FBI raids offices of Chicago alderman, former Trump attorney

Nov. 29 (UPI) — Federal agents raided the offices of Edward Burke, Chicago alderman and former attorney to President Donald Trump, on Thursday.

FBI agents confirmed the raids of Burke’s aldermanic offices on the third floor at Chicago’s City Hall and his ward office on the Southwest Side in an emailed statement to CBS Chicago.

“Our agents are executing search warrants at multiple locations today. We have no further comment,” FBI Chicago spokeswoman Janine Wheeler wrote.

About 15 agents arrived at the City Hall office at 7:30 a.m. carrying boxes and some later crossed the street to search an underground parking garage for Burke’s car, which wasn’t there, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. A group of federal agents also was seen leaving Burke’s ward office between 1:10 p.m. and 1:40 p.m.

The agents leaving the ward office were seen carrying a cardboard file box, a computer and two computer monitors.

The windows of both offices were covered with brown paper during the raids and according to local media reports a man who was not a member of Burke’s office staff emerged the City Hall office door when a reporter knocked Thursday morning and simply said “no comment.”

Burke has been alderman since 1969, when he was appointed to replace his father after he died in office. He filed to run for re-election in the 2019 election and hasn’t faced a challenger for the post since 2007.

He also works as an attorney, specializing in property tax assessments, where he represented Trump in a challenge against property tax assessments for Trump Tower, although he stopped representing the president earlier this year, citing “irreconcilable differences.”

His wife, Anne Burke, serves on the Illinois Supreme Court.

Burke’s brother, Illinois state Rep. Dan Burke, D-Chicago, said news of the raid was shocking and he maintained his brother’s innocence.

“Any time there is this type of thing, where they come in and paper your windows, certainly that’s a concern. But I know my brother. For his entire life and career he’s been abiding by the law,” he said.

Earlier Wednesday, Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress in the Justice Department’s Russia investigation.