Attorney for brothers in Smollett case says her clients were 'betrayed'

CHICAGO (FOX 32) - Gloria Schmidt, the attorney for the two brothers in the center of the Jussie Smollett case, says her clients are cooperating and shot down the notion that they flipped on Smollett after being threatened with assault charges.

“I was in the room for all those 47, 48 hours and I can tell you the threat of being charged was not a concern to them,” Schmidt said. “What they realized in that entire process was how much this was going to affect people. Not just them, their family people across the board. People that have actually suffered hate crimes themselves. That is the impetus. Not immunity. Not a plea deal.”

Schmidt says her clients were put up to it by Smollett. She does admit the check was paid to the brothers for training. However, that was part of the reason they agreed to help Smollett stage the hoax.

“This is a story where my clients were in a position where they trusted someone,” Schmidt said. “This was someone that was their friend, someone that they trained with and their trust was betrayed by this person. So loyalty realization that this is going to affect a lot of people, particularly minority populations.

"They wanted to do a favor for their friend,” she continued. “I think that's something everyone can identify with. It's my position that Mr. Smollett planned to take advantage of that.”

Schmidt said the brothers hope something good will come out of all of this.

Jussie Smollett will be back in front of a judge on Thursday.