Tucker: How did anyone fall for this Smollett hoax?

FWIW

He committed a crime but the defense is that the tv show he worked for had allowed him to be bullied and discriminated against without investigating or doing anything to stop it. He felt he was shining a light on injustice.  Now Kim Fox who did not charge him appropriately is also being investigated.  

I’m cutting back online video watching because it drains my battery but I agree with the question. How did they fall for a case that clearly had gaping holes in it?

One thing I found interesting was not only did the two he paid to pull the stunt come forward with the truth, but another video on that same street filmed earlier showed them rehearsing the stunt before the actual stunt took place which was apparently even more damning than the actual two witnesses themselves.

FWIW

WALTER784 said:

One thing I found interesting was not only did the two he paid to pull the stunt come forward with the truth, but another video on that same street filmed earlier showed them rehearsing the stunt before the actual stunt took place which was apparently even more damning than the actual two witnesses themselves.

that video, if introduced as evidence at trial, is not going to make him look very good at all to the jury.

Kind of like the Karen in the store who assaults someone and tries to take their phone or the toilet paper in their cart, then cries crocodile tears and claims "this person threatened my life and stole my kid's PlayStation" then the CCTV footage is reviewed and it turned out the Karen attacked and shoved the already partly disabled person to the floor after demanding the electronic device for her inconvenience, then forcibly tried to take it and the victim barely managed to hang on to it.

Usually the Karen gets frog-marched out in handcuffs.

Except in cases of incompetent law enforcement who just believe the convincing liar and don't bother to actually gather any evidence such as video.

From what I heard, it was already introduced as evidence. 2 days before the incident, he's driving his car down that street where they were to stage the actual incident and went past it 3 or 4 times... on video with the two brothers in the car with him.

FWIW

He should go to jail as an example of sheer gall and stupidity.

Not only is it evidence but I bet the jury has already heard about the case and the facts.  It would be hard to find 12 people who haven’t.

Well, hopefully he gets prison. As a warning to others - thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

Yep. Explaining away clear video evidence is very hard to do - nigh well impossible.