Mike Madigan trial updates: Ex-Ald. Solis testifying in former Illinois House speaker trial

Nearly a week after he first took the stand in Michael Madigan's corruption case, former Alderman Danny Solis left the courthouse Wednesday, having wrapped up for prosecutors his three-and-a-half-year stint as a government mole that began in mid-2016 and ended when his cooperation was inadvertently made public in early 2019.

That particular political bombshell dropped just weeks after Solis recorded his last in-person meeting with then-Speaker Madigan at his 13th Ward office.

And while Madigan was never physically in the frame of video recordings, among other things, a body-sized punching bag of outgoing Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner was visible.

One recording played in court went as follows:

"I figure I can still help you a lot," Solis said.

"Good, yeah," Madigan said.

"So, I'm committed for that," Solis said.

"OK, thank you, so do you want to go forward now on one of those state appointments?" Madigan said.

Madigan, who has remained firmly focused on Solis' testimony this week, is charged with, among other things, illegally using his office to squeeze large developers into hiring his private tax law firm, Madigan and Getzendanner.

Solis, who at the time was the chair of City Council's powerful Zoning Committee, helped to make introductions to the businessmen in charge of the Union West apartment building in the West Loop and the Old Post Office building.

He also engaged the speaker and co-defendant Mike McClain in a more than year-long ultimately failed effort in Springfield to get the state to transfer a Chinatown parking lot to the city, so that it could be redeveloped into a hotel, which would in turn give its tax business to Madigan's law firm.

According to prosecutors, it was as part of that scheme that Madigan in turn agreed to help Solis obtain a lucrative paid state board position upon his retirement from City Council, by getting then incoming Gov. JB Pritzker to make that recommendation.

"Alright, OK, but, you should get me, um, like a resume," Madigan said in the recording.

"I'll start working on it now," Solis said.

"Because I want to have a meeting with Pritzker the week after next," Madigan said.

Pritzker is not accused of any wrongdoing. He was interviewed by prosecutors pre-trial. And has publicly said he "does not recall" Madigan ever making any such requests.

While prosecutors have wrapped up their questioning of Solis, the former alderman remains on the stand.

Defense attorneys are expected to mount a vigorous cross-examination of him starting next week.

The day before Thanksgiving will be a shortened day of testimony in the Madigan trial.

Jurors are expected to continue to hear from former Chicago Alderman-turned-mole Danny Solis Wednesday.

Solis is expected to remain on the stand well into next week, but prosecutors are expected to wrap up their questioning Wednesday.

Ex-Chicago Alderman Danny Solis returned to the witness stand Tuesday.

On Tuesday, more of those recordings made by Solis were played in court.

With Solis once again on the stand, one of the most interesting moments of the day came, as he and Madigan co-defendant Michael McClain held an in-person meeting in December of 2018. The two men were heard bemoaning the open way some lawmakers would go about making their corrupt intentions clear.

"They say these outrageous things you can't say anymore. They are too blatant," McClain said.

"So how does the speaker deal with all this?" Solis asked, pointing out that several of the lawmakers were Madigan's allies.

"Well, he has surrogates. A guy like me, he sends to talk," McClain said.

Ironically, at the time of the meeting, Solis was trying to get a Chinatown parking lot, which is state-owned, transferred to the city so it could be re-developed as a hotel.

Solis, at the direction of the FBI, had engaged Madigan and McClain in the more than year-long effort with a vague promise that if the development came to pass, the owners would give Madigan's tax law firm their business.

"I'll continue to get you legal business. There's a lot going on in the ward," Solis is seen telling Madigan during another crucial in-person meeting that was played for the jury Tuesday.

That meeting taking place in June of 2018, just moments after Solis had, again at the direction of the FBI, asked for the speaker's help securing a paid position on a state board following his retirement from City Council.

"One person I've been trying to make a connection with is Skydell," Madigan said.

Harry Skydell was the person in charge of the nearly billion dollar redevelopment of Chicago's Old Post Office building.

A former Chicago alderman was back on the witness stand in the trial of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan Monday at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse.

Danny Solis wore a wire and made video recordings for federal investigators.

On Monday, some of the crucial recordings were played for the jury.

Until now, the trial has essentially been a rerun of last year's ComEd Four trial, which resulted in the conviction of four ComEd executives for their parts in a scheme to bribe the former speaker.

As of Monday, however, with former 25th Ward Alderman Solis on the stand, a new chapter begins.

It's one which saw a sitting alderman turn government mole for only the second time in Chicago history.

Returning to court for his first full day of testimony, Solis told jurors how, by June of 2017, he had been wearing a wire for the FBI for over a year, as he recorded his conversations with fellow Alderman Ed Burke, among other public officials.

Madigan, however, was not one of them, until a day when Madigan reached out asking for an introduction to the developers of Union West, an apartment building project, which eventually went up in the West Loop. Ten days later, with the FBI listening in, an exchange took place.

"I think they understand they've got some issues, that they still have to deal with me, in terms of zoning. And I think they understand how this works, you know, the quid pro quo, the quid pro quo," Solis said.

Madigan said, "OK."

At the time of the call, then-Speaker Madigan was a partner in one of the city's top tax law firms, Madigan & Getzendanner.

Madigan is accused of illegally using his position in Springfield to steer business to it.

Solis' testimony, which began in earnest Monday, is expected to center around three different instances of this happening, including the West Loop Project, as well as the possible redevelopment of a Chinatown parking lot into a hotel.

And while Madigan later reprimanded Solis for his use of the words "quid pro quo," he did not walk away from the in-person meeting with the Union West developers, one which was also recorded.

"You shouldn't be talking like that," Madigan told Solis shortly before the meeting started. "You're just recommending our law firm because if they don't get a good result on their real estate taxes, the whole project will be in trouble."

"Absolutely, absolutely, yeah," Solis said.

Anticipating the multiple attacks to Solis' credibility defense attorneys will likely make, prosecutors spent a significant portion of the morning going through the two-year investigation the FBI conducted on the former alderman before getting him to turn government informant.

It's an investigation that includes an embarrassing laundry list of crimes, from soliciting bribes to acts of prostitution.