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Dems blast Trump over Virginia FBI raid but probe started under his predecessor
FBI raids VA State Senator L Louise Lucas’ office in corruption probe
Virginia State Senator L. Louise Lucas’s office is raided by the FBI as part of a federal corruption and illegal cannabis business probe. Former Assistant FBI Director Chris Swecker explains the intricacies of such investigations, especially concerning conflicting state and federal laws on marijuana. Swecker states, «This is hugely significant.»
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Democrats accused the Trump administration of political prosecution after powerful Virginia Senate President Pro-Tem L. Louise Lucas’ Portsmouth office and cannabis dispensary was raided by the FBI.
However, reports surfaced after the raid that the investigation into the 81-year-old, three-decade senator was started under former President Joe Biden’s administration.
Scandal-plagued Attorney General Jay Jones — whose comments about envisioning the murder of the commonwealth’s former GOP House Speaker roiled his ultimately successful campaign – cast aspersions on President Donald Trump and «failed prosecutions» of his political «enemies.»
«We simply do not have sufficient information about the reported FBI activity in Portsmouth. However, several previous actions of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia have undermined public confidence in that office,» he said of the Alexandria-centered prosecutor’s office that handles cases in Lucas’ region.
POWERFUL DEM’S JABS AT TRUMP COME BACK TO HAUNT HER AFTER OFFICE RAIDED BY FBI: ‘AGED WELL’
President Joe Biden winks while hosting U.S. governors and their spouses for a black-tie dinner after the National Governors Association meetings in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 24, 2024. (Saul Loeb/AFP)
«These include the failed prosecutions against President Trump’s stated political enemies, former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James that were both dismissed by a judge well before trial. I urge everyone to exercise restraint in judgment until the relevant facts are known in this matter,» Jones said, referring in part to allegations of wrongdoing in connection to a home linked to James in nearby Norfolk.
Rep. Bobby Scott, a Newport News Democrat who has represented Lucas’ area for 33 years, slammed Trump after the raid.
«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, before adding the raid’s timing following Virginia voters approving Lucas’ redistricting bid is notable.
«Senator Lucas helped lead the successful effort by Virginia voters to reject President Trump’s attempt to rig the midterm elections,» he said, going on to echo Jones’ concerns about recent Trump-era prosecutions like those of James, Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell and ex-G-Man James Comey.
«Like all Americans, Senator Lucas has a right to due process and a presumption of innocence,» Scott said.
One of Lucas’ top allies in Richmond and a fellow Portsmouth lawmaker also expressed outrage and pointed the finger at the White House.
«Let’s start with this: Senator L. Louise Lucas has not been charged with anything! I am deeply concerned by today’s FBI raid,» fumed Virginia House Speaker Don Scott Jr.
«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,» he said.
Speaker Scott said «theatrics and speculation» are overpowering verifiable information about the case before also criticizing Fox News’ reporting of the matter.
THE 6 BIGGEST FBI SCANDALS UNDER THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION
Sen. L. Louise Lucas speaks on the Senate floor at the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond, Va., on March 8, 2024. (Minh Connors/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
The Associated Press, New York Times and other outlets reported several sources within the federal government telling them the probe that sparked the raids began under the octogenarian Delawarean.
«One of the people said the investigation into Democratic Sen. L. Louise Lucas was opened during Democratic former President Joe Biden’s administration. Both spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing criminal investigation,» the AP reported.
Another official told News of the United States (NOTUS) that the probe into Lucas was «financial» in nature and also that it began under Biden, while the New York Times characterized the origination similarly and suggested «corruption and bribery» concerns.
Lucas’ deputy in Richmond also fired off a missive lambasting Trump, claiming he has proven his intent to «target the Commonwealth of Virginia» because it voted for Kamala Harris in 2024.
«Senator L. Louise Lucas is an outspoken and historic figure in Virginia politics and has not been charged with a single crime,» said Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, D-Mount Vernon.
Surovell, an attorney in Fairfax County, said Trump «obliterated» the Justice Department’s independence and said the president wrongly removed ex-U.S. Attorney for Western Virginia Todd Gilbert – the same official Jones envisioned the murder of – and «purged» prosecutors’ offices of career staff members.
«Every Virginian should be very worried about the rule of law and how it will be applied in this Country and our Commonwealth,» Surovell said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Lucas fired back in a statement obtained by Richmond conservative radio host John Reid, the 2024 GOP lieutenant gubernatorial nominee.
«Today’s actions by Federal agents are about far more than one state senator; they are about power and who is allowed to act on behalf of the people. 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,» Lucas said.
«I was proud to help lead [the redistricting] effort and I have never been afraid to stand up to Donald Trump or anyone else that has tried to undermine our democracy,» she said, before going on to say she is not backing down and will continue fighting for and representing Portsmouth.
«LOL, sure Louise,» Reid said in response on social media.
«Everyone knows you’re as honest and pure-hearted as the day is long.»
Reid said that casting blame on Trump is the «best play» in this situation because «lots of TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome) zombies will believe you immediately.»
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Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell and House Speaker Don Scott Jr. are pictured together in a photo. (Minh Connors for The Washington Post/Shannon Finney/Getty Images for SEIU)
No further information has been released by the FBI about any charges against Lucas, who was not detained in the operation.
The raid began a 48-hour period for Virginia Democrats, who on Friday saw Lucas’ redistricting effort implode in court, giving Republicans nationally a major boost in their efforts to hold the House majority.
virginia, fbi, corruption, kash patel, investigations, politics, joe biden
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African and Caribbean leaders call for payments, debt cancellation, formal apologies over slavery
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African and Caribbean leaders are demanding financial compensation, debt cancellation and formal apologies from countries that benefited from the transatlantic slave trade after adopting a sweeping reparations plan at a conference in Ghana.
The 19-point framework calls for financial compensation, debt relief, a Global Reparations Fund and the return of looted cultural artifacts and ancestral remains. It also seeks reforms to international financial institutions that supporters say disadvantage Third World countries.
The proposal is expected to be presented at the next UN General Assembly as African and Caribbean nations step up a coordinated push for slavery reparations.
The plan was adopted Friday by the African Union and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Commission on Reparatory Justice at the end of a three-day conference.
REPARATIONS ADVOCATES PUSH FOR PAYMENTS TO BLACK AMERICANS DESPITE BUDGET AND LEGAL CHALLENGES
John Dramani Mahama, president of Ghana, and other dignitaries attend a wreath-laying event at Christiansborg Castle in Accra, Ghana, Friday, during a high-level conference on the United Nations resolution addressing the trafficking of enslaved Africans. (Ernest Ankomah/Getty Images)
«None of us gathered in this hall today can be held personally responsible for the atrocities of the transatlantic slave trade,» Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama told delegates.
«History does not ask us to inherit guilt, but it asks us to inherit responsibility,» Mahama added.
The proposal does not identify specific countries that should provide compensation or issue formal apologies.
TULSA MAYOR PROPOSES $100M REPARATIONS PLAN FOR DESCENDANTS OF 1921 TULSA RACE MASSACRE
John Dramani Mahama, president of Ghana, lays a wreath at Christiansborg Castle in Accra during a high-level conference on the United Nations resolution addressing the trafficking of enslaved Africans on Friday. (Ernest Ankomah/Getty Images)
It does call for debt cancellation, climate justice financing, expanded citizenship pathways for Africans in the diaspora and what organizers describe as a «right of return» for descendants of enslaved Africans.
The plan also urges African countries to preserve former slave forts and castles as memorial sites.
According to advocates, at least 12.5 million Africans were kidnapped and transported aboard European ships between the 15th and 19th centuries. Supporters of reparations argue the effects of slavery continue to be felt across Africa and the Caribbean generations later.
UN COURT RULES WEALTHY NATIONS PAY UP FOR CLIMATE CHANGE DAMAGES IN CONTROVERSIAL GLOBAL RULING
President John Dramani Mahama and Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa host a high-level consultative conference on the next steps following the United Nations resolution on trafficking of enslaved Africans in Accra, Ghana, on Thursday. (Ernest Ankomah/Getty Images)
The conference follows a UN vote in March recognizing transatlantic slavery as the «gravest crime against humanity.»
The resolution passed with 123 votes in favor, but the U.S., Israel and 52 other countries either voted against it or abstained.
According to Reuters, the United States and European Union raised concerns that the resolution could be interpreted as creating a hierarchy among crimes against humanity by treating some atrocities as more serious than others.
MACRON TAKES THE STAGE UNINVITED AT AFRICA SUMMIT TO SCOLD CROWD FOR ‘TOTAL LACK OF RESPECT’
John Dramani Mahama, president of Ghana, Mia Amor Mottley, prime minister of Barbados, and Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Ghana’s foreign affairs minister, attend a wreath-laying event at Christiansborg Castle in Accra, Ghana, Friday, during a high-level conference on the United Nations resolution addressing the trafficking of enslaved Africans. (Ernest Ankomah/Getty Images)
Heads of state from Namibia, Liberia, Senegal, Barbados and Sao Tome and Principe attended the conference, along with senior officials from several other countries.
French President Emmanuel Macron addressed the gathering virtually from the Élysée Palace, where he acknowledged the suffering caused by slavery.
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Enslaved people were «torn from their homelands, deported, dehumanised, and treated as goods,» Macron said.
Macron also said reparations should not be viewed «as an end point, or a cheque written to bring the story to a close.»
The conference in Ghana brought together separate reparations efforts previously pursued by African and Caribbean nations into a single document that organizers plan to take before the United Nations.
Reuters contributed to this report.
africa, united nations, caribbean, heritage, general assembly, world
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Former Olympian among those charged with vandalizing Reflecting Pool; Trump says basin must be drained: report
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Multiple people have been arrested this weekend after allegedly vandalizing the newly refurbished Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, prompting a strong response from President Donald Trump and an increase in security at the site.
In a statement on Truth Social Saturday night, Trump announced «many additional people» have been arrested after suspects «took some form of knife or blade, and put a 250-foot-long gash into the beautiful facade of what took so much work, competence, and money to build and complete.»
The president also alleged suspects «poured corrosive and destructive chemicals» into the basin.
«It hasn’t looked or worked like this since 1922, when it was originally built, but even then, it leaked badly, and didn’t work,» Trump wrote in the post. «Ours worked perfectly, including the mirror like finish, perfectly reflecting the two Great Monuments, which it never had before! What these terrible Vandals have done is a true affront to both Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, and should be dealt with accordingly.»
TRUMP SAYS VANDALS USED CHEMICALS TO DAMAGE NEWLY RENOVATED REFLECTING POOL NEAR LINCOLN MEMORIAL
National Park Service employees and contractors use vacuums to remove green algae from the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Thursday, in Washington, D.C. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Trump said administration officials met with contractors Saturday and will likely need to drain «much of the water» in order to do the necessary repairs.
It is unclear if the contractors mentioned are the same ones initially employed to carry out the renovations.
«[We] will have them done as quickly as possible,» the president wrote. «What they have damaged does not even include the earlier killing of a large amount of grass which was, by far, the least of it.
«… The Reflecting Pool was never so beautiful as it was just one week ago, even going back to 1922 when it opened. We are very proud of what we have done with this magnificent structure, and we will get it repaired, quickly, to an equal level of Beauty.»
The announcement came as the administration faces scrutiny over peeling paint and algae growth just weeks after a $14.8 million restoration project was completed.
While Trump did not specify who was responsible for the alleged gash in the lining and subsequent peeling, multiple arrests were documented over the weekend by local reporters.
Paint peels from the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C. (Annabelle Gordon/Reuters)
TRUMP TAKES MOTORCADE INTO REFLECTING POOL, BLASTS PAST ‘$38M DISASTER’ FIX UNDER OBAMA
Journalist Emily Miller posted a two-minute video on X Friday showing a man in lime green racing gear questioning a National Guardsman before being handcuffed by U.S. Park Police.
The Washington Post later identified the man in Miller’s video as David Hearn, 67, a three-time Olympian who was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of destruction of government property.
Hearn told the outlet he had just finished a 52-mile bike ride when he noticed a «partially detached piece» of the new pool liner and «reached into the water to see what it felt like.»
The Bethesda, Maryland, native told The Associated Press he owned a company that made composite used to build watercraft.
Former U.S. Olympian David Hearn was arrested after allegedly vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C. (David Madison/Getty Images, File)
While Miller claimed in her post that Hearn «grabbed» a hose that National Park Service workers were using to remediate algae growth, Hearn told The Washington Post the hose «may» only have been touched by his bike tire.
«I didn’t vandalize anything,» Hearn told the outlet.
Hearn, who was arrested in 1996 on charges of canoeing on the Potomac River but later had them dropped, said, «I didn’t destroy, break or peel anything. By the time I realized what was happening, I was already being handcuffed.»
National Guard members walk past a National Park Service employee using a vacuum to clean the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Friday, in Washington. D.C. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Miller reported that seven people were detained Friday and five people were detained Saturday in separate incidents, which has led to a major security surge.
In an earlier Truth Social post Saturday, Trump questioned, «Who would do such a thing?»
«These are very serious crimes having to do with the destruction of National Monuments,» the president wrote. «Years in jail! Work will begin immediately on its repair.»
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The White House, U.S. Park Police and Miller did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Michael Sinkewicz contributed to this report.
vandalism, national guard, white house, parks, donald trump, police and law enforcement, washington dc
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