Virginia

PunkinPi

(5,299 posts) Wed May 6, 2026, 12:00 PM 13 hrs ago

Per Meidas Touch, Sen Louise Lucas' office was raided by the FBI this morning

BREAKING: The FBI is raiding the office of Virginia Senate President Pro Tempore L. Louise Lucas in Portsmouth, Virginia, according to Fox News, who was conveniently on the scene. 1/4
— MeidasTouch (@meidastouch.com) 2026-05-06T15:14:23.807Z

MT's post thread:

BREAKING: The FBI is raiding the office of Virginia Senate President Pro Tempore L. Louise Lucas in Portsmouth, Virginia, according to Fox News, who was conveniently on the scene. 1/4

Lucas, 82, was widely seen as the mastermind behind Democrats’ redistricting push in Virginia and has long been one of the most powerful figures in Virginia politics and a close ally of Governor Abigail Spanberger. 2.4

Federal law enforcement sources say the raids are tied to a major corruption investigation, with agents executing multiple search warrants approved by a federal judge — including at Lucas’ office and a neighboring cannabis dispensary. 3/4

Fox correspondent Alex Hogan reports Lucas has now arrived on scene as FBI agents continue searching her office.
This is a developing story. 4/4

--
More gop fuckery afoot.

13 replies

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Highlight:

Per Meidas Touch, Sen Louise Lucas' office was raided by the FBI this morning (Original Post) PunkinPi 13 hrs ago OP

Going after political opponents.... Lovie777 13 hrs ago #1

Yep, and conveniently Fox News was already on the scene. nt PunkinPi 13 hrs ago #2

trump is mad at the redistricting in Virginia LetMyPeopleVote 13 hrs ago #3

Absolutely, but too bad, the people voted for it. nt PunkinPi 13 hrs ago #4

Adding this from FactPost bc this was in the works for a while apparently... PunkinPi 13 hrs ago #5

Wow, it's lucky we don't have anything like the Gestapo in this country, or Trmp would surely abuse that ! nt eppur_se_muova 13 hrs ago #6

OH AND OF COURSE SHE'S A WOMAN OF COLOR !! NT eppur_se_muova 13 hrs ago #7

Why aren't these targets suing? legallyblondeNYC 13 hrs ago #8

This literally just happened, give it a minute. PunkinPi 13 hrs ago #9

Understood. But I've seen none of the targets bringing individual lawsuits for damages. legallyblondeNYC 10 hrs ago #11

From another news outlet (WRIC in Richmond) Jilly_in_VA 13 hrs ago #10

MaddowBlog-Trump's FBI faces difficult questions following raid on Virginia Democrat's office LetMyPeopleVote 10 hrs ago #12

More let's wait for the facts this time.. Orangenero 3 hrs ago #13

Lovie777

(23,502 posts)

1. Going after political opponents....

Reply to PunkinPi (Original post)

Wed May 6, 2026, 12:06 PM

13 hrs ago

apparently time to get extremely desperate.

PunkinPi

(5,299 posts)

2. Yep, and conveniently Fox News was already on the scene. nt

Reply to Lovie777 (Reply #1)

Wed May 6, 2026, 12:08 PM

13 hrs ago

LetMyPeopleVote

(181,503 posts)

3. trump is mad at the redistricting in Virginia

Reply to PunkinPi (Original post)

Wed May 6, 2026, 12:09 PM

13 hrs ago

Link to tweet

PunkinPi

(5,299 posts)

4. Absolutely, but too bad, the people voted for it. nt

Reply to LetMyPeopleVote (Reply #3)

Wed May 6, 2026, 12:15 PM

13 hrs ago

PunkinPi

(5,299 posts)

5. Adding this from FactPost bc this was in the works for a while apparently...

Reply to PunkinPi (Original post)

Wed May 6, 2026, 12:19 PM

13 hrs ago

Link to tweet

Reporter: When Lindsay Halligan, a former lawyer of Trump's, had been running the U.S. Attorney Office in the Eastern District of Virginia, she had been pressuring prosecutors to bring charges against Louise Lucas. Halligan believed it would be good for the White House before the midterms to accuse a prominent state Democrat with bribery.

eppur_se_muova

(42,344 posts)

6. Wow, it's lucky we don't have anything like the Gestapo in this country, or Trmp would surely abuse that ! nt

Reply to PunkinPi (Original post)

Wed May 6, 2026, 12:20 PM

13 hrs ago

bitter

eppur_se_muova

(42,344 posts)

7. OH AND OF COURSE SHE'S A WOMAN OF COLOR !! NT

Reply to PunkinPi (Original post)

Wed May 6, 2026, 12:21 PM

13 hrs ago

legallyblondeNYC

(194 posts)

8. Why aren't these targets suing?

Reply to PunkinPi (Original post)

Wed May 6, 2026, 12:27 PM

13 hrs ago

When government exceeds their authority, they have a claim agains the government and the persons who perpetrated the harms.

PunkinPi

(5,299 posts)

9. This literally just happened, give it a minute.

Reply to legallyblondeNYC (Reply #8)

Wed May 6, 2026, 12:35 PM

13 hrs ago

Sen Lucas will not just rollover, she's a fighter.

legallyblondeNYC

(194 posts)

11. Understood. But I've seen none of the targets bringing individual lawsuits for damages.

Reply to PunkinPi (Reply #9)

Wed May 6, 2026, 03:15 PM

10 hrs ago

Jilly_in_VA

(14,563 posts)

10. From another news outlet (WRIC in Richmond)

Reply to PunkinPi (Original post)

Wed May 6, 2026, 12:45 PM

13 hrs ago

According to 10 On Your Side’s Ethan Krauss, there’s also a law enforcement presence at The Cannabis Outlet, located next door to the office, which WAVY has learned is co-owned by Lucas since opening in 2021. Multiple unmarked vehicles and vans were in the parking lot of the business.

https://www.wric.com/news/virginia-news/fbi-presence-at-senator-lucas-office-in-portsmouth/

Assholes. They're going to try to pin something on her. You can bet on that.

LetMyPeopleVote

(181,503 posts)

12. MaddowBlog-Trump's FBI faces difficult questions following raid on Virginia Democrat's office

Reply to PunkinPi (Original post)

Wed May 6, 2026, 03:19 PM

10 hrs ago

I don’t know if the case against L. Louise Lucas has merit. I do know federal law enforcement hasn’t earned the benefit of the doubt.

I have no idea whether the case against Virginia's L. Louise Lucas has merit. But I do know that the DOJ's and FBI's hyper-partisan leaders haven't exactly earned the benefit of the doubt.

Not to put too fine a point on this, but this is why we don't politicize federal law enforcement
— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-05-06T18:29:50.055Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trumps-fbi-faces-difficult-questions-following-raid-on-virginia-democrats-office

Virginia Senate President Pro Tempore L. Louise Lucas is generally known to national audiences as the Democratic leader who spearheaded a redistricting effort in the commonwealth, which voters endorsed and may help her party keep pace with Republicans’ gerrymandering arms race.

But two weeks after the statewide vote, Lucas is poised to be known for something very different, although possibly related. Politico reported:

The FBI searched the office of Democratic Virginia state Sen. L. Louise Lucas on Wednesday morning, according to multiple media reports and news footage in front of her Portsmouth office.

The FBI confirmed it was “executing a court-authorized federal search warrant in Portsmouth,” but did not explicitly state a target of its probe or what it was investigating.

.....The AP’s report added, “Though the exact nature of the investigation was unclear, the search comes as the FBI and Justice Department have opened a spate of politically charged investigations into perceived adversaries of President Donald Trump.”

It’s that second part of the sentence that stands out.....

But while I don’t know whether the case against Lucas has merit, I do know that the hyperpartisan leaders of the Justice Department and the FBI have made it impossible to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Not to put too fine a point on this, but this is why we don’t politicize federal law enforcement. Because even if the underlying case is legitimate, it’s impossible to avoid the larger context and the degree to which this looks like a retaliatory investigation against a Democrat, launched by a weaponized department known for its retaliatory investigations against Democrats.....

Shortly after FBI officials executed the search warrant on Wednesday morning, Virginia House of Delegates Speaker Don Scott issued a written statement that read in part, “Given the politicization of this administration — an FBI led by Kash Patel and a Justice Department run by President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney — I think people should take this with a grain of salt and allow the facts to come out before jumping to conclusions.”

Scott’s statement continued, “At this point we simply do not know what this ultimately means. Right now, there is far more theatrics and speculation than actual information available to the public. It also raises important questions. How was Fox News, a national media outlet, first on the scene? Did they know about the raid beforehand? If so, who approved that? And what more information is there about what this raid was actually about? Virginians deserve answers before anyone rushes to political conclusions.”

Orangenero

(9 posts)

13. More let's wait for the facts this time..

Reply to PunkinPi (Original post)

Wed May 6, 2026, 10:45 PM

3 hrs ago

A lot more "let's wait for the facts" then with Swalwell

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