Madigan was 'different from any other politician I've seen,' FBI agent testifies

Brendan O'Leary spent more than two decades working for the FBI - most of it in Chicago, and most of it investigating public corruption.

But when it came to Illinois' famously reclusive former House Speaker Michael Madigan, O'Leary told a jury Thursday he was "different from any other politician I've seen."

"No cellphone, no emails, no texts," O'Leary said. "He relied on his tight inner-circle."

And that, O'Leary explained, is why the FBI was so interested in hearing what Madigan's longtime chief of staff, Tim Mapes, would say in front of a grand jury. Madigan, a Southwest Side Democrat, communicated "through people he trusted," O'Leary said.

But prosecutors say when Mapes finally found himself in front of that federal grand jury in March 2021, he lied on seven occasions about work being done for Madigan by another Springfield insider, Michael McClain.

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