CHICAGO — Jurors in the corruption trial of former House Speaker Michael Madigan on Thursday heard a series of never-before-played wiretapped calls showing how the speaker helped find a job for the wife of state Rep. Jaime Andrade.

The episode is being held up by prosecutors as more evidence of the power and influence wielded by Madigan and, by proxy, his longtime confidant and co-defendant Michael McClain during the timeframe of the alleged racketeering conspiracy.

Madigan’s lawyers had objected to the calls being presented to the jury, saying they were irrelevant to the charges and could be prejudicial.

On a July 2, 2018, recording played for the jury, Madigan told McClain that Andrade “came to me and same story, he needs money, and he had the thought that maybe I could help his wife on something.”

Madigan explained that Andrade’s wife is a Spanish speaker and native of Peru, and that he’d thought of placing her with Jay Doherty, a ComEd consultant and then-head of the City Club of Chicago, though “not necessarily with ComEd.”

“I had the thought that I could actually put Jay Doherty on a retainer,” Madigan said on the recording, “We’d tell Andrade to prepare some monthly reports on what she’s doing. So he’s got it on file.”

They wound up finding a position for Andrade’s wife at the Secretary of State’s office. The jury heard another call in which Andrade reached out to thank McClain for the effort.

“I hope she really likes the job,” McClain told Andrade on the Aug. 29, 2018, call, which was also played for the first time in court. “She can learn a lot in that role, and she can just keep it at least for three or four years, learn all the mumbo jumbo, all the magic words … she has an opportunity to go elsewhere and make even more money.”

Andrade told McClain “I’m just happy … I’ve got two kids in Catholic school …there’ll be enough to pay the tuition and aftercare and beforecare while I’m in session … Thank you again, Mr. McClain.”

“The speaker jumped all over it, so that’s good,” McClain replied.

The Tribune first revealed earlier this year that Andrade, a Democrat who represents parts of Chicago’s Northwest Side, was the elected official mentioned in court papers as Public Official E.

At the time, Andrade told the newspaper Madigan was one of many people he reached out to regarding his wife’s potential employment. “I asked about 50 people, including Madigan,” Andrade, who is not accused of wrongdoing, said in his remarks to a Tribune reporter.

Andrade also said at the time he didn’t know if Madigan had anything to do with his wife’s hiring. And while Andrade remembers talking to McClain, he wasn’t sure why he would have thanked him specifically.

He said a bout with COVID has caused lapses in his memory. But Andrade said he did remember that, during the call, McClain misidentified the division of White’s office where his wife worked.

Andrade’s wife currently makes about $62,000 a year in a law-related position with the Secretary of State, records show.

Neither she nor Andrade is expected to be called as a witness.

Jurors also heard for the first time Thursday that the alleged bribery scheme between ComEd and the powerful ex-Speaker spread far beyond just Madigan and his co-defendant.

Marquez confirmed from the stand that several figures who have already prominently featured in the trial – ex-ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, lobbyist John Hooker, consultant Jay Doherty and ComEd itself – had been criminally charged based, in part, on Marquez’s extensive cooperation.

That information had preliminarily been banned from trial, and during jury selection last month attorneys diligently weeded out many potential jurors who had knowledge of the prior “ComEd Four” case.

But defense attorneys for Madigan and co-defendant Michael McClain this week attacked Marquez’s credibility by implying that his sweetheart cooperation deal with prosecutors motivated him to say what the government wanted to hear. Prosecutors on Thursday asked that they be allowed to show that Marquez’s cooperation was widespread, and his deal did not hinge entirely on the Madigan case.

U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey said Marquez could testify that those entities were charged, but not mentioned that they were convicted. Pramaggiore, Hooker and Doherty all were found guilty along with McClain in the “ComEd Four” case. ComEd itself entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with federal prosecutors.

Madigan, 82, of Chicago, who served for decades as speaker of the Illinois House and the head of the state Democratic Party, faces racketeering charges alleging he ran his state and political operations like a criminal enterprise.

Among the allegations: several Madigan allies got no-work subcontracts from ComEd; the utility reserved internships each year for young people referred from Madigan’s 13th Ward, and a law firm headed by Madigan fundraiser Victor Reyes was awarded a lucrative contract with ComEd, allegedly at Madigan’s request.

Both Madigan and McClain, 77, a former ComEd contract lobbyist from downstate Quincy, have pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing.

Former ComEd executive Fidel Marquez, the former vice president of external affairs at ComEd, began working with the FBI in early 2019 after agents confronted him at his mother’s home and played incriminating calls captured on a secret wiretap.

He went on to make multiple undercover recordings of his own, both audio and video, that have been played for the jury laying out the stream of benefits the utility allegedly extended to Madigan and his allies, mostly through requests relayed by McClain.

During Marquez’s four days of direct testimony, Marquez testified over and over that he and other ComEd insiders complied with the requests so that Madigan would look favorably upon ComEd-friendly legislation in Springfield.

In exchange for Marquez’s truthful testimony, prosecutors have said they will recommend a sentence of probation instead of prison time.

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