Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel released the dashcam video of a white police officer fatally shooting an African-American teenager after 13 months only to protect his re-election chances earlier this year, former Illinois Rep. Michael Patrick Flanagan told
Newsmax TV on Wednesday.
"It was about getting him re-elected and this couldn't be talked about then in any useful force or way," Flanagan, a Republican who served from 1995 to 1997, told "The Hard Line" host Ric Blackwell. "What's also interesting is that the policeman is indicted the day before the video was supposed to be released.
"Controlling the organs of prosecution and enforcement by Democrats, particularly Chicago Democrats, is a hallmark of their ability to hold on to power," Flanagan said.
Emanuel won re-election in April in Chicago's first mayoral runoff after Cook County Commissioner Jesús Garcia forced the incumbent to campaign fiercely across the Windy City because he failed to win a majority in a February primary.
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The mayor faced five challengers in the primary — and the runoff was the first since Chicago changed the way it held elections nearly 20 years ago.
"If you remember that election, it was very close," Flanagan told Blackwell of the runoff. The vote was 56-44 percent. "I absolutely believe that Rahm Emanuel didn't want anything to make his chances even more worse.
"Emanuel knew it would be close," he added. "This would've made it hard."
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