Virginia state Sen. L. Louise Lucas charged with drug trafficking and money laundering: DOJ

All right, welcome back right now. I'm back with Tom Fitzgerald right now. We're talking about Louise Lucas. This is one of the most powerful Democrats in Virginia politics. And we're just coming down. She's apparently facing federal drug and money laundering charges. Tom, what's the deal? This is a big deal because Louise Lucas in Virginia politics is a big deal. Louise Lucas single-handedly derailed Ted Leonsis' plans to move the Washington Capitals out of Washington, in D.C., and into a brand new arena that would have been built at Potomac Yard in Alexandria. She has been under investigation for quite a while. This predates, Steve, the Trump administration. This investigation of the Justice Department started this particular investigation. It involves illegal marijuana sales. Now, the Commonwealth of Virginia has personal use laws which allow people to grow their own marijuana and use it in small amounts what it does not have is a retail market for marijuana according to the indictment and apparently she surrendered to law enforcement officials this morning she's accused of drug trafficking money laundering bribery uh federal prosecutors say the 82 year old who is also the president pro tem of the Virginia State Senate uh allegedly in their words he's running a criminal enterprise uh to mask a uh medical uh cannabis business in Virginia as a retail uh business for for marijuana so uh this is no surprise really that we were moving in this direction remember several months ago uh the FBI raided Senator Lucas's office and there was you know a lot of controversy about this look we're you know we're in the slipstream right now under you know a couple of days before we go to the polls for elections um whether there are political implications on this certainly some of her supporters are alleging there are political motivations here and that's my question obviously these are federal charges we're talking about here so for the timing of this to happen now for an investigation that you said has been looked into for years now why now is it is it a political situation is it new evidence that's surfaced is it just it's worked its way out to this point where now is the time to file the charges right and this is just supposition but it could be both you know of this investigation into Louise Lucas apparently started during the Biden administration Louise Lucas you know her online attacks against Donald Trump and Glenn Youngkin the former governor of Virginia while he was in office were withering Louise Lucas you know was constantly hammering at her Republican opponents um you know the justice This department hasn't said much about this, but she's been well aware of this investigation. People were waiting on seeing what was going to break on this, and today we have news that the 82-year-old chair of the Virginia Finance Committee has now surrendered to authorities and is facing these federal charges on drug trafficking. It's not just her. Six others, including several relatives, also have been charged as part of this investigation. As Tom mentioned, she's 82 years old. She's served in the Virginia Senate since 1992. Now, these are just charges at this point, so does that change anything for her from a political standpoint, for her standing in the Virginia Senate? Well, she has been in office for years, and it's also interesting, involved in this investigation, there are some people that are coming out and saying that they had received notices from federal investigators that their communications with Senator Lucas had been monitored. There was a reporter down in Portsmouth from what we're aware of, And also, Virginia Congressman Suhas Subramanian said he was notified that federal authorities had monitored their communications. You know, whether or not this is politically motivated, whether or not this is, you know, strictly as it appears right now from this indictment, aimed at a criminal investigation into illegal marijuana sales, the bottom line is this does not look good either you know for senator Lucas right now or uh you know her uh political future you know whatever that is right does it if this is more politically motivated and this is obviously we hate to put the what-ifs out there but if that is indeed the case bottom line does it change anything on the political landscape whether it be Virginia itself the Virginia Senate the Virginia legislature or from a national perspective Well, let's take Virginia off first. Virginia had been going back and forth, back and forth between the control of the General Assembly, the House of Delegates, and the State Senate the last couple of years. Democrats now have firm control on both the State Senate and the House of Delegates. And given the senator's district, if ultimately she does not continue to serve in that state, given the demographics of her district down in the Portsmouth-Hampton Roads area, it's very likely another Democrat would emerge from that district. She's held onto that seat for years. But clearly it would have a leadership implication for someone who has been a leader in Virginia politics for so long. Bigger picture, though, nationally, I think, was where you're going with this. You know, we're heading into a midterm here that's going to declare who controls the Congress. The Democrats or the Republicans or the House or Senate. this is something that the Trump administration has talked about for quite some time rooting out waste fraud and abuse so narratively does it fit into what Republicans have been arguing against Democrats yes it would does it is it going to make a big difference as far as who wins these congressional seats in Virginia that's hard to pinpoint you know you look at you know the area where Senator Lucas represents, you know, it's a very solid Democratic seat down there. And also Rob Whitman from the First Congressional District is down there as well. Yeah, who's also been there for a very long time. And he's a Republican. Exactly, he's a Republican. A lot to come on this story for sure. Tom's working it and will be continuing to throughout the day today. But obviously it is a huge development in an investigation that's been going on for a long time, apparently, into Senator Louise Lucas. And we have to reiterate, these are charges. She's not been convicted of anything. I appreciate that, and I was going to mention that as well. At this point, these are just charges. She is cooperating. Apparently did surrender herself this morning. But Senator Louise Lucas, Virginia Senator, longtime senator at the age of 82, and six others now have been charged federally in connection with these are drug charges involving a marijuana operation, according to the charging documents. So we have a lot still to figure out. We'll get on it. Tom's going to work the story the rest of the day today. updates on social media on Fox5DC.com and of course any major developments we'll let you know right here on the show as well. So that being said, we'll get back to work and we'll take a short break. We'll have more of Good Day 10A coming up next.