CHICAGO — Democratic state Sen. Emil Jones III told a federal jury in his bribery trial Thursday that the FBI asked him to wire up on the CEO of Roseland Community Hospital as part of a cooperation bid that could keep Jones from being charged.

Jones, who is on the witness stand for a third day, made the disclosure during direct examination by his attorney, Victor Henderson, who was asking about several meetings Jones had with federal investigators after he was first confronted in September 2019.

Jones said that in early 2020, the feds asked him and his then-attorney to come in and give a proffer-protected statement, which is a often prelude to cooperation and means he could not be charged based on anything he said.

Jones said a prosecutor gave “almost like a little PowerPoint presentation” for him and “did all the talking. The prosecutor told him “we believe you solicited, asked for a bribe, acted corruptly,” Jones said.

They gave him a few days to think about it, Jones testified, adding that he left the meeting “devastated and confused.”

“I was thinking about my career and all the good things I had done,” Jones says, adding he felt his statements on the recordings had been taken out of context.

At his next meeting with the feds, Jones said, FBI agents “put several pictures of people in my, you know, in front of me and I had to write down who they were.”

He said the FBI then asked him to wear a wire on Tim Egan, the CEO of Roseland Hospital. A message seeking comment from Egan, who has previously run for alderman and is Cook County Democratic committeeman for the 2nd Ward, was not immediately returned Thursday.

Jones started to talk about the “scenario” the FBI allegedly wanted him to develop as an undercover, but prosecutors objected and the judge held a lengthy sidebar. After about 15 minutes, U.S. District Judge Andrea Wood sent the jury out of the room and continued having another lengthy sidebar in the courtroom, this time with Jones being included through headphones.

Once the jury returned, Wood told them to disregard Jones’ answer to the last question and struck the testimony about Egan from the record.

Jones, 46, the son of former Senate President Emil Jones Jr., is charged with bribery, use of an interstate facility to solicit bribery and lying to federal agents. The most serious charge carries up to 10 years in prison, while the others have a five-year maximum term.

He is accused of agreeing to accept $5,000 in campaign funds from Omar Maani, the co-founder of red light camera company SafeSpeed LLC, in 2019 in exchange for his assistance with legislation the company wanted altered in Springfield. Jones also allegedly asked Maani to hire his former intern, Christopher Katz, to a $15-an-hour part-time job.

Roseland Community Hospital is a prolific fundraiser for Jones and has been been mentioned repeatedly in testimony in Jones’ trial. In his direct examination Wednesday, Jones described himself as a “huge supporter” of the facility, calling it “my idea of what every hospital should be across the state.

“They don’t make a profit off what they do,” he said. “No one owns it….a non-paid board controls it….All the money that the hospital makes goes right back” to the community it serves.

A focal point for the trial has been a fundraising event in August 2019 at Sox Park that was being hosted by Roseland to benefit Jones’ campaign fund. In one recorded conversation, Jones suggested Maani could sponsor a part of the fundraiser to keep from having to declare his involvement on state campaign finance filings.

The hospital also came up during testimony about Jones’ former intern who was eventually hired by Maani to a no-work position and paid a total of $1,800 over five months. Before that happened, however, Jones and Katz exchanged text messages about a possible job at Roseland.

“Yo Senator.. What’s the word for job opportunity at Roseland Hospital? I can resend you my resume again,” Katz texted Jones in July 2019, according to trial evidence.

“Yes send it,” Jones responded.

Jones’ testimony about being asked to wear a wire came shortly before his direct examination ended.

Jones wrapped up his direct examination by testifying in more general terms how the feds continued to push for him to wear a wire on “my colleagues,” which he said he was unwilling to do.

Why did you not want to? Henderson asked.

Jones paused for a long moment and sighed. “Ahhh…I don’t know how to answer that question,” he said.

Jones said any active cooperating fizzled amid the onset of the global pandemic in 2020.

“Thank god COVID happened, ’cause COVID put a halt to a lot of things,” he said. “You weren’t able to go to restaurants and eat with folks so that kind of stopped me corroborating things with them.”

He didn’t mention that COVID also caused the death of his former colleague, state Sen. Martin Sandoval, who had pleaded guilty as part of the same overall probe and was cooperating himself with authorities.

In September 2021, Jones said, his new attorney had a relationship with the U.S. attorney’s office and was able to get a sit down where they listened to all the full recordings. “I felt the government was misleading me when they had me in their office in February,” Jones testified.

Jones said he could hear in the full recordings how Maani was “trying to set me up” and how Jones was “pushing back, trying to change the subject.”

After that, he said, “I knew I was going to fight these charges.”

Still, he continued to meet with the feds off and on through August 2022, when they told him they were “moving forward” with charges, Jones testified. He said he was concerned about the upcoming election that November, even though he was running unopposed.

Jones was charged on Sept. 22, 2022. He easily won reelection and his term expires in January 2027.

Shortly before the lunch break, Assistant U.S. Attorney Tiffany Ardam began what promises to be a rigorous cross-examination. Ardam started by pointing out that Jones got a series of state government jobs while his dad was senator and later President of the Senate, which Jones had earlier described as “the boss” and “the guy with all the juice.”

Ardam also focused on how Jones became senator only after his father abruptly resigned and he was placed on the ballot in his stead — a well-worn political maneuver in state politics. Jones skipped over the story in his direct examination, saying only that he’d always dreamed of being a state senator and one day “decided to run.”

“You say you decided to run, but you didn’t tell the jury how that happened, did you?” Ardam said.

Jones repled, “I wasn’t asked.”

Ardam also called into question Jones’ description of himself as a highly successful senator who’d never had a bill fail until his red light camera legislation. In fact, there were dozens and dozens of bills that Jones was lead sponsor on that died without ever getting a vote, she pointed out.

In his direct examination Wednesday, Jones fielded friendly questions from his attorney as he blasted Maani, who worked as an FBI mole and was the government’s star witness, as a “used car salesman” and tried to explain to jurors his statements on undercover recordings made by Maani that are at the heart of the case.

Jones denied ever agreeing to any exchange with Maani, saying he didn’t trust him and was merely suggesting he donate up to $5,000 to his campaign to support one of the senator’s many community causes. Jones also testified that his request for Maani to hire his former intern to a $15-an-hour part-time job was a routine recommendation and had “nothing to do with” any red light camera legislation.

He also also had critical words for Sandoval, describing the once-powerful head of the Senate Transportation Committee as “kind of a bully.”

Sandoval pleaded guilty to taking bribes from Maani in exchange for being SafeSpeed’s “protector” in the Senate and was cooperating with authorities when he died of COVID-19 complications in December 2020.

Jones is the first sitting member of the state General Assembly to face trial at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse since then-state Rep. Derrick Smith was found guilty of bribery nearly a decade ago. If convicted, Jones would be forced to resign under Illinois law and would almost certainly forfeit any future pension.

The trial, which began with jury selection April 7, had been slated to last only about a week but has moved slower than expected. U.S District Judge Andrea Wood said after the jury was sent home Wednesday that she hoped to have closing arguments either Friday or Monday, depending on Easter weekend schedules.

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