Prosecutors play wiretaps displaying former Illinois House Speaker’s power

[October 25, 2024]  By Jim Talamonti | The Center Square

(The Center Square) – Wiretapped conversations have taken center stage at the corruption trial of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and co-defendant Michael McClain.

Prosecutors played a series of recordings during testimony from FBI Special Agent Ryan McDonald Thursday afternoon. McDonald said he had been working on the Madigan investigation since 2014. He also said that the COVID-19 pandemic caused delays for investigators.

McDonald testified that the FBI had a wiretap, or Title III, approved on McClain’s cell phone for about nine months. McDonald estimated that the FBI had about 20,000 recordings from McClain’s phone.

McDonald also said that then-ComEd executive Fidel Marquez agreed to have his cell phone wiretapped for approximately four months in 2019. McDonald said Marquez also agreed to record in-person meetings.

Former State Rep. Lou Lang, D-Skokie, testified Thursday morning. Lang served in the Illinois General Assembly from 1987-2019.

Lang said that before a sexual harassment claim surfaced against him in May of 2018, Madigan had told him that he would be the next majority leader of the Illinois House. Lang said he also had hopes of one day succeeding Madigan as speaker.

Prosecutors then played a recording from Nov. 8, 2018, when McClain urged Lang to move on to a different career. McClain confirmed Lang’s suggestion that Madigan was no longer interested in moving Lang up to leadership.

When Lang asked if the speaker would be helpful with “business procurement,” McClain confirmed that Madigan would do that. Lang said on the recording that he wouldn’t do anything to damage the speaker or his caucus. Lang resigned in January 2019 and became a lobbyist.

Madigan defense attorney Todd Pugh cross-examined Lang and asked a number of questions about Illinois House rules and various pieces of legislation.

In the afternoon, with McDonald on the stand, prosecutors played a series of recorded conversations between Madigan and McClain.

In one recorded call, Madigan and McClain discussed “lowering the boom” on Lang. In another conversation a short time later, McClain advised Madigan that he told Lang, “You gotta go.” McClain told Madigan that Lang was talking to two people about “the dark side,” which McClain previously referred to as lobbying.

A report released in August 2019 from Illinois Office of Executive Inspector General Maggie Hickey did not find enough evidence to support claims of the unwanted sexual advances an activist accused Lang of committing. The report also did not find evidence to back up claims made by State Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, that Madigan, his then-Chief of Staff Tim Mapes, and then-State Rep. Bob Rita, D-Blue Island, retaliated against Cassidy for speaking out against Madigan’s office for how it handled discrimination and harassment claims.

While FBI Agent McDonald was on the stand Thursday, prosecutor Amarjeet Bhachu displayed McClain’s letter to advise Madigan that McClain was retiring as a lobbyist. McClain described Madigan as his “real client.” Near the conclusion of the letter, McClain wrote, “At the end of the day I am at the bridge with my musket standing with and for the Madigan family."

Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan (left) enters the federal court building in Chicago Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. - Jim Talamonti | The Center Square

In a recording from August of 2018, McClain explained to lobbyists Stephanie Vojas and Travis Shea why he referred to Madigan as “our friend” and not as the speaker.

“I’ll never forget there was one time, one of the ComEd people, we were at a coffee shop and it was, ‘Speaker this and the Speaker that and the Speaker this and Speaker that.’ Right next to her at the table was Tiffany Madigan. Suffice it to say, about two weeks later, she was no longer working for ComEd,” McClain said in the recorded conversation.

Tiffany Madigan is former Speaker Madigan’s daughter.

Before the jury entered the courtroom Thursday morning, Madigan defense attorney Pugh asked Judge John Robert Blakey to exclude certain questions and to demand a foundation for questions to Rita about Madigan’s state of mind.


Blakey said he would not not exclude anything without an actual basis but suggested that prosecutors provide specific information during their questioning.

Rita followed McDonald on the witness stand Thursday afternoon. Rita took the stand at 4:50 p.m. The court adjourned at 5:00 p.m.

Taraleigh Davis, assistant professor of Public Law and Political Science at Bradley University, said the government has been investigating the Madigan case for a decade.

“They’ve built a case that is not based on one witness’s testimony,” Davis said.

Madigan and McClain are facing 23 counts of bribery, racketeering and official misconduct.

In a related case, on May 2, 2023, an Illinois jury convicted former state lawmaker and lobbyist McClain, former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, former ComEd lobbyist John Hooker and former contract lobbyist Jay Doherty. The case involved a conspiracy to bribe Madigan with $1.3 million in no-show jobs, contracts and payments to associates in exchange for support with legislation that would benefit the utility's bottom line. In July 2020, ComEd agreed to pay $200 million to resolve a criminal investigation into the years-long bribery scheme that resulted in benefits to ComEd of more than $150 million.

Madigan served in the Illinois House from 1971 to 2021 and was speaker for all but two years between 1983 and 2021. Madigan also chaired the Democratic Party of Illinois from 1998 to 2021.

McClain served as a state representative before becoming a lobbyist.

The trial is scheduled to resume Monday at the Everett McKinley Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago.

Blakey said the trial would start two hours late on Election Day, Nov. 5, to give jurors the opportunity to vote.

Greg Bishop and Brett Rowland contributed to this story.