CHICAGO (CBS) – For five days, one of the star witnesses in former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s federal corruption trial has been on the stand testifying about his relationship to Madigan and his close associate and lobbyist Michael McClain.
The case hinges on wiretapped phone calls, secret recordings, emails, and other messages. For days, Fidel Marquez, a politically-connected former ComEd executive, has been answering questions about his role in all of it.
Attorneys on Wednesday brought the jury back to the day Marquez was contacted by the FBI. He would end up being an informant and wearing a wire to help in the government’s investigation into Madigan.
During cross-examination, Madigan’s attorneys questioned Marquez’s relationship to the four people who were caught on his wiretapped recordings, suggesting he helped the FBI to save himself from any criminal liability.
Madigan’s attorney: “You were in the ComEd family, weren’t you?”