* Sun-Times…

Danny Solis spent four days on the witness stand answering questions from a prosecutor about the recordings he made of then-Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan, as well as Solis’ transgressions involving Viagra, massages that turned sexual and an affair that broke up his marriage.

And that might have been the easy part.

Because Monday, when jurors return to Madigan’s trial after the extended Thanksgiving break, defense attorneys are set to begin their long-awaited cross-examination of the feds’ star witness. […]

Solis testified for 90 minutes Wednesday until U.S. District Judge John Blakey sent jurors home for Thanksgiving. Once the jury left the courtroom, Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane MacArthur confirmed that she had completed her initial questioning of Solis.

* The Sun-Times last week…

MacArthur and Solis spent the morning reviewing additional recordings with the jury, mostly from late 2018. Jurors heard how a Chinatown development deal unraveled and how Solis continued to pester Madigan about an appointment to a government board. Solis also acknowledged that, in January 2019, the public learned he’d been wearing a wire for the FBI.

Jurors also may have spotted a punching bag in Madigan’s office that had outgoing Gov. Bruce Rauner’s likeness on it in November 2018. It was captured on a video recording made by Solis. […]

Solis’ testimony on Wednesday revolved around the alleged Chinatown and Old Post Office schemes. Developers wanted to build a hotel on the Chinatown property. But first, they needed the state to transfer possession to the city of Chicago. Solis sought Madigan’s assistance, promising him that the developers would then give business to Madigan.

But jurors heard Tuesday how the plan began to run into political opposition in Springfield. And Wednesday, they heard McClain tell Solis about another “major hurdle” — that business owners in Chinatown had gathered 3,000 signatures from people opposed to the project.

* Capitol News Illinois…

The day after Thanksgiving in 2018, then-Chicago Ald. Danny Solis sat in powerful Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s office to tell him what he’d privately known for months: after 23 years in the Chicago City Council, he wasn’t going to run for another term in the February election.

Solis thought Madigan “might be a little surprised” by his news. But the speaker, who’d wielded power for more than three decades in part by keeping tabs on his Democratic House members, instead just laughed. The eagle-eyed Madigan had noticed Solis hadn’t turned in the signatures all candidates must collect to get on the ballot on the first day of petition filing earlier that week.

“Well, I’m not surprised,” the speaker said before bursting into uproarious laughter.

Behind him, captured on the FBI-provided body camera Solis was now used to wearing as his cooperation with the feds was approaching 2 ½ years, sat an upright punching bag sporting then-Gov. Bruce Rauner’s face. The Republican, who spent his entire single term in office fighting with Madigan, had recently lost his re-election bid to billionaire JB Pritzker.

The video was played for a federal jury on Wednesday as the government wrapped up 14 hours of questions for Solis on the witness stand halfway through a trial in which Madigan is accused of bribery, racketeering and extortion.

* Tribune…

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.

* ABC Chicago…

[Solis] also engaged the speaker and co-defendant Mike McClain in a more than year-long ultimately failed effort in Springfield to get the state to transfer a Chinatown parking lot to the city, so that it could be redeveloped into a hotel, which would in turn give its tax business to Madigan’s law firm.

According to prosecutors, it was as part of that scheme that Madigan in turn agreed to help Solis obtain a lucrative paid state board position upon his retirement from City Council, by getting then incoming Gov. JB Pritzker to make that recommendation.

“Alright, OK, but, you should get me, um, like a resume,” Madigan said in the recording.

“I’ll start working on it now,” Solis said.

“Because I want to have a meeting with Pritzker the week after next,” Madigan said.

* Center Square…

U.S. government attorney Diane MacArthur played a recorded call from April 23, 2018, featuring McClain and Solis talking about state Sen. Martin Sandoval, D-Chicago.

“I’ve never wanted the guy on my side. I think he’s an indictment waiting to happen, frankly,” McClain said.

“I kind of agree with you,” Solis responded.

In an earlier call, Solis suggested to McClain that state Rep. Luis Arroyo, D-Chicago, was very similar to Sandoval.

“Arroyo would come here with his wife and says, ‘You know, my wife’s a lobbyist for zoning and developers,’” Solis said.

* More…

* Tribune | ‘He’s gonna benefit from being with the Speaker’: Madigan trial offers inside view of private dealmaking: In an obviously polished pitch, a seasoned attorney ran the potential clients through all the advantages of hiring their firm to reduce property taxes. Then, he articulated perfectly what everyone in the room already seemed to know: The game can be rigged. “In a perfect world, everybody gets the same amount of time to argue their case, gets to access the guy who can say yay or nay,” said Vincent “Bud” Getzendanner in the July 2017 meeting. “We have the ability to access the decision-maker … So we have a very good track record in terms of final outcome.”

* Fox Chicago | Judge in Larry Hoover case also presiding over Madigan corruption trial: The same judge whom Larry Hoover’s attorneys are trying to disqualify from considering his re-sentencing is presiding over Michael Madigan’s corruption trial. Former alderman Danny Solis testified for a shortened fourth day before the trial breaks for an extended Thanksgiving recess.