FBI searches Virginia Senate leader's office as part of corruption probe, AP source says

PORTSMOUTH, Va. — The FBI searched the Virginia state Senate leader's office on Wednesday as part of a corruption investigation, a person familiar with the matter said. Federal agents also were seen at the senator's nearby cannabis business. The search at Virginia Sen. L. Louise Lucas's district office in Portsmouth comes after the Democrat helped lead the state's recent redistricting effort. The FBI said only that it was conducting a court-authorized search warrant in Portsmouth. The person who confirmed the FBI's search was not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation by name and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. Besides the search at Lucas' office, agents in FBI T-shirts also went into the nearby Cannabis Outlet, which she opened in 2021. Several entrances to the store's parking lot were blocked by unmarked vehicles with flashing blue lights, as was an entrance to the politician's office. Lucas — a prominent backer of legalizing marijuana — has said the store sells legal hemp and CBD products. It has drawn scrutiny from local media amid allegations that some products were mislabeled. Virginia has legalized pot possession, but retail sales of recreational marijuana remain illegal in the state. A message seeking comment was left Wednesday on a cellphone for Lucas, who has been a state senator for 34 years. State House Speaker Don Scott said he was deeply concerned by the FBI search. "Right now, there is far more theatrics and speculation than actual information available to the public," Scott, a Democrat, said in a statement, adding that more facts were needed "before anyone rushes to political conclusions." Gov. Abigail Spanberger declined to comment. Some other Virginia Democrats were quick to note that the search comes as the FBI and Justice Department have opened a spate of politically charged investigations into perceived adversaries of President Donald Trump. Last week, the Justice Department charged former FBI Director James Comey with making a threatening Instagram post against Trump, an accusation that Comey — who for nearly a decade has drawn the president's ire — has denied. A court had dismissed federal prosecutors' earlier case accusing Comey of lying to Congress. A separate mortgage fraud case, also ultimately dismissed by a court, targeted Democratic New York state Attorney General Letitia James, who had brought a major civil fraud lawsuit against Trump and his business. Both she and Comey, a Republican-turned-independent, denied the charges and said the prosecutions were vindictive. Such cases "have undermined public confidence" in federal prosecutors in Virginia, state Attorney General Jay Jones, a Democrat, said in a statement. The FBI and Justice Department have also provoked concerns among Democrats about ongoing election-related investigations, including the seizure by agents of ballots and other information from Fulton County, Georgia. Lucas has been a vocal leader of Virginia's redistricting effort, which voters approved last month. A sign urging people to "vote yes" to "stop the MAGA power grab" still hung Wednesday on a fence separating her office's parking lot from the parking for the cannabis shop. Amid a national, state-by-state partisan redistricting fight kicked off by Trump's desire to aid his fellow Republicans, Virginia voters OK'd a Democrat-backed constitutional amendment authorizing new U.S. House districts. The plan could help the party win up to four additional seats. "We are not going to let anyone tilt the system without a response," Lucas said after the vote. Trump, meanwhile, denounced the results. The state Supreme Court let the referendum proceed, but has yet to rule whether the effort is legal. The court is considering an appeal of a lower court judge's ruling that the amendment is invalid because lawmakers violated procedural requirements. Voting districts typically are redrawn once a decade, after each census. But Trump last year urged Texas Republicans to redraw House districts to give the GOP an edge in the midterms. California Democrats reciprocated, and redistricting efforts soon cascaded across states. Lucas, 82, has been a figure in Virginia politics since the 1980s, when she became the first Black woman elected to a city council seat in her native Portsmouth. She now is the first woman and first African American to serve as the body's president pro tempore. Earlier in life, she was the Norfolk Naval Shipyard's first female shipfitter, according to her biography in the state library. The job entails making, installing and repairing sometimes enormous metal assemblies for vessels. In recent years, she has been the CEO of a Portsmouth business that runs residences, day programs and transportation for intellectually disabled adults. Associated Press writers Dylan Lovan in Louisville, Kentucky; Jake Offenhartz in New York; and Claudia Lauder in Philadelphia contributed.