Defense attorneys in the corruption trial of former House Speaker Michael Madigan on Wednesday attacked the credibility of a key prosecution witness, questioning his motives for cooperating with the FBI and grilling him over attempts to hide money in a divorce and his recent attempted purchase of a gun to shoot rattlesnakes.

Before the sun rose on a cold Wednesday morning in January 2019, Fidel Marquez agreed to a life-altering assignment as a cooperating witness in a criminal case the government was building against his colleagues at electric utility Commonwealth Edison and powerful Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.

The bribery and racketeering trial of former Illinois House Speaker and Democratic Party of Illinois Chairman Michael Madigan is set to resume Tuesday after a four-day weekend. The court was not in session Friday and the federal courthouse in Chicago is closed Monday for Veterans Day.

The former ComEd vice president who secretly recorded his colleagues as part of a federal corruption probe began testifying against ex-House Speaker Michael Madigan on Tuesday, the first of what is expected to be multiple days on the stand.

Jurors learned that the cooperation of Fidel Marquez led to criminal charges against former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, ex-ComEd lobbyist John Hooker, onetime City Club President Jay Doherty, and ComEd itself.

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.

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