A onetime veteran member of the Illinois House of Representatives is expected to be the next to testify in the perjury trial of former Speaker Michael Madigan’s longtime chief of staff.
Former state Rep. Lou Lang made a memorable appearance on the witness stand exactly five months ago in the bribery trial of four political power players, including Springfield insider Michael McClain. The four were convicted of conspiring to bribe Madigan.
Now, Lang is set to once again revisit the circumstances of his departure from the Illinois General Assembly as a key witness in the trial of Tim Mapes. Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane MacArthur said in court Tuesday that Lang could turn out to be a witness “of some length.”
Mapes is charged with perjury and attempted obstruction of justice for an alleged attempt to block the feds’ aggressive investigation of Madigan and McClain. Mapes is accused of lying on seven occasions to a grand jury on March 31, 2021.
Mapes allegedly lied about work that had been done for Madigan by McClain. He also allegedly testified falsely about not knowing that McClain had communicated with Lang in 2018.
McClain claimed in a call to Lang in November 2018 to be an agent of Madigan. He told Lang, who had been accused of harassment earlier that year, it was time to step down after new allegations surfaced. The call, secretly recorded by the FBI, was played during McClain’s trial earlier this year while Lang sat stone-faced on the stand.
In this latest trial, prosecutors allege that Mapes and McClain spoke four times on the phone May 30, 2018. That was the night before an activist held a news conference to make her claims against Lang.
McClain gave Mapes advice during one of those calls about how Lang should handle the situation, prosecutors say. In a short follow-up call, McClain also offered to share what he knew about what was going on.
“Let me put you on with the boss, OK?” prosecutors said Mapes replied.
The feds say the first call shows Mapes was “highly attuned to the drama surrounding [Lang] and McClain’s role in mitigating the fallout for Madigan,” and that the second “demonstrates as clear as day that Mapes knew McClain communicated with Madigan in 2018.”
They’ve also suggested the discussion makes it “more likely” Mapes was aware of McClain’s call with Lang in November 2018.
Lang’s testimony is expected to follow the appearance of a former Madigan aide, Will Cousineau, whose testimony is set to continue Wednesday morning.
The feds used Cousineau’s testimony Tuesday to show jurors a fiery email McClain sent one week after a political consultant leveled sexual harassment allegations against a top political aide to Madigan. The claims threatened Madigan’s grip on power.
McClain suggested Madigan’s team go nuclear against their opponents and pitch scandalous stories about an open marriage and other Springfield dirt to “over worked, under payed” news reporters.
Mapes was among the recipients of McClain’s email.
“We cannot lose him,” McClain wrote of Madigan. “We cannot give Illinois to these guys. So, we have to play sort of by their rules.”