Michael Madigan

Defense attorneys are pointing to a Feb. 10 executive order from President Donald Trump pausing enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The president’s order says the law’s use has been “stretched beyond proper bounds and abused in a manner that harms the interests of the United States.”

The decadelong FBI investigation that led to Michael Madigan’s trial roiled local politics and changed the course of Illinois history. Prosecutors summoned 50 witnesses to a 12th-floor courtroom in a bid to prove Madigan and Michael McClain guilty of “corruption at the highest levels of state government.”

The surprise testimony offers window into the ex-speaker's famously closed world.

Budzinski, a Springfield Democrat who was elected to the 13th Congressional District seat in 2022, was called to testify about a scheme in which Madigan allegedly agreed to help then-Chicago Ald. Danny Solis secure a paid seat on a government board in 2018 and 2019.

One of Illinois’ most powerful politicians is on trial. Get caught up on the critical points.

Budzinski, who now represents much of the Metro East in Congress, is a former aide to Gov. JB Pritzker. Prosecutors said they plan to call members of the governor's staff to show that Madigan regularly made recommendations about appointments.

The opening statements kicked off Monday in the trial of the longest-serving state House speaker in the country, and one of the most powerful politicians in Illinois history. The FBI has pursued Madigan for more than a decade, and the probe forced him from power in 2021.

Prosecutors have no plan to file a revised indictment against the disgraced former Illinois House speaker.

In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority ruled that the federal bribery statute — referred to as “Section 666” — does not criminalize “gratuities” given to a state or local public official after he or she has already performed an official act.

An Illinois judge told Tim Mapes, a former Madigan aide, his ‘loyalty was greatly misguided’ in lying to grand jury investigating the former state house speaker.