Fox Contributor Suggests Michelle Obama Got Smollett Charges Dropped to Change Mueller News Cycle

Oh Michelle Obama, Fox News just can’t quit you.

In the wake of Chicago prosecutors dropping all charges against actor Jussie Smollett over allegations he faked a hate crime against himself, a new conspiracy theory has bubbled up on the right that various liberals conspired somehow to get Smollett out of trouble. Promulgating this theory requires spitting out the names of a whole bunch of right-wing bogeymen — Kamala Harris! Harvey Weinstein! George Soros! — until you hit on the right one.

In the case of Stuart Varney and a guest on his Fox Business show Wednesday morning, that correct name is Michelle Obama.

Varney started off by calling Smollett’s release “a travesty of justice” that showed “the influence and power of liberal elites.” His guest, libertarian Fox News contributor Lawrence Jones, agreed before adding a twist: that the former first lady had gotten this deal for Smollett done either to distract from Donald Trump’s alleged exoneration by the still-unread-by-the-public Mueller report, or because she thought it would not get much notice from distracted conservatives.

In this telling, Obama is a puppet master pulling strings. As Jones told Varney, “We know that Michelle Obama’s chief of staff made some phone calls…I would also note that the reason why they released this now because after the Trump investigation was concluded they knew during the news cycle this was the perfect time to release this.” He is referring to reports that Tina Tchen, a Chicago attorney who worked for the first lady from 2011 until she left the White House in 2017, had asked Cook County’s head prosecutor, Kim Foxx, to convince the Chicago Police Department to turn the investigation over to the FBI.

Unsurprisingly, Jones cited no evidence to support his contention that Tchen made the call at Obama’s behest, or that the case’s resolution was timed to hurt Donald Trump.

Varney then wondered if Michelle Obama’s reputation would take a hit over this unproven accusation made with no evidence by a guest on a television network that spent years claiming her husband was born in Kenya.

Jones responded, “No. Absolutely not…She has the best approval rating out of any first lady or presidential candidate right now. Everybody thinks flowers about Michelle Obama. This will be sweeped (sic) under the rug. This is why it was the chief of staff that did it, so she wouldn’s take the hit. I think people are still going to love her.”

Varney noted that Obama’s memoir is about to become the best-selling memoir of all time, which led Jones to comment, “She loves capitalism, would you look at that.” Which is a reminder that the people who appear on Fox still seem to think, despite all evidence to the contrary, that the Obamas are secret Marxists or something.

Jones finished by complaining that Smollett “almost started a race war” over his accusations, which is a ridiculous assertion that will nevertheless probably convince Fox’s audience of elderly shut-ins to buy more security locks and survival seeds from the network’s advertisers.

Watch the clip up top, via Fox Business Network.