Thursday, November 29, 2018

Federal Agents Mysteriously Raid a Former Trump Attorney’s Office in Chicago

FBI raid Chicago
For the record.

This morning, FBI agents raided the City Hall office of Chicago Alderman Ed Burke, a powerful figure in Illinois state politics and a former property tax attorney for Donald Trump, reports Vox.

It’s not yet clear whether the search has anything to do with Trump. Details are scant and the FBI has not said who the target of the investigation is, or what the federal agents thought they might find in Burke’s office.

But because Burke had worked for Trump on his Chicago real estate project, speculation immediately started flying about whether the FBI raid might be part of the bigger probe into the president.

More from Vox:

  • Roughly 15 federal agents showed up at Burke’s office in Chicago’s City Hall around 7:30 am Central time and took over the office by kicking out staffers and papering over the windows, according to reports from the Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune.
  • The agents left in the early afternoon with “one cardboard file box, a computer and two computer monitors,” according to the Sun-Times.
  • The windows were also papered over at Burke’s office in Chicago’s 14th Ward, according to the Tribune.
  • Burke is not a stranger to being investigated: In his 50 years in public office, he’s survived numerous scandals, including one related to payroll in 2014.
  • Burke’s law firm, Klafter & Burke, began representing Donald Trump in 2006, while the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago was under construction. Burke had previously voted to approve the project as an alderman.
  • Burke’s law firm saved Trump $14.1 million in property taxes between 2006 and 2018, according to the Sun-Times.
  • Burke stopped representing Trump in May 2018, citing “irreconcilable differences,” according to the Sun-Times. At the time, the newspaper suggested that Burke might be worried that his work with the president could alienate the Hispanic voters who make up the majority of his constituents.

  • 3 comments:

    1. Two computer monitors? Is anything stored on a computer monitor?

      ReplyDelete
      Replies
      1. If they're just monitors, no.

        But, then again, the Feds like to put on a good show.

        Delete
    2. Things are getting very Stalin-esque these days in America. How long before friends of family of "confessed, enemies of the State" are rounded up in nondescript "black raven" vans, and taken away and questioned for months at a time?

      ReplyDelete