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CHICAGO — Six years ago, Chicago Ald. Daniel Solis sat in House Speaker Michael Madigan’s office to break the news that he would not be seeking re-election to the City Council. But don’t worry, Solis told Madigan, he still had a few months left in office, and there were major new real estate developments going up in his ward, and that would mean plenty of tax-appeal business for the speaker’s private law firm. “There’s a couple more in the South Loop, and there’s some in the, in the West Loop. So, I figure I can still help you a lot,” Solis said in the Nov. 23, 2018, conversation, which was secretly recorded as part of Solis’ cooperation with the FBI. “I’m committed for that.” Madigan replied enthusiastically, “OK, thank you,” before moving almost immediately to something Solis had been wanting. “Do, do you want to go forward now on one of those state appointments?” Madigan asked. Prosecutors allege that the pivotal conversation, played Wednesday for the jury in Madigan’s corruption trial, is proof of a corrupt quid-pro-quo scheme in which Solis introduced the powerful Democratic speaker to developers in his ward in exchange for Madigan’s help securing him a six-figure state board appointment. The speaker appeared relaxed and jolly during the meeting, which took place three weeks after the 2018 general election in which Madigan’s bitter rival, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, had been vanquished by Democrat JB Pritzker. In the background in Madigan’s office was a life-size punching bag printed with Rauner’s face. Before getting down to business, the two exchanged some reaction to the election, including Jesus “Chuy” Garcia’s ascension to the U.S. House. “I like Chuy,” Madigan said. “But a progressive?” prompting them both to laugh. What Madigan did not know was that Solis had been cooperating with the FBI for more than two years and was recording the meeting with a hidden camera. Six days later, agents would raid the City Hall office suite of their Democratic colleague, then-Ald. Edward M. Burke. The video was played for jurors Wednesday toward the end of Solis’ direct examination, which in total lasted about 16 hours over four days of Madigan’s corruption trial. Solis is a crucial prosecution witness, and his cross-examination, slated to begin Monday after an extended break for Thanksgiving, is expected to be grueling. The trial, which began Oct. 8, is expected to last until mid-January. Madigan, 82, of Chicago, who served for decades as speaker of the Illinois House before stepping down in 2021, faces a wide array of racketeering charges alleging he ran his state and political operations like a criminal enterprise. He is charged alongside Michael McClain, 77, a former ComEd contract lobbyist from downstate Quincy, who for years was one of Madigan’s closest confidants. Both men have pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing. For months before that November 2018 meeting, Solis had promised to connect Madigan with real estate developers in his 25th Ward who could give business to Madigan’s private tax law firm. At the direction of the FBI, Solis also asked Madigan if he could get Solis appointed to a lucrative seat on a state board or commission. Madigan told Solis to get him his resume. “I wanted to have a meeting with Pritzker the week after next,” Madigan said. “... (I want to) let Pritzker know what’s coming, doesn’t have to be in writing, and I’ll monitor what goes on with the boards and commissions.” Solis arranged to have his resume, along with his daughter’s, sent to Madigan a couple of weeks later. Then, in January 2019, Solis’ cover was blown. Thanks to a slip-up in the clerk’s office at the Dirksen U.S Courthouse, a 120-page FBI search warrant affidavit detailing Solis’ own misdeeds was left unsealed and made public, leading to Solis being outed as a mole. Did you ever hear from Madigan again? asked Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane MacArthur. “No,” Solis said. Solis has testified to a dizzying number of alleged schemes involving Madigan, all of which overlapped during his time as a cooperator. Madigan allegedly hoped to get legal business from a group of developers who would need a plot of land in Chinatown transferred from the state to the city, and tasked McClain with trying to get the supporting legislation through. He requested Solis’ help getting his son Andrew a job interview; he asked Solis for a connection to developers of West Loop real estate projects; and he apparently took steps to help Solis get a seat on a state board. All of that, prosecutors allege, is part of a long-running scheme of corruption in which Madigan used his own power to enrich himself and his allies. Defense attorneys, meanwhile, have framed it as perfectly legal political favor-trading. Solis’ credibility is sure to be under attack as soon as cross-examination begins Monday. The head of the powerful Zoning Committee began cooperating in 2016 only after FBI agents confronted him with evidence they’d gathered of his own extensive misdeeds. And in exchange for his lengthy and “singular” level of cooperation, prosecutors struck an equally unprecedented deal, in which Solis will avoid having a conviction on his record and can continue to draw his city pension. Recordings played Wednesday revealed just how strange Solis’ position was in 2018. He was a key cooperator in investigations against both Madigan and Burke, both of whom were Democratic powerhouses with side jobs as property tax attorneys, competing at times over the same big-time developers. Burke, as detailed in his corruption trial last year, was eager to get business from the New York-based group behind the renovation of the massive Old Post Office project in Solis’ ward. Lead developer Harry Skydell ended up promising Burke business on some of his other local properties instead, the evidence showed. In October 2018, Madigan called Solis and said he had read about Skydell’s company buying a building at 1 S. Wacker Drive. “That may be an opportunity for me,” Madigan told Solis in a recording played for jurors. “All right, I can call him right away,” Solis said. Solis reached Skydell a few days later, and told him Madigan had noticed he made a bid for the property on Wacker. “Yes, that’s the property that Burke has,” Skydell said. “Oh!” Solis said, and laughed out loud. Regardless, when Solis spoke to Madigan later that month, he said Skydell was eager to give Madigan the tax business. “I’ve got good news,” he told Madigan in a meeting secretly recorded on video. “... I talked to Harry, he’s on board, he’s gonna give you that project.” That was not true, Solis testified Wednesday, but the government had directed him to say it. And right after giving Madigan the “good news,” Solis asked about the state board seat. “Yeah, I’ve got it in my notes, I’m gonna sit down with Pritzker,” Madigan said. “Excellent, excellent,” Solis said. The board seat was another fiction, Solis has previously testified. He was not actually interested in a position on a state commission, but his government contacts directed him to ask Madigan for that favor to see how he would respond. Solis was outed as a cooperator before Madigan could make any successful moves to get him appointed. Burke, the city’s longest-serving alderman and powerful chairman of the Finance Committee, was convicted last year and is serving a two-year prison term. The jury Wednesday also heard the end game in the saga surrounding the transfer of a Chinatown parking lot in order for developers to proceed with a hotel project on the site. Solis has testified about efforts that Madigan orchestrated, mainly through McClain, to pass legislation in 2018 that would transfer the triangular-shaped parcel from the Illinois Department of Transportation to city control. In exchange, Madigan hoped to win business for his law firm from the developers, Solis has said. But the thorny political issues surrounding the transfer proved too much for even Madigan to overcome — in part because Rauner was likely to oppose it if Madigan’s fingerprints were on it. In a face-to-face meeting on Oct. 26, 2018, Solis confirmed with Madigan that they were going to push the Chinatown amendment in the upcoming veto session but warned the speaker that the local state representative, Democrat Theresa Mah, had taken a “neutral position.” A week later, Madigan and McClain talked about a potential sponsor for the bill, with the speaker recommending Ed Burke’s brother, then-Democratic state Rep. Dan Burke. That day, McClain left Dan Burke a voicemail saying they wanted him to pick up the bill as a favor to Solis. But more problems quickly arose. On Nov. 21, 2018, McClain left a voicemail for Solis saying a group of Chinese business people had circulated petitions opposing the deal and taken the 3,000 signatures they gathered to then-Secretary of State Jesse White, who “has made the decision to be with the Chinese people and against the development.” “I’m just letting you know we’ve got all of a sudden a huge hurdle I didn’t expect from the Chinese community,” McClain said on the voicemail, which was played in court. Two days later, Madigan called McClain and told him the Chinatown deal was “not gonna go forward.” “Yeah, I kind of figured that,” McClain said. “I left a message for Solis, but he hasn’t called me back.” “Yeah. He was here today to, to tell me,” Madigan said, asking later, “Why would they be against (it)?” McClain said “these Chinese business guys” don’t want the competition. “I know it’s hard to believe, but at the end of the day, it’s probably about money,” McClain said, sharing a chuckle with the speaker. ©2024 Chicago Tribune. Visit at chicagotribune.com . Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.US telecom firm T-Mobile said on Wednesday it had detected attempts in recent weeks by "bad actors" to infiltrate its systems but they did not access sensitive customer data. The statement followed reports about "Salt Typhoon," a Chinese-linked cyberespionage operation targeting U.S. telecommunications firms. T-Mobile Chief Security Officer Jeff Simon said in a blog on the company's website Wednesday that the company detected attacks from an unnamed "wireline provider's network that was connected to ours." T-Mobile's defenses protected customer information, prevented disruption of services and stopped the attack from advancing, he said. Simon added that it was not clear who the hackers were, but the company reported its findings to the U.S. government for assessment. "Bad actors had no access to sensitive customer data (including calls, voicemails or texts)," Simon wrote. 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View Program Artificial Intelligence(AI) Basics of Generative AI: Unveiling Tomorrow's Innovations By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program A T-Mobile spokesperson said Wednesday that while the "traits" of the hackers who targeted T-Mobile were similar to Salt Typhoon, "we don't know it's them." Discover the stories of your interest Blockchain 5 Stories Cyber-safety 7 Stories Fintech 9 Stories E-comm 9 Stories ML 8 Stories Edtech 6 Stories T-Mobile also cut the connection to the provider's network in the belief it was compromised, Simon wrote, without naming the provider. Simon said he represented T-Mobile in a White House meeting last week to discuss "large-scale, sophisticated national threats." The FBI and the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency said in a joint statement this month that authorities were investigating a "broad and significant cyber espionage campaign" by Chinese-linked hackers. The Chinese operation infiltrated AT&T, Verizon and Lumen, according to media reports. The hackers stole customer call records, gained access to information that law enforcement sought under court order and compromised private communications for a "limited number" of people in government or politics, the statement said. The operation gained access to phones of campaign staff for both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris before the Nov. 5 presidential election, according to reports. The Wall Street Journal reported on November 15 that T-Mobile was also hacked.

French President Emmanuel Macron accused Haiti's transitional council of being "total morons" for dismissing the country's prime minister, according to a video shot at the G20 summit in Brazil this week and shared on social media Thursday. In the footage, the French leader is speaking on the sidelines of the G20 in Rio with an individual accusing Macron and France of "being responsible for the situation in Haiti". Haiti's transitional council pushed out then-prime minister Garry Conille after just five months in office, a move Macron called "terrible" in the clip. "They're total morons," said Macron referring to the transitional body, adding, "they never should have dismissed him." Condemning the remarks, Haiti's Foreign Ministry said Thursday that French Ambassador Antoine Michon had been summoned following the "unacceptable comments." Haitian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Worship Jean-Victor Harvel Jean-Baptiste used the meeting to express "indignation" on behalf of the transitional council, which he said viewed the remarks as "an unfriendly and inappropriate gesture that must be rectified," according to a statement from the ministry. Haiti has suffered from decades of political instability. But in recent months, the Caribbean country has seen a surge in violence with gangs now controlling 80 percent of the capital, Port-au-Prince. The clip also shows the French president, who is on a multi-leg tour of Latin America with his most recent stop in Chile, blaming Haitians for "letting drug trafficking take over". "Quite frankly, it was the Haitians who killed Haiti," the French president said in the clip. Businessman Alix Didier Fils-Aime was sworn in as Haiti's new prime minister on November 12, promising to restore security in the crisis-wracked country. fff-lum/ekf/sjw/bfm/md

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