Trump Labels Outcome of Jussie Smollett Case as 'Outrageous'

President Donald Trump said it's an "embarrassment" prosecutors could look at widely reported evidence of wrongdoing and decide drop charges against a famous actor after a highly publicized investigation

Early Thursday morning, the president announced the Department of Justice and FBI would independently look into allegations out Empire star Jussie Smollett who police say filed false reports and staged his own hate crime.

"FBI & DOJ to review the outrageous Jussie Smollett case in Chicago. It is an embarrassment to our Nation!" Trump tweeted.

The 3:34 a.m. social media post, Trump's fourth tweet of the day, marks the second time he's ever tweeted the actor's name.

Smollett in January told police he was attacked by two men wearing ski masks and hurling homophobic slurs. He said the men put a noose around his neck, beat him and at one point yelled "This is MAGA country."

That last remark immediately upset supporters of Trump, whose campaign slogan in 2016 was "Make America Great Again." MAGA has become an abbreviation closely associated with the nationalist movement and Trump's populist appeal.

Nearly a month after the alleged attack on Smollett, authorities brought evidence against Smollett alleging the actor staged the entire event. Smollett was indicted on felony charges. But this week all charges were dropped.

Trump initially condemned the attack on Smollett.

"That I can tell you is horrible," Trump said at a January press conference. "I've seen it. Last night. I think that's horrible. Doesn't get worse."

He didn't address the situation publicly again until the allegations Smollett perpetuated a hoax. In February, he tagged Smollett in a Twitter post.

"What about MAGA and the tens of millions of people you insulted with your racist and dangerous comments!?" he wrote then.

He did not tweet about Smollett again until Thursday.

Notably, Trump's new remark comes days after a different prosecutor, Special Counsel Robert Mueller, completed a two-year investigation of different crimes. Mueller studied Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, which Trump won in a surprise electoral victory despite trailing badly in polls and losing the popular vote.

A summary of Mueller's findings by Attorney General William Barr spotlights that "the evidence does not establish that the President was involved in an underlying crime related to Russian election interference."

Trump, who on Twitter called the Mueller investigation a "witch hunt" on at least 184 occasions, has said that finding vindicated him. In answering a question from the press, Trump agreed Mueller acted honorably.

The full Mueller report has not yet been released. And it's unclear how much of the report Trump has read, but he also call it an "embarrassment" after Barr released his summary of findings.