*** UPDATED x1 *** Burke claims he was set up
Thursday, Aug 20, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Jason Meisner at the Trib…
Lawyers for indicted Chicago Ald. Edward Burke alleged in a court filing Thursday that federal investigators bungled the wiretap of Burke’s phones and improperly tried to set him up in a scheme involving the Old Main Post Office that forms the backbone of the case.
The allegations came in a motion to suppress the evidence gleaned from the wiretap on Burke’s cell phone and City Hall office, which allowed the FBI to monitor thousands of conversations the alderman made and received over the course of nearly a year.
The 71-page motion accuses prosecutors of directing then-Ald. Daniel Solis to have “scripted interactions” with Burke and lie about the Post Office deal in an effort to curry favor w/the government. At the time, Solis had himself been recorded “committing a number of different crimes,” the motion stated.
Burke’s lawyer wants those wiretaps suppressed.
…Adding… More…
*** UPDATE *** Seidel…
Burke’s team insisted that Solis told prosecutors “he had never been involved in any criminal wrongdoing with Ald. Burke — with whom he had served in the City Council for almost twenty-five years.” […]
Burke’s lawyers say he was targeted by the feds, and that Solis wasn’t the first government cooperator to work against him. They said that, from Feb. 2, 2015, until Aug. 13, 2015, an unnamed cooperator from another federal case in Chicago was “contacting Ald. Burke regularly in an attempt to develop evidence against him.”
“Here, again, the government came up empty-handed, and yet it zealously pressed on,” Burke’s lawyers wrote.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Aug 20, 20 @ 4:44 pm:
If anything now, it allows a seed of doubt to the Feds case.
- 47th Ward - Thursday, Aug 20, 20 @ 4:47 pm:
The whole case could hinge on this motion to suppress. If the recordings get tossed, he might walk away from this.
But you can’t unring the bell. He’s done politically. And that’s a welcome development.
- Amalia - Thursday, Aug 20, 20 @ 4:54 pm:
there’s still Burke’s toady to deal with, Pete Andrews.
- Druid Eye - Thursday, Aug 20, 20 @ 5:02 pm:
I agree with Willy. Definitely some doubt now. As they say….”Show me the money.”
- Frumpy White Guy - Thursday, Aug 20, 20 @ 5:09 pm:
If the tapes are tossed then Pete Andrews stock just went up.
- Feds don’t fib - Thursday, Aug 20, 20 @ 5:31 pm:
Parish the thought that the Feds would do anything unethical in their quest for righteousness. The Feds are truly committed to ethics and would never be dishonest or set someone up with a lie. You can trust them. Heck you don’t even need a lawyer when your dealing with them.
- Anon E Moose - Thursday, Aug 20, 20 @ 5:42 pm:
Nearly all federal criminals defendants are “set up.” That’s how they roll. Judge Leinenweber isn’t going to buy this.
- Precinct Captain - Thursday, Aug 20, 20 @ 6:30 pm:
Cops lie routinely, the FBI and US attorneys included.
- SSL - Thursday, Aug 20, 20 @ 6:39 pm:
Everyone in prison is innocent. Just ask them.
- @misterjayem - Thursday, Aug 20, 20 @ 6:46 pm:
I have little doubt that Burke was set up by the G-men.
The question is whether their set-up was illegal.
And about that I have some serious doubts.
– MrJM
– MrJM
- FormerParatrooper - Thursday, Aug 20, 20 @ 7:34 pm:
Maybe these politicians wouldn’t have anything to worry about if they conducted their business ethically. Just a thought.
- Slugger O’Toole - Thursday, Aug 20, 20 @ 8:35 pm:
How many times are they going to try …
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0kPX4mxqyYc
- Leave a Light On George - Thursday, Aug 20, 20 @ 9:22 pm:
Said the guy who wondered if they landed the “big tuna.”
- jim - Friday, Aug 21, 20 @ 12:05 pm:
is there a link somewhere for the Burke lawyers motion?