A longtime confidant of then-Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan was captured on a federal wiretap in 2018 saying he and one of the speaker’s top private attorneys worked to block the selection of former federal prosecutor Maggie Hickey as the next U.S. attorney in Chicago.

The politically charged comment came during a July 5, 2018, conversation between Michael McClain and Tim Mapes, who had recently been ousted as Madigan’s chief of staff in the midst of a sexual harassment scandal that was engulfing Springfield.

On the call, which was played for the jury in Mapes’ perjury trial Monday, McClain told Mapes that he’d strongly disagreed with Madigan’s appointment of Hickey to investigate and address the alleged mistreatment of women in the legislature. Hickey had previously served as executive inspector general under Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner.

“I did everything, Adam Vaught and I did everything we can to get (Hickey) nixed as the next U.S. attorney,” McClain said on the call, which was secretly recorded by the FBI. Vaught was one of Madigan’s go-to attorneys and is married to Heather Wier Vaught, who also served as counsel to the speaker.

ADVERTISEMENT Advertisement

McClain said he was all but certain that Hickey’s findings would be bad for Madigan — and could cost him the speakership.

“What is our game plan if Maggie Hickey’s recommendation is Mike Madigan should be fired?” McClain said on the call. “This is the perfect opportunity for them to tube him .... I think it’s gonna be a real close call. He’s gonna have to use all of his, uh, instincts and all of his street smarts to save himself.”

McClain continued: “That was a stupid, stupid appointment.”

Hickey was considered a finalist to replace U.S. Attorney Zachary Fardon, who resigned in 2017 after President Donald Trump took over the White House. The job ultimately went to John Lausch.

Hickey could not be reached for comment Monday.

Vaught, reached by telephone Monday night, said: “I don’t know what Mr. McClain is talking about on that call.”

“I wasn’t trying to stop Maggie Hickey,” Vaught said. “Her name was on the list I was told went to the White House.”

Vaught said McClain reached out to him because he said the Trump White House had asked for recommendations for U.S. attorney.

“As far as I know, Maggie Hickey’s name was on a list forwarded to the White House by Mr. McClain,” Vaught said. “I contacted nobody involved with the appointment process. I spoke with nobody other than Mr. McClain who had anything to do with the appointment.”

Shortly after the call was played for the jury, prosecutors rested their case against Mapes, who is accused of lying to a federal grand jury investigating Madigan in a sweeping bribery conspiracy case.

Over eight days of testimony, prosecutors presented 15 witnesses and dozens of wiretapped phone conversations, emails and other documents in an effort to prove that Mapes was lying when he said he was unaware that McClain was doing sensitive “assignments” for the speaker even after McClain’s retirement from lobbying in 2016.

The prosecution’s case has also included the audio of Mapes’ entire grand jury testimony, offering a rare glimpse into a secretive process and illuminating how big-time political corruption investigations play out behind the scenes.

Mapes, 68, of Springfield, is charged with perjury and attempted obstruction of justice, accused in an indictment of lying in answers to seven questions during his appearance before the grand jury investigating Madigan and his vaunted political operation.

He faces up to 20 years in prison on the obstruction count, while the perjury charges carry up to five years behind bars.

Mapes, who served for more than 25 years as Madigan’s chief of staff as well as stints as executive director of the state Democratic Party and the clerk of the House, has denied making any false statements.

His attorneys have argued that he did his “level best” to provide truthful answers. They also accused prosecutors of asking open-ended questions and failing to provide Mapes with any corroborating materials that might refresh his recollection of years-old conversations.

The defense has said its case will last only about a day or two and will include an expert witness who will testify on the faults of human memory. They have also said they want to call Assistant U.S. Attorney Amarjeet Bhachu, who conducted the questioning of Mapes at the grand jury, as well as possibly Mapes’ wife and a former employee.

Mapes, meanwhile, has not said whether he will testify, though it’s considered a long shot given his previous track record and the general risks involved.

Prosecutors have objected to the defense calling former FBI supervisor Ted McNamara, who participated in interviews of McClain as part of a separate investigation.

While the interviews have been mentioned in previous court filings, Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane MacArthur revealed for the first time Monday that McClain was interviewed by the FBI in 2013, 2014 and 2016 “about his connections with a real estate developer” who had hired Madigan’s law firm, which specializes in property tax appeals.

McClain was questioned about “emails and other documents” in which he made reference to “our Friend” when communicating with the real estate developer, MacArthur said. McClain first told the FBI “our Friend” was not the speaker, but in later interviews said it was indeed Madigan, but that he’d hidden that from the developer.

McClain’s use of “our Friend” to describe Madigan came up frequently in the recent “ComEd Four” bribery trial, which ended in the conviction of McClain and three others in a scheme by Commonwealth Edison to funnel payments to Madigan cronies in exchange for the speaker’s assistance with the utility’s legislative agenda.

The defense wants to use McNamara’s testimony to show that the FBI didn’t trust what McClain was saying, and therefore Mapes — and the jury — shouldn’t either.

U.S. District Judge John Kness said he’d rule on the issue later, but that he was inclined to bar McNamara’s testimony.

While the charges against Mapes are fairly straightforward, the trial has been anything but ordinary, especially given the backdrop of the political corruption scandal that roiled Illinois politics and helped end Madigan’s record, decadeslong run as speaker.

A slew of Democratic Springfield insiders lined up to testify for the prosecution, including state Rep. Bob Rita, ex-legislators Lou Lang and Greg Harris, and former top aides to Madigan such as Tom Cullen, Will Cousineau and Craig Willert.

In his grand jury testimony, Mapes claimed that he didn’t see all that much of McClain after McClain retired from lobbying.

“I think he was (in Springfield) occasionally, but I don’t really know his schedule because he wasn’t there much,” Mapes testified. “From what he had told me when he was going to retire is that he was going to phase out some of his clients through the spring session. And I didn’t — I never did have another discussion with him about it after that.”

But the wiretapped conversations played by prosecutors showed Mapes and McClain were in frequent contact up until the time McClain was indicted on bribery conspiracy charges in late 2020.

Not only that, the men appeared in the calls to have a great affection for each other. They talked about their families and the declining health of McClain’s mother. They ate meals together, joked about the perceived shortcomings of certain Madigan staffers, and worried about each other’s futures. At one point, McClain signed off by telling Mapes he loved him.

In the July 2018 call played Monday, Mapes and McClain were critical of then-private attorney Heather Wier Vaught, whom they blamed for recommending Hickey’s appointment to the sexual harassment inquiry.

“It was all Heather,” Mapes told McClain. Wier Vaught said in an interview that she reached out to Hickey, at Madigan’s request, to see if she would be interested in doing the review. “Ultimately,” Wier Vaught said, “the women’s caucus recommended her, and Madigan hired her to conduct the full review of the office.”

McClain mused that “we may be saved” if Hickey was distracted enough by another appointment aimed at protecting students from sexual violence, though he suspected Rauner had something up his sleeve.

“But if Rauner slips her 50 or 100 grand ... that’ll be her recommendation November 15th,” McClain said. “Well, it would be all, a huge thing, right? It’ll be national news. It’ll be all the women’s groups. It’ll (state Rep.) Kelly Cassidy. It’ll be a huge tsunami goin’ after him.”

Under criticism for how he handled sexual harassment complaints, Madigan hired Hickey in 2018 to review his office and the Democratic caucus following a series of #MeToo scandals alleging misbehavior of political aides and allies, including the accusations against Mapes, who has denied improper conduct.

It turns out McClain was only partially right about the end result. Hickey found in an extensive investigation, released in August 2019, that people across the Capitol repeatedly faced sexual harassment and bullying, and feared retaliation if they spoke out.

Hickey also found sufficient evidence to determine that Mapes had “made several inappropriate comments to or around” a House Democratic staffer.

But while the report made waves, the story had already been overtaken by news of the federal criminal probe, including reports in the Tribune that McClain’s home had been raided earlier that year.

In the July 2018 phone call, McClain and Mapes also worried about Cousineau’s elevated role in Madigan’s camp.

He’s “got an unduly amount of influence over Mike Madigan’s head right now,” McClain said.

Mapes quickly confided in McClain: “I think Will is the one who told, told him (Madigan) I should go.”

“I don’t know that,” McClain replied, “but I, I- believe it.”

“I’m not anti-Will, don’t get me wrong,” Mapes said. “Uh, he’s protecting the boss. Now he views that as his mission. That is part of the mission, but you got the other piece. And the boss is not ... he’s thinking differently than he would’ve 10 years ago.”

McClain said that the reaction he got from the Madigan team, including Cousineau, when he brought up concerns about Hickey’s investigation was, “‘Oh, I don’t think that’ll happen. (Madigan’s) got a good relationship with her. He, he met with her.’”

“I said, ‘I think you guys are totally wrong. I mean, she’s a Republican,’” McClain told Mapes.

McClain said that when he told the group they should be prepared for Hickey to recommend Madigan be fired, “Will Cousineau’s face was like, his jaw dropped.”

In his testimony last week Cousineau teared up when he was asked about Mapes calling with best wishes for his birthday and anniversary.

Cousineau also told the jury he believed Mapes generally was honest when they worked together. But he acknowledged during questioning from a prosecutor that he was not in the grand jury room where Mapes allegedly lied multiple times.

jmeisner@chicagotribune.com

rlong@chicagotribune.com