Robin Roberts on Jussie Smollett interview: 'It was a no-win situation for me'

“I said, ‘I don’t want to sit down with him if he’s going to lawyer up.' And then I was told, ‘He wants to speak with you,’ [because] he was outraged by people making assumptions about whether it had happened or not.”BROTHERS INVOLVED IN ALLEGED JUSSIE SMOLLETT STAGED ATTACK SAY THEY 'REGRET' THEIR INVOLVEMENT Per The Hollywood Reporter, Roberts said Smollett's team told her that she could challenge the "Empire" actor on what she saw as "red flags" in the alleged attack and that the 36-year-old would also give her new information he hadn't said anywhere else."I'm like — as a journalist and as a news person, this is his right," Roberts stated. Yes, I'll do the interview."On February 14, Roberts' interview — which was taped two days earlier — with Smollett aired.CHICAGO POLICE BLAST JUSSIE SMOLLETT 'PHONY ATTACK': 'BOGUS POLICE REPORTS CAUSE REAL HARM'“I sit down with him, and I don’t know what he’s going to say,” she remembered.