A former attorney for the City of Chicago is suing Mayor Lori Lightfoot for defamation after she allegedly berated a group of lawyers during a heated meeting over the removal of the Christopher Columbus Statue.

The statue was removed in July 2020 following unrest over the murder of George Floyd. Under Lightfoot’s orders, crews used a large crane to remove the statue from its pedestal in Grant Park following a week after protesters trying to topple the monument clashed with police.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday by former Chicago Park District counsel general George Smyrniotis, says Lightfoot blocked a deal with an Italian-American group to display the statue in the Columbus Day Parade.

Smyrniotis claims she berated the lawyers who struck the deal, asking them which law school they attended or if they even went to law school. The suit claims the insults defamed Smyrniotis by insinuating that he lacked the abilities to perform his duties.

The lawsuit also claims the mayor used obscene language and called the lawyers “d—-.” The mayor allegedly made the following statement:

“You make some kind of secret agreement with Italians, what you are doing, you are out there measuring your d—- with the Italians seeing whose got the biggest d—, you are out there stroking your d—- over the Columbus statue, I am trying to keep Chicago Police officers from being shot and you are trying to get them shot.

The lawsuit claims she then went on to say, “My d— is bigger than yours and the Italians, I have the biggest d— in Chicago.”

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