Michael Madigan Trial LIVE Updates: Testimony in Former Illinois Speaker’s Corruption Trial Continues

Longtime Madigan aide Will Cousineau continues to testify for a second day.

The jury met around 9:15 a.m. Wednesday before Cousineau returned to the stand.

Cousineau served in a dual role as both Madigan’s affairs director and political director for the Illinois Democratic Party.

In exchange for his testimony, the government gave Cousineau a letter of immunity, which essentially said he could not be charged if he testified truthfully.

During his testimony, Cousineau gave an inside look at how the Speaker’s Office operated under Madigan, as well as the people who were in his inner circle, including Cousineau, chief of staff Tim Mapes, Heather Weir Vought, Craig Willert and Mike McClain, among others. other. Of these, only Mike McClain was not directly on the Speaker’s staff.

Testimony focused on Cousineau’s role in efforts to pass two major bills: EIMA in 2011 and FEJA in 2016. The two bills are at the heart of the government’s corruption case against Madigan and McClain as they relate to the ComEd portion. indictment, in particular.

Although Cousineau was not directly involved in the passage of EIMA or the Smart Grid in 2011, Cousineau testified that the Speaker often replaced committee members when they needed to vote on specific bills and they knew the regular members would vote. against the bill.

By November 2016, Cousineau was participating in several workgroup meetings on ComEd’s second major legislative project, FEJA.

McClain, who has been ComEd’s contract lobbyist all along, also served on the task forces. Cousineau said he served a dual role.

“Mr. McClain certainly explained or talked about what the company was looking for. But he was also there as a strategic advisor to the speaker,” Cousineau said.

In the days leading up to the December 1, 2016 vote in which FEJA ultimately became law, it became apparent that the Democratic votes were not sufficient to pass the law. Cousineau and his staff, along with the Sierra Club, set out to persuade members to influence their votes.

“I was just talking to them about the bill, why they should support it,” Cousineau said. “We wanted to get the bill passed by the House.”

Often during his testimony, Cousineau seemed reluctant to answer or did so in a quiet voice.

This is the third time Cousineau has been called to testify in a federal case related to Madigan. He was previously called during both the ComEd Four trial and the perjury trial of Tim Mapes, Madigan’s former chief of staff.

The court took a break at about 10:45.

The court will close on Wednesday at 15:00.

It is expected that this will be the standard end time on Wednesdays in the future.