Just a few points about this breaking news (“FBI Raids Office of Top Democratic Leader in Redistricting Wars; Virginia’s L. Louise Lucas has been brash and unafraid to stand up to Trump. Now, she’s become a target after a major victory.”):
- The Donald Trump/Kash Patel FBI obviously has zero (less than zero, actually!) credibility when it comes to upholding the rule of law, applying the law equally and strictly on the merits (e.g., not going after their political enemies or seeking retribution), etc. So the problem is, we can’t really believe anything this FBI says or does about pretty much anything.
- Sen. Louise Lucas was arguably the main force behind the 10D-1R redistricting map, and we know that the Trump administration is doing everything they can to rig the U.S. House maps in their favor, redistrict Democrats out of existence, etc. – and counting on Democrats not fighting back (let alone fighting back effectively). So yeah, “Occam’s Razor” and all apply here…what’s the simplest, most parsimonious explanation for the FBI going after Sen. Lucas right now?
- The fact that Fox “News” was right there, on the scene, for this FBI raid of Sen. Lucas’ offices in Portsmouth is *highly* suspicious, revealing, you name it! (h/t to Sam Stein – see screenshots, below – for highlighting this point). As reporter Scott MacFarlane points out, “Per the Dept of Justice’s official Justice manual … Any ‘advance’ warning of a raid to media (FOX News) required high-level approval.” And as Tim Miller of The Bulwark asks, “How did Fox News get someone live on the scene of a raid in Portsmouth? Do you all have an office in Portsmouth?”
So…what are your thoughts on this?
“Reporter: The FBI is raiding the office of State Senator Louise Lucas. SWAT teams arrived with their weapons drawn, telling anyone in the building to come out with their hands up. Senator Louise Lucas told me she had no idea what they were doing here.”
“…the Senator Lucas raid, other than this is not a Department of Justice that I trust to be fair and impartial. And obviously, the fact that there was one network [Fox] who was tipped off to be on the scene when the raid took place doesn’t give me any confidence that it’s going to be fair and impartial, but I don’t know the details of this case. – Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-VA11)
