Jussie Smollett still wants people to believe he’s innocent. Tuesday he filed a malicious prosecution claim against the city of Chicago, the detectives who investigated his case, the police superintendent, and the Osundairo brothers.

Actor Jussie Smollett has filed a counterclaim in federal court against the city of Chicago, multiple police officers and two brothers, alleging a malicious prosecution caused him economic harm, “humiliation, mental anguish and extreme emotional distress.”…

Lawyers for the actor claim police sought to have Smollett prosecuted based on the Osundairo brothers’ “false, self-serving, and unreliable statements in order to close the investigation into the attack on Mr. Smollett.”

They say proceedings against Smollett were terminated “in Mr. Smollett’s favor and in a manner which indicates his innocence because all 16 counts of the criminal indictment were dismissed two and a half weeks after the indictment was filed.”

If Smollett wins this countersuit, the city would be unable to collect the $130,000 it is seeking to cover the cost of the investigation. But Smollett can’t really care about the money. He must have spent a good portion of that amount having his attorneys prepare this 49-page lawsuit. And if this goes to trial, he’ll spend a lot more having the lawyers represent him. So the only thing that makes sense here is that Smollett is looking to lose money for the chance to defend his own honor in court.

Last month, Smollett reacted on Instagram when someone pointed to an incident in which a black sixth-grader in Virginia made up a story about being held down and having her hair cut off by a group of white boys. Surveillance video revealed that never happened. When someone suggested the hoax made Smollett a “trendsetter” he replied, “With all due respect brother, y’all can clown me all you want but my story has actually never changed and I haven’t lied about a thing.” That’s his story and he’s sticking to it.

Smollett’s attorneys had attempted to have the city’s lawsuit against him dismissed, claiming that even if his police report was false he couldn’t have known it would result in such an expensive investigation. But a judge disagreed and refused to dismiss the case. “The natural, ordinary and reasonable consequence of a police report like this one — a racist, homophobic physical assault in which masked attackers invoked the President of the United States’ official campaign slogan — is an intensive, sprawling investigation like the one that took place,” Judge Virginia Kendall said.

Meanwhile, State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, who is still under investigation for her apparent bungling of the case against Smollett, announced she was running for reelection yesterday. Her announcement video included an admission that she hadn’t handled the case well:

“The truth is, I didn’t handle it well,” Foxx says in the video. “I own that.”

“I’m making changes in my office to make sure we do better,” she adds. “That’s what reform is about.”

In the video, Foxx goes on to say that “those attacks aren’t just about one case, they’re about stopping progress in Cook County . . . we’re on the right path to reforming criminal justice in Cook County, and making the system work for everyone.”

If you watch the full clip, the message she’s sending isn’t subtle: Sure, I made a mess of the Smollett case but what’s more important, that or progressive criminal justice reform? The obvious answer is that Smollett’s case was a blatant attempt at stirring up racial tensions in the city and indeed the entire country. Letting Smollett slide doesn’t show Kim Foxx is the person to bring further progress to the city of Chicago. On the contrary, it shows she’s not up to the job.

I ran for Cook County State’s Attorney four years ago because we needed to change criminal justice in our county. Today, I’m officially announcing that I’m running for re-election. We’ve gotten a lot done, and we can’t go back now. pic.twitter.com/0ECV7BRJGH

— Kim Foxx (@KimFoxx) November 19, 2019