In closing arguments, feds hammer at ‘stunning’ stream of benefits to Madigan while defense calls bribery charges ‘collateral damage’

A defense attorney for a longtime friend of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan called on a federal jury Monday to “be the shield” between a private citizenand a “very powerful government committed, dedicated and on a mission to get Mike Madigan.”

But federal prosecutors asked that same jury to reject the idea that a “stunning” stream of benefits allegedly delivered to Madigan by that friend and three others amounted to anything other than bribery, albeit not in the traditional cash-in-an-envelope sense.