out of dissatisfaction with his salary. The actor is alleged to have paid two men $3,500 to carry out the fake attack. Harris, who called Smollett’s initial account of the attack [“an attempted modern day lynching,”](https://twitter.com/KamalaHarris/status/1090361495119187969?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed&ref%5Furl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Fpolitics%2Fkamala-harris-says-shes-sad-frustrated-and-disappointed-after-smollett-arrest) said in a statement on Thursday that false reports to the police can make it harder for legitimate crime victims to come forward. > [](https://twitter.com/KamalaHarris/status/1098724827869995009) Harris, a former prosecutor, also noted that hate crimes are on the rise in the U.S., citing FBI statistics released last year that found a [17% rise in hate crimes](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/13/us/hate-crimes-fbi-2017.html). “Part of the tragedy of this situation is that it distracts from that truth, and has been seized by some who would like to dismiss and downplay the very real problems that we must address,” she said. “We should not allow that. I will always condemn racism and homophobia. We must always confront hate direct, and we must always seek justice.” Smollett has denied the accusations and his legal team [said in a statement](https://twitter.com/WGNNegovan/status/1098755662136438784) that he “feels betrayed by a system that apparently wants to skip due process and proceed directly to sentencing.” Kamala Harris on Jussie Smollett: Sad, Frustrated, and Disappointed ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5535446/kamala-harris-jussie-smollett-attack/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5535446/kamala-harris-jussie-smollett-attack/"},"headline":"Sen. Kamala Harris Says She Is 'Disappointed' Over Jussie Smollett's Alleged Staged Attack","datePublished":"2019-02-22T13:50:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T22:50:19.747Z","description":"Sen. 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