USA vs. Edward M. Burke
Edward M. Burke was the longest-serving member of Chicago’s City Council. But in 2019, a grand jury accused him of using his Council seat to steer business to his private law firm. He is charged with racketeering, bribery and conspiracy to commit extortion.
Appeals Justice Jesse Reyes called on his Democratic primary opponent to say if she recused herself when the court failed to suspend Burke’s law license.
The former alderman’s wife, Anne Burke, served as chief justice of the state’s highest court for three years before her tenure ended in 2022.
U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall denied a request for mistrial over a remark about the ‘Chicago way of doing business’ being ‘very corrupt.’ That allowed prosecutors to proceed with recordings of Burke and witness testimony.
When Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane MacArthur explained that she did not expect Amtrak executive Ray Lang to make the comment, U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall quickly asked, ‘What were you expecting him to say?’
Special Agent Ryan McDonald’s testimony came nearly five years to the day after the FBI raided former Chicago Ald. Edward M. Burke’s offices Nov. 29, 2018.
COVID-19 is arguably one reason it took so long for the feds to bring ex-Ald. Ed Burke to trial in the first place. The FBI raided his offices five years ago this week. Criminal charges followed in 2019, but the pandemic helped scuttle plans to begin the trial in 2021.
“I was relieved when they said it before they got in the house that I’m not in trouble,” Shoukat Dhanani testified. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t have let them in.”
Prosecutors called Shoukat Dhanani to the witness stand and played secretly recorded calls as they began showing jurors evidence of a second scheme outlined in Burke’s 2019 indictment.
Prosecutors say the former City Council dean was upset he had failed to land an internship at the Field Museum for the daughter of a close friend.
Prosecutors kicked off their case with Elmhurst University political science professor Constance Mixon, who began to explain Chicago city government to the jury.
U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall, prosecutors and defense attorneys have seated 12 jurors at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse who will hear evidence that was used in 2019 to level criminal charges against Burke in a push against old-school, Chicago-style corruption.
Burke’s trial was expected to last six weeks, but the slow jury selection and COVID-19 delay threaten to push the case deep into the holiday season.
The comments will kick off the highly anticipated case dating back five years. It upended Chicago’s mayoral campaign in 2019 — first through a raid of Burke’s offices, criminal charges, and the disclosure that Ald. Danny Solis spent two years recording Burke.
Potential jurors in Burke’s case have been spending time in the ceremonial courtroom of the Dirksen Federal Courthouse, which is right across the hall from the public corruption display. Potential jurors could be seen walking through the hallway Tuesday.
Residents of the ward aren’t optimistic Burke’s trial — or even former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s federal trial next year — will clean up Chicago corruption.
Burke wore a gray suit and tie with an American flag pin on his lapel. From time to time he could be seen reviewing paperwork, including questionnaires filled out by the potential jurors. But he mostly seemed to be taking it all in.
The stage has been set for another legal clash at the Dirksen courthouse. But it’s unclear whether another central political figure, former Chicago Ald. Danny Solis, will make an appearance in the courtroom.
Political science professor’s testimony will be crucial to helping jury understand the racketeering case against former Ald. Ed Burke, prosecutors say.
U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall held Tuesday’s hearing to determine whether Elmhurst University political science professor Constance Mixon should be allowed to testify during ex-Ald. Ed Burke’s trial.
How the near-absolute power Edward Burke wielded absolutely paved the way for his alleged corruption
That power came from “scratch my back” Chicago politics. Burke’s clout emanated from the sheer force of his personality, the favors he did for other City Council members and the intimidation he wielded over his colleagues.
Citing demonstrations at Federal Plaza, defense attorneys warn the issue is “just going to create havoc for the court, and all of us, because it’s not going away.”
Burke’s defense team had asked that any mention of the former alderman’s work for Trump International Hotel & Tower be barred from the trial, arguing the former president was “despised by a significant percentage of the population.”
Amid Israel-Hamas war, his comments are more likely to prejudice the jury, the indicted alderman’s attorney argues, but prosecutors say the remarks go to the heart of Burke’s alleged scheme.
Hints of Burke’s trial defense began to emerge during a hearing in federal court amid preparations for a Nov. 6 trial.
Lawyers for the former Chicago City Council member argue that the former president is under indictment himself and “despised by a significant percentage of the population.”
The recorded meetings at issue took place between 2016 and 2018. They were all audio recorded, “and most were also video recorded.”