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Police are still hoping to speak to the two men seen in the video about the alleged attack.

\"Photos of people of interest who were in area of the alleged assault & battery of Empire cast member. While video does not capture an encounter, detectives are taking this development seriously & wish to question individuals as more cameras are being reviewed,\" Chicago Police tweeted late yesterday.

Police also confirmed Thursday that a neighbor of Smollett's has come forward as a witness and said she saw a person carrying a rope of some kind around the time of the alleged attack. The physical description she provided was different than the one provided by Smollett and detectives have yet to find any surveillance video that shows an individual matching the description of the man she gave.

President Trump called the attack \"horrible\" while discussing a wide range of issues Thursday afternoon.

\"Doesn't get worse, as far as I'm concerned,\" he said.

The \"Empire\" star told police the alleged attack happened Tuesday about 2 a.m. The 36-year-old actor was subsequently hospitalized and released, local authorities said.

Smollett has been cooperating with local authorities to find the men he says allegedly attacked him and shouted racial and homophobic slurs, police said.

Smollett has declined to hand over his cell phone to detectives, but police are not concerned by this due to the personal nature of someone's phone, police said.

Police also made it clear to ABC News that Smollett is not the target or focus of any criminal investigation; since he is the victim, they added, detectives won't press to obtain his phone.

\"PHOTO:
Victoria Will/Invision/AP, FILE
PHOTO: Jussie Smollett poses for a portrait in New York, March 6, 2018.
>

Smollett told police that the men also allegedly poured \"an unknown chemical substance\" on him, possibly bleach, and wrapped a rope around his neck, as shown in the new video. The rope was still around Smollett's neck when police spoke to him, officials said.

Brandon Z. Moore, Smollett's music manager, told ABC News he was on the phone with the actor when he heard part of the alleged attack. He also heard the words \"MAGA country,\" presumably from the alleged attackers, he added.

\"I heard that clearly,\" he told ABC News. \"I heard the scuffle and I heard the racial slur.\"

Police confirmed they have spoken to Moore and his account is noted in the police report. Moore and Smollett both said they were on the phone with each other at the time of the attack, police added.

Detectives have not yet seen phone records to confirm their accounts, police said.

In an interview with \"Good Morning America\" on Wednesday, \"Empire\" co-star Terrence Howard said a production manager notified the cast about the attack in a meeting on set Tuesday.

The actor said Fox boosted security on set in the wake of the incident and offered each cast member 24-hour personal security.

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