Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan asks Trump to pardon him after bribery conviction

Convicted former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan has asked President Donald Trump for a pardon, Department of Justice records show.

Madigan, 83, was the longest-serving House speaker before his conviction on bribery conspiracy, wire fraud and other charges after a corruption investigation revealed two schemes. ComEd paid Madigan allies to remain in Madigan’s good graces, and then-Ald. Danny Solis helped land private business for Madigan’s tax appeal law firm in exchange for a position on a state board.

Madigan was convicted in February and sentenced to seven and a half years in prison in June. He has been in a West Virginia minimum-security federal prison camp since October. He has appealed his conviction, but the appellate court denied his request to walk free while the appeal progresses.

Now, Madigan is asking Trump to pardon him, records show.

A clemency case for Madigan has been opened by the Department of Justice and is pending, meaning the petition is under review.

The Illinois House of Representatives was led by Madigan for decades. Since his start as House speaker through 2021, only two years passed without Madigan at the helm, even after the federal investigation into him was publicly revealed in 2019.

Madigan was charged in 2022 when a grand jury brought forth a 106-page racketeering conspiracy indictment. The four-month trial featured more than 60 witnesses, including Solis, who the FBI persuaded to wear a wire to aid the investigation of Madigan. Prosecutors dropped a bribery charge against Solis in exchange for his help.

Though it’s unclear whether Trump would pardon Madigan, in the first part of his second term, he has issued a flurry of pardons, including for former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was convicted on political corruption charges in 2011 and sentenced to 14 years in prison. Trump commuted Blagojevich's sentence in 2020 before pardoning him earlier this year.