Danny Solis’ legacy has been set in stone ever since Chicago learned five years ago that the veteran City Council member had wired up for the FBI to avoid prison and secretly recorded the most powerful among his colleagues, Edward M. Burke.
But it wasn’t until Tuesday, on the 25th floor of the Dirksen Federal Courthouse, that Solis publicly answered for his role in the downfall of Burke and others — and his motive for agreeing to help the feds when they knocked on his door in June 2016.
Solis admitted he’d been scared. He agreed he wanted to “save” himself.
And at one point he conceded, “I was trying to help myself by recording Ed Burke.”
But Solis also managed to slip off the witness stand without answering for the tawdry allegations the FBI made against him in a bombshell affidavit first obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times, including the exchange of official acts for Viagra, prostitution and other benefits.
Instead, Burke is the one on trial for racketeering, bribery and extortion, largely because of the evidence Solis gathered against him. Burke’s defense attorneys have promised for months to summon Solis to the stand. And Tuesday, they kept their word.
Suddenly, the man whose voice jurors have been listening to for weeks sat before them.
“My full name is Daniel Solis,” he said as his testimony began.
For the next three hours, Solis answered questions from Burke attorney Chris Gair about the recordings Solis made of Burke and the deal Solis struck with prosecutors. Gair sparred with Solis. He insisted that Solis answer his specific questions. And he even drew a successful objection from a prosecutor who complained of Gair’s mocking tone of voice.
But Solis did not grow flustered at Gair’s questions. He answered in the same manner jurors are likely accustomed to through his recordings. And soon after his testimony ended, U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall sent the jury home for the day.
She promised they’d hear closing arguments in the trial starting Wednesday afternoon.
Burke is accused of trying to strongarm business for his private law firm out of developers involved in Chicago’s massive Old Post Office in Solis’ 25th Ward, a Burger King in Burke’s 14th Ward, and a Binny’s Beverage Depot on the Northwest Side.
Prosecutors rested their case Tuesday after calling 36 witnesses over 16 days. Burke’s lawyers rested theirs some three hours later, having called just two witnesses — one earlier in the trial and Solis on Tuesday.
The feds have described Solis as one of Chicago’s “most significant cooperators in the last several decades.” They’ve said his work for the FBI was “extraordinary” and “singular.” But Solis went underground after the Sun-Times revealed his cooperation in January 2019. That means his testimony Tuesday gave the public a rare opportunity to glimpse the famous FBI mole.
Gair previously described him as “Exhibit A in the world of people who are corrupt and who are untruthful.” The defense team has also labeled him a potentially “hostile” witness.
Solis spent 23 years on the City Council before leaving office in 2019. Burke left in May after serving 54 years.
Former City Council members Proco Joe Moreno and Tom Tunney, who served with Solis and Burke, were spotted in the courtroom Tuesday. Both said they were there to show moral support for Burke.
Also seen were attorneys for the other powerful politician Solis helped ensnare — former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. Madigan faces trial on his own racketeering indictment in April, but it’s unclear if Solis will be called to testify in his case.
Meanwhile, Solis has been charged with bribery. But he struck a deal with prosecutors that means he could avoid a criminal conviction altogether if he holds up his end of the bargain. Gair wrapped his questioning of Solis by making that point to the jury.
He asked Solis, “You’re not going to serve any years in prison right?”
“Not according to my agreement,” Solis said.
Gair then confirmed that Solis did not expect to serve any “days” or “hours” in prison, either.
Prosecutors did not cross-examine Solis when Gair concluded.
Solis wore a dark suit and green tie on Tuesday. His hair has mostly gone gray. When his testimony began, Gair had to ask him repeatedly to keep a microphone close to his face. He fidgeted at times, and he often glanced toward the front row of the courtroom, where his defense attorney was seated beside three FBI agents.
Burke watched from the defense table, but he did not appear to make eye contact with Solis. When Solis stepped off the witness stand during two breaks in his testimony, the pair seemed to avoid crossing paths.
When Solis stepped off the witness stand the final time, Burke looked forward and tapped his right hand on a table while holding a pen as Solis left the courtroom.
Part of Burke’s defense has revolved around the extent of his power at City Hall. So early in Gair’s questioning of Solis, Gair posed questions about former mayors Richard M. Daley and Rahm Emanuel.
Asked about Daley’s power while in office, Solis initially said, “I thought he was a very powerful man.” But eventually he conceded that Daley was the most powerful politician in Chicago at the time.
“When you had discussions with Mayor Daley about something Ed Burke was for, Mayor Daley did exactly the opposite?” Gair asked.
“I would say sometimes,” Solis said.
Burke smirked at that.
Later, when asked whether Emanuel got his way with the City Council “99% of the time,” Solis said, “Let’s go 90%.”
Burke smirked again.
Gair asked whether Solis secretly recorded more than 100 people, including Emanuel and Solis’ sister, Patti Solis Doyle. She is a former adviser to the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
Solis disputed that and insisted the number was “somewhere between five and 10.”
But Solis later told Gair he’d been confused: “I thought you were talking about when I was wearing a wire.” Solis also agreed to let the feds record his cell phone calls.
Gair went on to tick through a series of questions about recorded conversations Solis had with Burke at the direction of the feds, starting with the first recorded phone call between the two in the summer of 2016. Solis called to follow up about a demolition firm Burke had recommended for the Old Post Office.
“Did you do it so you could try and get Mr. Burke to say something that you could help yourself with?” Gair asked, noting that the recommendation was not unusual.
“I was trying to help myself by recording Ed Burke, but I wasn’t trying to get him to say a particular thing,” Solis said.
From there, Gair pursued a line of questioning that seemed designed to paint Solis as “chasing” an uninterested Burke from around 2016 to 2018, when the alleged Old Post Office scheme took place.
“It was almost always you reaching out to Mr. Burke, correct? ... And that was because you were trying to help yourself with your own criminal problems,” Gair asked at one point.
Solis agreed that was true.
Gair asked Solis to confirm that he hadn’t heard anything in the weeks after the initial call about that demolition firm, so he spoke to Burke again on Aug. 26, 2016. That phone call led to one of the most well-known recordings of Burke, where he tells Solis to “recommend the good firm of Klafter and Burke” to the developers of the Old Post Office.
“He didn’t say one word about doing anything in return for you recommending the good firm of Klafter and Burke,” Gair asked Tuesday, and Solis confirmed.
Burke actually told Solis in that call, “and then we can certainly talk about a marketing arrangement for you,” which investigators took as a promise to pay Solis, but that was not mentioned in Tuesday’s testimony.
“I mean this isn’t that hard — you were trying to make a case on Mr. Burke, right?” Gair asked Solis, prompting an objection from prosecutors.
At another point, Gair asked Solis about a meeting he was trying to set up between Burke and the city’s water commissioner at the time. The Old Post Office was having water connection issues and needed help.
Solis testified that he wanted Burke to be there because Burke has a “wealth of knowledge” after “being in the city for 50 years.”
“He’s a very smart man,” Solis said.
Burke did not react to the compliment.
Gair also tried to highlight parts of conversations for the jury that Solis and the government made up as part of the investigation. He said at one point, Solis told Burke that if Burke can help the Old Post Office with its water connection issue, the developer would give him tax business.
“You were talking about what’s known as quid pro quo … and that was made up on your part?” Gair asked.
Solis responded he knew at the time it wasn’t true, but that it wasn’t made up “on my part.” It was made up on “the government’s part,” he said.
Contributing: Dan Mihalopoulos, who covers government and politics for WBEZ
