Speaker Mike Madigan

Defense attorneys are pointing to a Feb. 10 executive order from President Donald Trump pausing enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The president’s order says the law’s use has been “stretched beyond proper bounds and abused in a manner that harms the interests of the United States.”

“I went to the same high school as he did and I’ve always heard of him to be a good person,” jury foreman Timothy Nessner told the Sun-Times. “But I also know that good people sometimes break the law. In this particular case, the evidence proved to me that that’s what happened.”

Federal prosecutors have made it clear they are listening to phone calls. But have the threats of federal investigations and wiretapped conversations actually deterred criminal behavior in Illinois politics? Some aren’t convinced.

The decade-long FBI investigation that led to Madigan’s trial roiled local politics and changed the course of Illinois history. The feds summoned 50 witnesses to a 12th-floor courtroom in their bid to prove Madigan and Michael McClain guilty of “corruption at the highest levels of state government.”

Madigan and his longtime ally, Michael McClain, are on trial for a racketeering conspiracy. Jurors are expected to resume deliberations Monday morning.

The arguments follow 11 weeks of testimony in which jurors heard from 63 witnesses. Most notable among them was Michael Madigan himself. He testified for nearly 12 hours over four days earlier this month. His co-defendant, Michael McClain, opted not to testify.

Prosecutors have begun to firm up one of the key pillars of their case, alleging Michael Madigan accepted bribes from ComEd in exchange for favorable treatment of the utility’s bills in Springfield.

When Michael McClain retired from lobbying in 2015, he told then-House Speaker Madigan he was “at the bridge with my musket standing with and for the Madigan family.”

Federal prosecutors showed the email during the wind-down of Paul La Schiazza’s trial on Monday, in which the former AT&T president is accused of bribing Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan via an alleged do-nothing consulting contract for a political ally worth $22,500.