McCarthy blasts Rahm over termination letter: 'He didn't even have the balls to sign it himself'

CHICAGO (FOX 32 News) - On December 1, 2015, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced that then-Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy would be relieved of his duties as the city’s top cop.

Sixteen days later, Emanuel’s chief of staff, Eileen Mitchell, emailed McCarthy a formal termination letter that said his last day on the job would be December 31.

“Please let me know if you have any questions,” wrote Mitchell, who also signed the termination letter instead of Mayor Emanuel.

McCarthy then forwarded the email to his attorney and wife, Kristin Barnette, and he added an insult apparently directed towards his then-boss, Mayor Emanuel.

“He didn’t even have the balls to sign it himself,” McCarthy wrote.

Spokesman for the mayor, Adam Collins, tells the Chicago Sun-Times that Emanuel did in fact meet with McCarthy on December 1 to tell him he was fired.

“With all the actual issues going on right now, the fact that you’re focusing on this is total nonsense,” Collins said in an email to the Sun-Times. “Beyond that, it’s standard procedure for the chief of staff to sign termination letters, not the mayor. Communicating about when benefits will expire and how medical coverage is handled is exactly why you have a chief of staff to begin with.”

McCarthy was fired by Mayor Emanuel after the release of dashcam video that showed a Chicago cop, Jason Van Dyke, fatally shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald 16 times. Van Dyke is now facing murder charges.