JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI - MAYOR LUMUMBA CLAIMS BEING PURSUED BY FBI IS NOT ANYTHING FOREIGN TO HIM

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba used his most recent episode of “Ask Antar” to thank supporters and reassure residents the city of Jackson is moving forward even as he faces multiple corruption charges.

In October, a federal grand jury indicted Lumumba, Ward Six Councilman Aaron Banks, and Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens in connection with a bribery scheme to bring a convention center hotel to downtown Jackson.

The comments mark only the second time the mayor has discussed the indictment since it was unsealed on November 7.

“People have been keeping me lifted up... sending me daily text messages, prayers, Scriptures, lifting up my family, not only in Jackson but around the country,” he said. “These are the moments that you’re taught who really are your friends and who support you, and I’ve been grateful for that support.”

Lumumba, dressed in a gray sweater and a black button-up shirt, reiterated statements he made outside of the Thad Cochran Federal Courthouse last month, that he was going to continue to fight the charges and work for residents.

“I don’t want anyone to be fearful for that,” he said. “I’m going to move around. I’m not going to walk around as if I’m guilty of something I am not.”

He pointed to the fact that after his arraignment, he went to Tampa, Florida, for the National League of Cities Centennial Summit “to seek solutions for the city” and to “appear for multiple speaking engagements.”

“[I want] our residents to know that, as I’ve said, ‘I’m not only innocent, but I’m going to fight those charges and I’ll let my attorneys handle that,’” he said. “I owe them a responsibility, and so I’m going to make certain I maintain and adhere to that responsibility.”

“We’re still working, we’re still meeting, we’re still seeking solutions to the problems that face Jackson residents every day... I’m grateful to have a team around me that can focus in.”

Lumumba is charged with conspiracy, federal program bribery, the use of an interstate facility in aid of racketeering, honest services wire fraud, and money laundering after he allegedly accepted $50,000 in bribes to benefit developers wanting to bring a convention center hotel to Jackson.

The developers, who claimed to be with Facility Solutions Team out of Hendersonville, Tennessee, turned out to be confidential human sources with the FBI.

The mayor told Director of Communications Melissa Faith Payne during the roughly 30-minute episode that this was not the first time he’s been investigated by the agency, and that he’s dealt with the FBI “my entire life.”

“We were often surveilled. To this day, I actually have FOIA documents to demonstrate that... I’ve seen my high school pictures in FBI documents, [pictures from] my mother’s funeral in FBI documents, details on my parents’ relationship in FBI documents,” he said.

“Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon to me... It’s not something I want for my children. I really have to question what family, or anybody, would justify that level of scrutiny, that level of investment, to follow a family that long,” he continued. “It is not something that is foreign territory to me.”

Lumumba is in his second term as Jackson’s mayor. He was first elected in 2017 and re-elected by a landslide in 2021.