CHICAGO (CBS) – For five days, one of the star witnesses in former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan's federal corruption trial has been on the stand testifying about his relationship to Madigan and his close associate and lobbyist Michael McClain.

The corruption charges against former House Speaker Michael Madigan are in many ways tethered to his longtime confidant, Michael McClain, a self-described “agent” of the speaker who was captured on FBI wiretaps pushing contract and job requests that he said came directly from Madigan himself.

The former chief lobbyist for electric utility Commonwealth Edison has spent the last week telling a federal jury how he bent over backward to accommodate hiring requests from former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.

Patrick Cotter, defense attorney for a longtime Madigan ally, spent more than three hours cross-examining former ComEd executive Fidel Marquez, trying to methodically rehabilitate his client.

Seizing on a tactic strengthened by a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, defense attorneys in the Michael Madigan corruption trial began their cross-examination of a key witness Tuesday by trying to distinguish between exchanging jobs for official actions and simply currying favor with the formidable ex-House speaker.

Defense attorneys have begun cross-examining a convicted former ComEd executive at the bribery and racketeering trial of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and codefendant Michael McClain.

Former state Rep. Michael McClain and former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan enter the federal court building in Chicago Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024.