By Illinois Review
Former Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan — the most powerful Democrat machine boss in modern state history — is now reportedly trying to convince President Donald J. Trump to pardon his federal prison sentence.
The request would be astonishing from any politician. Coming from Madigan, it is almost unbelievable.
For decades, Madigan championed everything Trump fought against: relentless tax hikes, sanctuary-state policies, protection for illegal immigrants, and a political machine that crushed working families while enriching insiders.
Madigan didn’t just operate inside the system — he built the machine that drove Illinois into fiscal ruin.
No one in modern Illinois history raised taxes more aggressively. Under his control, residents were hit repeatedly. Since 2011, Madigan personally pushed or approved more than 70 bills that raised taxes or fees — income taxes, gas taxes, vehicle fees, cigarette taxes, business taxes, sports-betting taxes, and more.
The 2011 income-tax hike alone drained billions from family budgets. In 2017, Madigan forced through another massive increase by overriding Gov. Bruce Rauner’s veto. And in 2019, he backed doubling the gas tax — now automatically rising every year.
And when a Democratic governor refused to go along with Madigan’s tax-hike agenda, Madigan moved to destroy him.
Rod Blagojevich openly rejected Madigan’s plan to raise taxes on working families. Madigan responded exactly as a machine boss would: he led the effort to impeach him.
Months before the FBI’s predawn raid, Madigan circulated a detailed 14-page memo outlining the political case to remove Blagojevich — essentially pre-writing the roadmap for his downfall.
Madigan made noise — and Robert Mueller listened.
Mueller’s FBI ordered the 6:00 a.m. raid, but Madigan had already laid the political groundwork. And he wasn’t acting alone.
Madigan was also working hand-in-hand with then U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald — James Comey’s best friend and the godfather to Comey’s children. Comey has called Fitzgerald “one of the best lawyers” he’s ever known and later hired him as his personal attorney during Comey’s own dispute involving President Trump.
Fitzgerald — deeply embedded in the same federal law-enforcement circle as Mueller and Comey — was a central figure in the prosecutorial squeeze on Blagojevich at the exact moment Madigan was orchestrating the political offensive in Springfield.
Comey has said he “implicitly trusts” Fitzgerald, praising him as a “brilliant mind” and “fearless prosecutor whose argument is always rooted in the facts.”
This is the man who now wants Trump — the very president he opposed, and the same president targeted for years by Madigan’s allies Robert Mueller, James Comey, and Patrick Fitzgerald — to grant him a pardon.
But that’s not all.
Madigan also helped turn Illinois into a full-blown sanctuary state. As Speaker, he allowed the TRUST Act to advance in 2017, restricting cooperation with federal immigration authorities and shielding illegal immigrants from detention.
Under his leadership, Democrats expanded those protections even further. While President Trump fought tirelessly to secure the border, Madigan weakened enforcement and protected those here unlawfully.
And throughout Trump’s rise, Madigan treated him as a political enemy. In 2016, he warned Democrats not to “rest on their laurels” and urged them to unify to defeat Trump. In 2020, he again attacked Trump publicly.
Madigan had no hesitation using Trump as a political punching bag — until he suddenly needed something.
His hypocrisy doesn’t end there. In 2018, Gov.-elect JB Pritzker funneled more than $10 million into Madigan-controlled committees, money that bankrolled roughly one-third of all Democratic legislative races. In return, Madigan helped drive Pritzker’s far-left agenda: billions in new spending, sweeping tax hikes, and Rebuild Illinois — the largest gas-tax and fee explosion in state history.
And in the end, Madigan’s long career of abusing power finally caught up with him.
In 2024, a federal jury convicted Madigan on sweeping corruption charges tied to the ComEd bribery scheme — a years-long operation in which the utility secured favorable legislation by rewarding Madigan’s allies with jobs, contracts, and payments.
Those bills, rammed through under Madigan’s speakership, helped ComEd secure billions in revenue and contributed to higher electric rates for Illinois families.
The same man who spent decades raising taxes on working people was ultimately convicted for engineering backroom deals that raised their utility bills too.
For this, Madigan was sentenced to 7.5 years in federal prison.
Now the architect of Illinois’ tax burden, its sanctuary-state status, and its long decline is asking President Trump for a pardon.
Madigan had decades to stand with working families, law enforcement, and taxpayers. Instead, he stood with the Democratic machine, illegal immigrants, and the special interests that thrived under his power.
A man who spent his career attacking Trump’s agenda should not expect Trump to rescue him now.
