* Sun-Times…

This week began with opening statements in the racketeering conspiracy trial of former Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan, whose attorneys insisted that no one had the right to speak for the speaker — that Madigan was “ignorant” of what people said behind his back.

But it ended with prosecutors playing a crush of about 30 recordings that suggest otherwise: That Madigan’s longtime friend Michael McClain went straight from retiring as a lobbyist in late 2016 to doing “assignments” for Madigan — what a prosecutor called his “dirty work.” […]

Defense attorneys punched back, though, taking a longtime FBI agent to task over the way he and a colleague convinced former ComEd executive Fidel Marquez to wear a wire for the feds and make crucial recordings of his friends and colleagues that jurors will likely see soon.

McClain attorney Patrick Cotter challenged Special Agent Ryan McDonald over whether the “best way to get a cooperator” was to put them in the backseat of a car and keep talking to them after they said they were scared, like Marquez did.

“I wouldn’t say it’s the best way,” McDonald said.

“It worked here,” Cotter retorted.

* Courthouse News…

Another batch of recordings from the autumn of 2018 revolved around Lou Lang, a Democratic ex-state representative and former deputy House majority leader who took the witness stand Thursday morning. Lang resigned his position in January 2019 amid sexual misconduct allegations, despite the legislative inspector general clearing him the prior September. Federal prosecutors presented the case that Madigan and McClain worked to push Lang out anyway.

“You know, I think the guy’s gonna be a continuing problem, that’s my expectation. And I mean you can understand my position right?” Madigan told McClain in a September 2018 call jurors heard. “I have to sit and think about what I do with this guy on appointments. Do I appoint him to the leadership or not?”

McClain responded on the call that “he got it.” […]

In a November 2018 call, McClain counseled Lang to move on to another career, referencing a woman who had threatened to “go public” if Lang was in a House leadership position.

“So this is no longer me talking. I’m an agent, someone that cares deeply about you, who thinks that you really ought to move on” McClain told Lang in the call.

* Tribune…

On the stand, Lang said he knew McClain was saying he was simply a messenger for Madigan, who was no longer interested in giving Lang a more powerful position within the House.

“The Speaker wanted me to leave,” Lang told jurors, saying that he believed if he went quietly then Madigan could use his influence to throw some business his way.

Asked Thursday whether the call had an impact on his career, Lang did not hesitate.

“It was very clear to me from this call that my career had dead-ended, because the speaker was in control of my ability to move up the ranks and get the leadership that I wanted to have,” Lang testified.

* Capitol News Illinois…

But other recordings played in court on Thursday also demonstrated McClain acting on a request from Madigan. For example, in a May 2018 call during the last week of the General Assembly’s spring legislative session, Madigan asked McClain to head off a former lawmaker-turned-lobbyist named Sam Panayotovich who’d left a message with the speaker’s office requesting a conversation with Madigan.

“Are you in position to advise Mr. Panayotovich to stay away from me?” Madigan asked McClain.

Within 10 minutes, McClain called the lobbyist and briefly explained to him that “the optics just aren’t good” for the speaker to have a meeting with Panayotovich and his lobbying partner Joe Berrios, who’d recently been defeated in his re-election bid for Cook County Assessor after his opponent accused him of rampant corruption.

Prior to playing the more than 30 recordings of wiretapped calls on Thursday, prosecutors also showed the jury a December 2016 letter McClain sent to Madigan, in which McClain wrote that he “wanted to let my ‘real’ client know that I am retiring as a lobbyist” but said he was “willing … to do ‘assignments’” for the speaker.

* More…

* ABC Chicago | Jury hears 1st of many undercover recordings in former IL Speaker Mike Madigan corruption trial: Madigan’s voice was heard for the first time in his trial during Lang’s testimony Thursday, in an undercover phone call in which he is heard telling McClain to ask Lang to resign, sooner rather than later. It was the first of some 200 undercover recordings that were captured.

* WBEZ | Dozens of secret recordings at Madigan trial show close ties with McClain, undercutting key defense point: In court Thursday, Lang told Assistant U.S. Attorney Amarjeet Bhachu that, “I understood at that time that [McClain] was a messenger for the speaker.” He also told the prosecutor that “it was very clear to me, from this call, that my career had ended. Because the speaker was in control of my ability to move up the ranks and get the leadership that I wanted to have.”

* WGN | Secret recordings expose Madigan and McClain’s close ties in corruption trial: Taking the stand Thursday, FBI agent Ryan McDonald vouched for the blizzard of phone conversations and emails. Aside from official business, many recordings heard in court between Madigan and McClain were brief and to the point. The two were heard making dinner plans or travel arrangements, which prosecutors say demonstrates the closeness of their relationship while meting out punishment in the Illinois House.

* ABC Chicago | State Rep. Bob Rita begins testimony: State Rep. Bob Rita began his testimony Thursday. He testified for about 10 minutes before court was dismissed about 5 p.m. […] Rita’s testimony will resume Monday.