Federal prosecutors on Monday are expected to play a number of secretly recorded conversations at the center of the perjury case against Tim Mapes, the longtime chief of staff to then-powerful House Speaker Michael Madigan accused of lying to a grand jury to protect his boss.
Mapes, 68, of Springfield, went on trial last week on counts of perjury and attempted obstruction of justice. The latter charge calls for up to 20 years in federal prison, while lying to a grand jury carries a five-year maximum prison sentence.
Prosecutors accused Mapes of lying in his grand jury testimony about his knowledge of the political activities of Madigan and ComEd lobbyist Michael McClain, both before and after Madigan ousted Mapes in June 2018 in a #MeToo scandal. It was one of a string of #MeToo issues among Madigan aides that threatened his record run as speaker.
During the trial’s first week, Mapes’ attorneys contended he honestly could not recall answers to certain questions when he appeared before federal grand jurors on March 31, 2021. They complained he was hamstrung because prosecutors didn’t offer to show records or other evidence that could refresh his memory.
The trial adjourned for the week on Thursday in the middle of cross-examination of former FBI Special Agent Brendan O’Leary, who will be back on the stand Monday morning.
[ Tim Mapes perjury trial: Evidence seen and heard by the jury ]
And in what would surely be a grab-some-popcorn moment, the defense is seeking to call to the witness stand Assistant U.S. Attorney Amarjeet Bhachu, the chief of the public corruption section for the U.S. Attorney’s Office who has led the recent investigations into not only Madigan but also former Chicago Ald. Edward Burke and other high-profile elected officials.
Mapes’ attorneys say Bhachu, who questioned Mapes during Mapes’ grand jury appearance, could provide insight into “the witness, his answers, the setting, the circumstances surrounding the witness’s testimony, and the materiality of the testimony.”
Prosecutors, however, say the move is just a distraction for the jury and a ploy to keep Bhachu from being able to assist the team during the trial, since potential witnesses are barred from sitting in the courtroom.
“Mapes’ failure to describe any substance that (Bhachu) might offer strongly suggests that Mapes listed Bhachu as a witness in an effort to distract the government and hinder its trial preparation by preventing the participation of a member of the prosecution team,” Assistant U.S. Attorneys Diane MacArthur and Julia Schwartz wrote in a filing over the weekend.
U.S. District Judge John Kness is expected to take up the issue when trial resumes Monday.
Prosecutors this week are expected to play a number of recordings for the jury that purportedly show Mapes not only knew exactly what assignments Madigan had assigned to McClain, he’d discussed them at length with McClain himself.
In May 2018, McClain and Mapes had a series of calls discussing rumors that then-state Rep. Lou Lang, a longtime Madigan ally, allegedly harassed a female activist and discussed how to mitigate the damage to the speaker, prosecutors have said.
“Let me put you on with the boss. Okay?” Mapes told McClain, according to one prosecution filing. “So you’re going to inform him what you know and go from there.”
Another call prosecutors are expected to play is a February 2019 conversation in which Mapes allegedly talked to McClain about being approached by the FBI weeks earlier and how he later shared a memo he wrote about the encounter with one of Madigan’s criminal defense attorneys.
The Mapes case represents a relatively small piece of the broad public corruption investigation federal prosecutors have brought against Madigan, who was ousted from his speakership and left the House in 2021.
McClain and three others were convicted in a related case in May on bribery conspiracy charges involving a scheme by utility giant Commonwealth Edison to win the speaker’s influence over legislation in Springfield.
Both Madigan and McClain are facing separate racketeering charges alleging Madigan was at the top of a criminal enterprise aimed at enriching himself and his cronies and maintaining his nearly unfettered political power. That case is set for a jury trial in April.
Mapes, meanwhile, who cut a diminutive but often-domineering profile as chief of staff, House clerk and executive director of the state Democratic Party, is accused of trying to thwart the overarching investigation into Madigan’s operation, one of the biggest political corruption scandals in Illinois history.
Prosecutors have so far put on witnesses to demonstrate that Madigan, Mapes and McClain worked extraordinarily closely — an attempt to convince jurors it would be completely implausible for Mapes not to know what the other two men were doing.
In presenting the government case, MacArthur contended in her opening statement on Wednesday that Mapes “perverted” the grand jury process and “jeopardized” the corruption investigation against Madigan with “false testimony.”
“The defendant lied. Not just once but again and again and again, to prevent the grand jury from finding out” about Madigan’s actions, she said.
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In all, there are seven questions prosecutors charge Mapes fudged on to protect Madigan. Generally, they allege Mapes lied when he testified that McClain didn’t tell Mapes about his discussions with Madigan or pass along any insight about what Madigan told McClain to do.
Some of the questions Mapes was asked were open-ended. For example, he was asked what he’d heard from other people about McClain performing activities for Madigan between 2017 and 2019.
“I don’t recall that — that I would have been part of any of that dialogue,” Mapes told the 2021 grand jury. “I don’t know why I would be.”
Mapes’ attorneys maintained the prosecutors cherry-picked from more than 650 questions at the grand jury, a frightening setting where Mapes told the truth but did not want to guess or make assumptions.
“He’s a 60-something-year-old man, he’s being given what’s basically a test of memory, he’s scared, the environment is terrifying, and he’s aware the government has all of this on tape,” defense attorney Katie Hill said.
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com
rlong@chicagotribune.com
