FBI searches Virginia Senate leader's office as part of corruption
probe, AP sources say
[May 07, 2026]
By ERIC TUCKER, ALLEN G. BREED and JENNIFER PELTZ
PORTSMOUTH, Va. (AP) — The FBI searched the Virginia state Senate
leader’s hometown office and her neighboring cannabis shop Wednesday,
bringing into public view what two people familiar with the matter told
The Associated Press was a corruption investigation.
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.
While the probe apparently has spanned administrations of different
political parties, Democrats viewed it against a backdrop of recent,
politically charged inquiries during President Donald Trump’s tenure.
Lucas, who has been a senator for 34 years, was a prominent voice in
Virginia's recent redistricting effort, a Democrat-led initiative to
counter Republican redrawing pushed by Trump.
“Today’s actions by federal agents are about far more than one state
senator; they are about power and who is allowed to use it on behalf of
the people,” Lucas said in an evening statement. “What we saw fits a
clear pattern from this administration: when challenged, they try to
intimidate and silence the voices of those who stand up to them.”
The FBI said only that it was conducting a court-authorized search in
Portsmouth. Such searches require approval from a judge and for
investigators to assert that they believe they have identified probable
cause of a crime.
Besides the search at Lucas' office, which houses her disabilities
services business and is her political base in Portsmouth, agents in FBI
T-shirts also went into the nearby cannabis store, which she opened in
2021. Several entrances to the Cannabis Outlet's parking lot were
blocked by unmarked vehicles with flashing blue lights, as was an
entrance to the politician's office.
By evening, agents were carrying boxes and bags out of the shop's back
door.
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 woman who identified herself as Lucas’ granddaughter, Nicole Bremby,
came by after agents left to check on the Cannabis Outlet. She declined
to discuss the raids.
“I’ve had better days,” she said. “It’s all good. Everyone is home.”
Virginia Democrats point to other recent prosecutions
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.
Other Virginia Democrats were quick to note that the search comes as the
FBI and Justice Department have opened a spate of investigations into
perceived adversaries of 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 dismissed federal prosecutors' earlier case accusing
Comey of lying to Congress.
[to top of second column]
|
FBI personnel enter a building in Portsmouth, Va., Wednesday, May 6,
2026. (AP Photo/John Clark)
A separate mortgage fraud case, also ultimately dismissed by a court,
targeted Democratic New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought
a major civil fraud lawsuit against Trump and his business. Both she and
Comey, a longtime Republican who split from the party in the past
decade, denied the charges and said the prosecutions were vindictive.
Such cases “have undermined public confidence” in federal prosecutors in
Virginia, Democratic state Attorney General Jay Jones 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 that of the cannabis shop.
Lucas played a leading role in Virginia redistricting
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
on 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 Senate’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 journalists Dylan Lovan in Louisville, Kentucky, Jake
Offenhartz in New York, Claudia Lauder in Philadelphia and Hannah
Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City contributed.
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
