Federal prosecutors on Monday rested their case in the perjury trial of Tim Mapes, the longtime chief of staff to Illinois’ once-powerful former House Speaker Michael Madigan.
Now it is time for Mapes’ trial to move to a new phase, in which his defense attorneys are expected to call witnesses of their own. They’ve said their case will likely last a day or so.
They also said Monday that they weren’t sure whether Mapes will take the stand in his own defense — though it seems unlikely.
Meanwhile, U.S. District Judge John Kness told lawyers last month that the trial must wrap up by Friday. A separate bank fraud trial is set to begin in Kness’ courtroom next week.
Prosecutors ended their case Monday by playing a series of secretly recorded calls between Mapes and fellow Springfield insider Michael McClain in 2018. The men had lengthy discussions about potential committee assignments in the Illinois General Assembly.
During one call from November 2018, Mapes appeared to refer to now-Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch as “a pretty good team player.” Welch later chaired a special legislative committee formed to respond to federal allegations against Madigan.
Mapes is accused of lying on seven specific occasions before a federal grand jury March 31, 2021, when asked about work done by McClain for Madigan. Mapes’ defense attorneys told jurors Mapes either didn’t know the answers to the questions he was asked, or he couldn’t remember them.
The calls from late 2018 heard by jurors Monday showed that Mapes remained deeply involved in key aspects of the legislature months after he was forced to resign over bullying and harassment claims in June 2018.
Jurors also heard a discussion between the two men about Joe Dominguez, who became CEO of ComEd in 2018 following the promotion of outgoing CEO Anne Pramaggiore. During the May 2018 call, McClain seems to reference Madigan.
“He told me Monday night that, um, uh, ‘Don’t you wanna bring to a head before he comes into the office, uh, this Joe Dominguez is really not trusted in Springfield?’ That’s the guy who’s taking Anne’s place,” McClain said.
McClain goes on to say “that’s the third time he’s brought it up.” McClain then said he “had a real serious conversation with Anne Pramaggiore,” who said she was trying to figure out how to broach the issue internally.
Mapes is also accused of testifying falsely about knowing Madigan’s impressions of Dominguez. Before the grand jury, a prosecutor asked Mapes, “You didn’t get any information from any source about what Mr. Madigan thought about Joe Dominguez at all?”
Mapes answered, “No, no, I haven’t. I don’t have any idea.”
Finally, in another call on July 5, 2018, McClain discussed Maggie Hickey, who was hired the month before to investigate harassment claims in the Illinois General Assembly. McClain told Mapes that he and a Madigan attorney “did everything we can to get her nixed as the next U.S. attorney.”
Hickey’s name came up during a 2017 U.S. attorney search that ultimately led to the nomination of now-former U.S. Attorney John Lausch.
McClain said “I’ll bet you a dime to a dollar” that Hickey would call on Madigan to resign or to be rejected as speaker that November.
She did not.
McClain was convicted earlier this year along with Pramaggiore and two others for a conspiracy to bribe Madigan. McClain also faces trial in April with Madigan in a separate case in which they are each charged with a racketeering conspiracy.
Dave McKinney, politics reporter at WBEZ, contributed
