Lawyers for indicted former 14th Ward Ald. Edward Burke are seeking to bar any mention at his federal corruption trial next month of the alderman’s private law firm winning big property tax breaks for Donald Trump’s downtown Chicago skyscraper, arguing it would prejudice the jury because Trump is “despised by a significant percentage of the population.”
“Mr. Burke’s legal work for (Trump) could cause many jurors to have an unfavorable impression of Mr. Burke and could create significant bias against him,” Burke’s lawyers wrote in a motion late Friday. Telling jurors about the Burke-Trump association is “fraught with the likelihood of unfair prejudice,” the motion argued.
Prosecutors have not given any indication that they intend to raise Burke’s efforts on behalf of Trump at the ex-alderman’s trial, which begins Nov. 6 at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse.
The sweeping racketeering charges focus on Burke’s alleged efforts to use his powerful position at City Hall to drum up business for his law firm, Klafter & Burke, but the Trump Tower is not specifically mentioned in the indictment.
The developments in Burke’s case landed as a civil trial against Trump began Monday in New York, where he faces allegations of inflating values of property to secure favorable loan rates and reporting the value of the same property as worthless to win lower tax bills.
The showcase Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago is cited in the New York case as an example of how Trump allegedly undervalued property if it would save him money and overvalued property if it helped him get bigger loans.
Trump is also facing three criminal indictments stemming from his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election and hiding top secret government documents at his Florida golf estate.
Burke took particular aim at excluding secret recordings of him touting his property tax success at the Trump International Hotel & Tower in conversations with ex-Ald. Danny Solis (25th), the high-profile government mole.
Prosecutors have said they do not intend to call Solis as a witness, but Burke’s team has reserved the right to call him as their own witness as part of an entrapment defense.
Meanwhile, in their motion seeking to bar certain evidence, Burke’s attorneys also revealed a number of secretly recorded conversations that could be played at trial.
Among them was a June 2017 call between Burke, who at the time was the dean of the City Council and chairman of the Finance Committee, and David Reifman, the then-commissioner of the Department of Planning and Development.
Speaking about an unnamed person who apparently had lied to Reifman, an angry Burke stated on the call he would “make it my business to (expletive) with this guy in every way possible,” the filing stated. Burke explained to Reifman that if he’d known about the lie, “that (expletive) thing … that we, uh, passed would never have gone on the agenda.”
Burke’s attorneys argued in the filing the call had nothing to do with any charged crime in the indictment and that prosecutors wanted to play it “for the sole purpose of portraying Mr. Burke as a vindictive person.”
Prosecutors also want to play a recorded conversation between Burke and his brother, then-state Rep. Dan Burke, from June 27, 2017, during a special session of the Illinois legislature, according to Burke’s filing.
The conversation “appears to involve a variety of gaming bills then being considered by the legislature and what Mr. Burke had heard from a person named J.G.,” the filing stated. “None of these bills has anything to do with Mr. Burke or his duties as an alderman. Nor does Mr. Burke suggest to his brother how he should vote on any of them.”
At one point in the call, the alderman asks his brother “to ask a third party why that third party doesn’t give Mr. Burke’s law firm some business instead of giving it all to (then-House Speaker Michael) Madigan,” the filing stated. “Mr. Burke then suggests that they could figure out a way to make Daniel a consultant.”
Madigan is facing trial in April on separate racketeering charges that, like Burke, allege he tried to use his elected office to win private law business.
The Burke team also argued against allowing another aspect of the Madigan case into Burke’s trial: The relationship with longtime Democratic political operative Victor Reyes.
Reyes, whose law firm allegedly secured significant legal business from utility giant Commonwealth Edison as a political favor to Madigan, factored heavily in the recent trial of the “ComEd Four,” which ended with the convictions of top former ComEd executives and lobbyists.
Prosecutors want to play a December 2017 conversation where Burke asked Reyes to “participate” in an upcoming fundraiser for Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who at the time was a leading candidate in the race to replace outgoing Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Burke told Reyes on the call he should participate in the event “if it’s in your interests.”
“This call is irrelevant to the charges, reflects permissible political activity, is potentially prejudicial given the ComEd trial coverage, and should be excluded,” Burke’s lawyer argued.
They filing also referenced conversations involving a lawyer and former politician identified only as “Individual F-1.” In June 2017, Individual F-1 told Burke about efforts to raise money after hosting an event, and a January 2018, Burke asked Individual F-1 “to raise money for Preckwinkle for someone they had assisted,” the motion stated.
“This too is politics. It is not unlawful and it has not the slightest thing to do with the bribery and extortion charged in this case,” Burke’s lawyers said.
Burke, 79, was originally charged in a criminal complaint in January 2019, weeks after the FBI raided his City Hall office suite. He was indicted four months later on 14 counts including racketeering, federal program bribery, attempted extortion, conspiracy to commit extortion and using interstate commerce to facilitate an unlawful activity.
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The 59-page indictment outlined a series of schemes in which Burke allegedly tried to muscle developers into hiring his law firm to appeal their property taxes. Among the projects Burke tried to capitalize on was the massive $800 million renovation of the Old Post Office in the West Loop, according to the charges.
Also charged was Burke’s longtime aide, Peter Andrews, who was accused of assisting the alderman in attempting to shake down two business owners seeking to renovate a Burger King restaurant in the 14th Ward.
The indictment also accused developer Charles Cui of hiring Burke’s law firm in exchange for the alderman’s help with a sign permit and financing deal for a project in the Portage Park neighborhood.
All three have pleaded not guilty.
The trial before U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall is expected to last about a month.