Chicago Police Say That Jussie Smollett’s Phone Records That He Handed Over Are ‘Insufficient’

It seems like the Jussie Smollett attack investigation is going in circles.

Chicago Police have been requesting Jussie’s phone records from him since the day of his attack. According to Page Six, it took the Empire star 13 days to finally hand over to the cops the information that they were looking for. Police wanted Smollett’s phone records as he had claimed that he was on the phone with his manager at the time of the attack.

But now that he has finally turned over the records that the Chicago Police have been asking for, they are calling the records “limited and redacted” — as well as insufficient to use for part of a police investigation. The CPD called the records a “heavily redacted” PDF version of his call log, and Chicago Police Spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said that they are going to need something more “concrete and direct” if they want to prove that the conversation actually took place. Redacted records are not able to be used because they are able to be tampered with.

“We don’t believe this is the case at all but when anyone hands over a redacted and limited record like a PDF of a phone bill for example, those records could be manipulated,” Guglielmi said. “We don’t believe they are but we have to be able to hold up to the standards of a criminal court… [the records] don’t meet the burden for a criminal investigation.”

However, Guglielmi still says that Smollett should be considered a victim — and that he’s glad he followed through on getting the records over to police. For now, he says, the investigation will continue. As the Inquisitr reported, Smollett was reportedly subjected to racist and homophobic insults during an attack which saw two masked men throw an unknown chemical substance at him near his Chicago high-rise.

Additionally, the men allegedly put a rope around his neck before they fled the scene. There is also a surveillance video of Jussie walking into his apartment building with a rope around his neck. Police have also released video of two men walking in the area prior to the attack, and are asking for the public’s help in identifying them.

Smollett’s family has also released a statement on the attack, calling it “a racial, homophobic hate crime.” To end the statement, the Smollett family said that they will continue to work toward “love, equity, and justice.”

So far, police do not have anyone in custody, but are working to piece together the details of that evening.