Don Madigan? Ex-FBI agent likens former House speaker to mafia boss in perjury trial of former Madigan aide
Former House Speaker Michael Madigan has long been known as “The Velvet Hammer” for the way he quietly wielded power.
But in a federal courtroom Monday, the man once considered Illinois’ most powerful politician may have been given a new moniker:
Don Madigan.
Testifying in the perjury trial of Madigan’s longtime chief of staff, Tim Mapes, a former FBI agent who headed the blockbuster corruption probe likened Madigan’s style as one more fit for the head of an organized crime family than a legitimate political operation.
“Mr. Madigan ran his organization, as close as I can compare it to, almost the head of a mafia family,” former Special Agent Brendan O’Leary testified, noting that Madigan rarely used the phone, texts or emails to communicate orders.
“The ability for us to hear about what happened generally came down to the people on the inside being honest, and that is what we relied on,” O’Leary said.
The line may have been the most memorable due to the Godfather-esque imagery, but it also cuts to the heart of the allegations in Mapes’ trial: That as a longtime member of Madigan’s notoriously tight inner circle, Mapes lied in an ill-fated attempt to throw off the government’s investigation and protect his former boss.
Mapes, 68, of Springfield, is charged with perjury and attempted obstruction of justice. The latter charge calls for up to 20 years in federal prison, while lying to a grand jury carries a five-year maximum prison sentence.
Prosecutors accused Mapes of lying in his grand jury testimony about his knowledge of the political activities of Madigan and ComEd lobbyist Michael McClain, both before and after Madigan ousted Mapes in June 2018 in a #MeToo scandal. It was one of a string of #MeToo issues among Madigan aides that threatened his record run as speaker.
After O’Leary left the witness stand, FBI Special Agent Ryan McDonald, who participated in the raid on McClain’s house in May 2019, provided far-reaching context for the jury buttressing the government’s position that it is implausible for Mapes to tell the grand jury he was unaware of McClain’s assignments or activities with Madigan.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Julia Schwartz walked McDonald through a series of increasingly concerned emails between Mapes and McClain in 2019 and early 2020, as news reports were percolating about the burgeoning investigation into Madigan’s political operation.
In July 2019, Mapes forwarded a Tribune story about the ongoing investigation and wrote in an email to McClain. “Lots of questions but not this format,” according to a copy of the email shown to the jury.
McClain delivered a somewhat vague reply that seemed part legal disclaimer, part paranoia about where the information was coming from.
“On the advice of counsel I can’t talk about this but rest assured as a Citizen it will gradually be disclosed/leaked by the feds through their communications arms of the better government association and the Tribune,” he wrote. “We should close this session up and not talk about it any more.”
Mapes, noting that McClain had retired from his longtime job as a ComEd lobbyist a few years before, replied that he understood.
“Hope all goes well with you from your perspective. You retire and now this,” Mapes wrote.
The chat was among several back-and-forth emails between the two men, often in response to developments ranging from the raid on McClain’s home to the ComEd deferred prosecution agreement in which the utility admitted to wooing Madigan with jobs for pals, interns and an associate’s law firm.
In another email from July 16, 2019, McClain told Mapes, “There are about forty people that I cannot talk with right now, Bradley included,” a reference to John Bradley, a former state representative who went into lobbying.
“Everyone is isolated which is part of the psychological pressure being brought to bear,” McClain wrote. “I do not think we should talk in person or on the phone.”
On Nov. 14, 2019, the day after the Tribune broke the news that McClain’s phone had been tapped by the feds, Mapes emailed McClain the news clip and wrote: “Hang in there. Hope you are taking care of yourself and Cinda,” referencing McClain’s wife. Mapes said his son, Devin Mapes, “also continues to be concerned.”
In another November 2019 email to McClain, Mapes wrote that his “general google search” placed McClain’s photo prominently above that of then-President Donald Trump, an attempt at making a lighthearted joke between the two friends.
A month later, after the Tribune revealed that four sources had spoken to federal investigators about broad aspects of Madigan’s political operation, Mapes again reached out to McClain, writing in an email, “Wish I could talk with you. Back involved in this for background.”
The Tribune story reported the sources said FBI agents and prosecutors asked about connections between Commonwealth Edison lobbyists and Madigan, lobbyists giving contracts to people tied to the speaker, and city, state and suburban government jobs held by his associates. They also said authorities had numerous questions about the speaker’s relationship and dealings with McClain.
McClain emailed back to Mapes, saying, “It is just not in your best interest for you and I to be talking or to be seen together. The intensity is severe.”
“I know,” Mapes wrote back. “Hope you are hanging in there.”
The two were still emailing each other in May 2020, two months before ComEd was charged with bribery in the first public move in the case.
“The feds are still after me and ‘our friend,’ ” McClain wrote to Mapes, choosing the nickname of “our friend” that McClain often used for Madigan.
On cross-examination, Mapes’ attorney, Andrew Porter, noted that Mapes and McClain talked about a lot of things in those emails, from traffic and travel to meals, politics, and Mapes’ job search after his ouster in 2018.
One email from May 22, 2020, where Mapes began by asking McClain how he was feeling, came just after McClain had received a cancer diagnosis, Porter pointed out.
“It was an expressions of concern by one friend to another about his well being?” Porter asked McDonald.
“I believe so,” the agent responded.
“Nothing wrong with that, is there?” Porter said.
McDonald responded, “No.”
Porter also brought out in his questioning that in the nine months that McClain’s phone was tapped there were some 24,800 conversations, or “sessions,” marked by the FBI. Only 60 of those calls were with Mapes, while hundreds of others with then-state Rep. David McSweeney, lobbyist Jeff Glass, and other Madigan associates such as the speaker’s son.
“He talked to several people much more often than he talked to Mr. Mapes?” Porter asked. McDonald responded, “Yes.”
Porter particularly pressed McDonald on whether Mapes was asked during an interview with federal authorities on Feb. 11, 2021 — several weeks before his grand jury appearance — whether he knew whether McClain did any assignments for Madigan.
McDonald was shown the FBI report about the Mapes interview and acknowledged authorities did not ask Mapes about McClain’s assignments for Madigan.
When Porter pressed whether McDonald asked Mapes about tasks McClain performed for Madigan, McDonald said: “I don’t recall specifically what terminology was used. ... It doesn’t mean it was not asked of Mr. Mapes.”
Porter also sought to emphasize that Mapes, before he went to the grand jury, did not have the opportunity to review the thousands of pages of documents and the many recordings the government is using in the case.
The trial adjourned for the day with McDonald still on cross examination. Testimony is set to resume at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday.
The Mapes case represents a relatively small piece of the broad public corruption investigation federal prosecutors have brought against Madigan, who was ousted from his speakership and left the House in 2021.
McClain and three others were convicted in a related case in May on bribery conspiracy charges involving a scheme by utility giant Commonwealth Edison to win the speaker’s influence over legislation in Springfield.
Both Madigan and McClain are facing separate racketeering charges alleging Madigan was at the top of a criminal enterprise aimed at enriching him and his cronies and maintaining his nearly unfettered political power. That case is set for a jury trial in April.
Prosecutors have so far put on witnesses to demonstrate that Madigan, Mapes and McClain worked extraordinarily closely — an attempt to convince jurors it would be completely implausible for Mapes not to know what the other two men were doing.
During the trial’s first week, Mapes’ attorneys contended he honestly could not recall answers to certain questions when he appeared before federal grand jurors on March 31, 2021. They complained he was hamstrung because prosecutors didn’t offer to show records or other evidence that could refresh his memory.
Prosecutors this week are expected to play a number of recordings for the jury that purportedly show Mapes not only knew exactly what assignments Madigan had given to McClain, he’d discussed them at length with McClain himself.
On Monday, jurors got to see a transcript of U.S. District Chief Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer admonishing Mapes on the day of his grand jury testimony that in being granted immunity, he had to testify — and tell the truth.
“Nothing that you say before the grand jury can be used against you,” Pallmeyer said. “In other words should you not tell the truth to the grand jury, that could be a basis for prosecution.”
Asked by the judge if he understood, Mapes said, “Yes ma’am. Yes your honor,” according to the transcript. He was then walked over to the grand jury room on the 16th floor of the courthouse, where he testified for more than two hours.
Meanwhile, in what would surely be a grab-some-popcorn moment, U.S. District Judge John Kness announced Monday he will allow the defense to call to the witness stand Assistant U.S. Attorney Amarjeet Bhachu, chief of the public corruption section for the U.S. attorney’s office who has led the recent investigations into not only Madigan but also former Chicago Ald. Edward Burke and other high-profile elected officials.
Mapes’ attorneys argued Bhachu, who questioned Mapes during Mapes’ grand jury appearance, could provide insight into “the witness, his answers, the setting, the circumstances surrounding the witness’s testimony, and the materiality of the testimony.”
Prosecutors had objected, saying the move is just a distraction for the jury and a ploy to keep Bhachu from being able to assist the team during the trial, since potential witnesses are barred from sitting in the courtroom.
“Mapes’ failure to describe any substance that (Bhachu) might offer strongly suggests that Mapes listed Bhachu as a witness in an effort to distract the government and hinder its trial preparation by preventing the participation of a member of the prosecution team,” prosecutors wrote in a filing over the weekend.
Kness said Monday that it was close call, but he said the rights of the defense to question Bhachu about issues relevant to the trial outweigh any concerns of the prosecution.
