It’s not weird at all that Fox News had a D.C.-based reporter and camera crew on the scene Wednesday morning to capture live shots of the FBI raid of State Sen. Louise Lucas’ office and cannabis dispensary in Portsmouth.
Per FBI policy:
“In cases where a search warrant or arrest warrant is to be executed, no advance information will be provided to the news media without the express approval of the appropriate United States Attorney or Assistant Attorney General. This requirement also applies to operations in preparation for the execution of a warrant.”
It’s not hard to see what the raid is – it’s not about an investigation into “political corruption,” as Fox News has been telling its viewers all day; it’s made-for-TV intimidation, and, gotta say here, they’re picking the wrong fight.
Lucas is in the FBI’s crosshairs because she’s the architect of the effort of Virginia Democrats to redraw its congressional district lines to give Democrats a 10-1 split in its U.S. House delegation.
Her push didn’t just get her enemies on the MAGA side; she told the freshman governor, Abigail Spanberger, a fellow Democrat, that it was going to be a 10-1 map, and not 9-2 or 8-3, which Spanberger, playing to her centrist side, was thinking out loud about having done.
She also famously told U.S. Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, also fellow Democrats, that she didn’t need their coaching from the “cuck chair in the corner” on redistricting.
Worthy of note: Kaine and Warner are exercising their right to remain silent on the Lucas FBI raid; Spanberger’s office has only put out a statement to say that it’s not going to be putting out a statement.
We have a lengthy statement on the record from Bobby Scott, a long-time Virginia congressman and Luas ally:
“While we await the full facts of the investigation, it must be acknowledged that this FBI raid occurs in the broader context of President Trump’s repeated abuse of the Department of Justice to target his perceived political opponents,” Scott said. “It should be noted that this is occurring just two weeks after Sen. Lucas helped lead the successful effort by Virginia voters to reject President Trump’s attempt to rig the midterm elections.
“This raid on Sen. Lucas’ office and businesses also comes as President Trump has pressured the Department of Justice to pursue investigations and prosecutions against New York Attorney General Letitia James, former FBI Director James Comey, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, and multiple Democratic members of Congress,” Scott said.
“Like all Americans, Sen. Lucas has a right to due process and a presumption of innocence,” Scott said.
Lucas hasn’t commented yet, but she will – and don’t expect her to be kind.
This may be the most brazen overreach of the Trump regime yet, rivaling the attempted coup on Jan. 6, 2021, because this isn’t merely about retribution – Trump and his minions are trying to overturn the results of another election here.
This effort is an attempt to give cover to the Supreme Court of Virginia to declare the redistricting effort to be unconstitutional, just days after the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling that is allowing several MAGA states to redraw their own district maps to completely gerrymander Democrats out of representation.
I’ve given this advice before, but to reiterate: I would be careful if I were among the MAGA-leaning justices thinking about overturning the results of an election in which more than 3 million of us just took part in.
We already know they’re looking for any excuse to do so; just like the Trumpers are looking to find a piece of paper on which Lucas failed to dot an i- or cross a t- to indict her on.
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Chris Graham
