The specifics of a Wednesday search of properties linked to Virginia state Sen. L. Louise Lucas (D–Portsmouth) are generally lacking: The FBI and US Attorney's Office are not releasing information on the searches.
Responses to questions VPM News sent to the FBI on Wednesday didn't name Lucas, and the federal agency also declined to name its spokesperson. After VPM News sent questions to the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia on Thursday, the office "respectfully" declined to comment. (It was not immediately clear who is acting as interim attorney in that office, since the last appointee was announced and fired on the same day in February.)
Lucas, who is also president pro tempore of the Virginia General Assembly chamber, has not been charged with a crime in local or federal courts as of Thursday afternoon. And a running list of search warrants for the Norfolk Division of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (EDVA) only had sealed documents.
"Prosecutors want a jury that's been untainted by exposure to information that might or might not make it into the court," said Jeremy Mayer, professor in the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University. "I do agree, though, that we would normally at least have information about the warrant's origin, which independent magistrate signed off on it."
The contours of the investigation have been released in national outlets, though. The Associated Press, New York Times, and Washington Post have snippets of information about the character of the investigation, but only attributable to confidential sources.
What is filling the void of information is speculation that the federal government's investigation is political. Democrats, including Lucas herself, have said just as much.
"Today's actions by Federal agents are about far more than one state senator; they are about power and who is allowed to use it on behalf of the people," Lucas said in a statement posted Wednesday, who highlighted her role in bringing the recent redistricting vote before voters. That could get their party four more seats in Congress if it survives court challenges and make it an uphill climb for the President Donald Trump's party to hold the chamber "What we saw fits a clear pattern from this administration: when challenged, they try to intimidate and silence the voices who stand up to them."
Other prosecutions by President Trump's administration that critics call political have also started, and failed, in the EDVA — which has jurisdiction over Portsmouth. Cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James were thrown out in November.
Speaking to reporters Thursday, state Sen. Mike Jones (D–Chesterfield) also said Lucas' race was a factor. Lucas is the most senior Black lawmaker in Virginia politics and has led the powerful Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee for years.
She's also had multiple public conflicts with the governor's mansion, whether Republican or Democrat.
"She didn't deserve what happened to her all yesterday, and it happens to too many of our leaders. It just does," he said. "Typically it'd be no comment and keep it pushing. But she deserves a hell of a lot more than what she was put through yesterday."
Virginia House Speaker Don Scott (D–Portsmouth) asked, "How was Fox News, a national media outlet, first on the scene? Did they know about the raid beforehand?"
"Democrats are right to be suspicious. This is an administration that has, particularly in its second term, made no secret of its desire to weaponize the DOJ to go after its perceived enemies," said Mayer.
Mayer said that sometimes what might appear to be politically-motivated might not be, pointing to former President Bill Clinton's bombing of Al-Qaeda as he was embroiled in a sex scandal.
"All of which is to say it is entirely possible that this is a legit prosecution, that something has gone wrong at that business, and that the FBI had independent reasons, unattached to any political motive for doing this," he said.
Republicans, also, are keeping quiet. Both the chair of the Republican Party of Virginia, Jeff Ryer, and spokesperson for the House Republican Caucus, Garren Shipley, declined to comment Thursday.
Mayer said this was the smart call for Republicans.
"If the investigation turns up evidence of wrongdoing, then the DOJ and the prosecution will take care of Lucas without them having to expend any political capital," he said, also pointing to another possibility, that it was indeed politically motivated. "If they are looking as if they were cheerleaders for it, then there could be some blowback."
Shaban Athuman contributed reporting.
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