What's next for VA Sen Lucas?

Let's dive deeper tonight into the legal battle that's ahead for Senator Lucas and the DOJ. Attorney A. Scott Bolden joins us live for analysis. It's good to see you, sir. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for having me. Of course. Let's start with you read through this 50-page indictment. What stands out? Well, it's a speaking indictment whereby there's a lot of detail there. But remember, this is an indictment. She hasn't, none of these allegations have been tested. I'm a white-collar criminal defense lawyer. I've seen a lot of these over the years. The reality that sticks out is she's charged primarily with a conspiracy to money launder and a conspiracy for drug trafficking as part of an overall criminal enterprise that we're using these businesses essentially as fronts. Now, it's really interesting because I didn't see any affirmative acts of like drug sales to her that she was actively participating in. But she was kind of like the queen of this operation using political cover and business cover for the operations of the other co-defendants. Now, it needs to be tested. Those witnesses need to be cross-examined. I will say this. They've got tape recordings. They also have search warrants that have been signed by an independent judge in both cases. That's a little alarming if I was on the defense side, because at least an independent arbiter has said this is credible. They find the FBI agents credible. But again, we have the greatest criminal justice system in this country under our Constitution. And so she'll have her defense lawyers. She'll get her due process rights. And she'll be able to challenge this evidence and put on her evidence and see. I will say this lastly, as an 82-year-old great-grandmother, haven't seen many indictments like this, but she's a very powerful woman. And the credibility of the DOJ under this Trump administration will always be an issue when it comes to political critics. And so racketeering cases are said to be difficult. Talk about what racketeering means and what has to be proven here. Well, it has to be a criminal enterprise. It has to be the conspiracy where it's an agreement between the co-defendants and that there were crimes that were committed under this criminal enterprise that she's in charge of running, if you will. You usually use racketeering against the mob. Now, many prosecutors, federal and state, have used it to prosecute criminal drug enterprises, even in the health care space, if you will. And if you've got the agreement, you've got the conspiracy and you've got the predicate bad acts to support an overall racketeering charge, then you can prove that you can be convicted of that. Now, it's difficult for juries to follow the complexity of racketeering cases, if you will. If this case gets tried, it's going to take several weeks, not days. And the defense has will have many defenses and an opportunity to defend herself and facts to push back on the complexities of the government's case, which includes racketeering, which is a really complex charge for juries to follow. And very quickly here in our final seconds, you mentioned a political how politics plays a role here. It is a legal battle, but it's also very political with this being a prominent and vocal Trump critic. But it was an investigation that started, we believe, under the Biden administration. So but how will this DOJ and Trump's DOJ likely impact this case? Well, they can say it started under the under the Biden administration, which is fine, which is fine. But that doesn't get you to the end zone as to whether this agency or DOJ has a political axe to grind or whether this is retribution. What's the difference between 12 days before the primaries that the Democrats are looking to to win big across the country and bringing this indictment or making the arrest 13 days later, 12? I'm sorry, 15 days later, even 30 days later. She's an 82 year old great grandmother. This reeks of political retribution. But we'll have to see. They'll have to prove their case no matter what. All right. Criminal defense attorney Scott Bolden. Thank you for your time. We appreciate it. Thanks. Thanks for having me. of course. And I'll look at some other top