Embattled Cook County Commissioner William Beavers called recently departed Chicago U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald a “rooster with no nuts” and accused authorities of lying in pursuit of the federal tax-evasion case against him, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.
Patrick Fitzgerald
Fielding questions from reporters at a news conference to address his charges on Thursday, Beavers accused federal authorities of “lying, lying, lying.” He also criticized Fitzgerald, who just stepped down from his post as U.S. Attorney after a decade on the job.
“He’s a rooster without nuts, a capon,” Beavers said. “That’s what he is, a capon.” A capon is a castrated male chicken.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office declined comment to the Sun-Times.
This isn’t the first time the commissioner has gone after the federal prosecutor. Beavers — a self-proclaimed “hog with big nuts” — lambasted Fitzgerald after a federal grand jury indicted him in February. At his arraignment in March he pleaded not guilty to failing to pay taxes on more than $226,000 allegedly siphoned from his campaign fund and expense account, according to the Chicago Tribune.
“Let me tell you about this federal prosecutor,” Beavers said in March, according to the report, “this is like a wild man on a train.”
In 2006, Beavers, who has served as a Chicago police officer and on the City Council, wrote a check for nearly $70,000 from one of his campaign funds to the Municipal Employees’ Annuity and Benefit Fund of Chicago, boosting his monthly pension by roughly $3,000, according to the indictment announced in February.
William Beavers
Federal prosecutors say Beavers took about $226,000 from campaign funds and his expense account to boost his pension.
Beavers’ defense team said they have canceled checks, tax forms and other paperwork showing the money was used as loans and have been repaid.
“I’m not a criminal,” Beavers said at Thursday’s news conference. “I haven’t stolen a dime.”
