Chicago City Wire

President Joe Biden has decided to keep Chicago federal prosecutor John Lausch in his position amid a sweeping corruption probe.

Democratic Sens. Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin said they are glad that Lausch is keeping his job.

“Mr. Lausch has served with professionalism and without partisanship,” Durbin and Duckworth wrote in a joint statement, WBEZ reported. “While the President has the right to remove U.S. Attorneys, there is precedent for U.S. Attorneys in the Northern District of Illinois to remain in office to conclude sensitive investigations. After our repeated calls, we appreciate that Mr. Lausch will be given this opportunity.”

The news media reported that Biden had planned to replace nearly every U.S. attorney in the country, but Duckworth and Durbin lobbied for Biden to keep Lausch because his office is currently in the middle of a corruption investigation.

Lausch’s office did not return a comment to WBEZ. However, Chicago’s federal prosecutors have been conducting the corruption probe into Commonwealth Edison’s lobbying activities and the power company agreed to pay a $200 million settlement over the summer as part of the investigation.

ComEd named former State Rep. Mike Madigan when it agreed to pay the settlement, saying that they bribed him in exchange for favorable legislation. Madigan has not been charged with any wrongdoing, however, he resigned from his positions as a representative and as chair of the state’s Democratic Party.