By Townhall Chicago News Staff
A federal grand jury indicted Virginia state Sen. Louise Lucas on racketeering and drug trafficking charges, U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche announced, according to a national news segment aired on AM 560.
The charges against Lucas, 82, include racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to distribute marijuana, conspiracy to launder money, conspiracy to commit honest services fraud and maintaining a drug-involved premises. Two of Lucas’ daughters and a grandson are among six co-defendants named in the case.
“Racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute marijuana, conspiracy to launder money, conspiracy to commit honest services fraud and maintaining a drug-involved premises,” Blanche said, listing the charges against Lucas.
FBI Director Kash Patel described the alleged scheme. “Purpose of her enterprise included trafficking large quantities of illegal marijuana, creating generational wealth for members and associates of her criminal enterprise, recycling drug proceeds to expand the operation that she launched and created, and steering marijuana licenses to entities in which members held financial interests,” Patel said. Lucas has said she will not be “intimidated or bullied.”
Separately, federal agents executed a search warrant at the Washington home of U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar as part of a federal criminal investigation, according to the broadcast. Omar called the search politically motivated. Blanche defended the timing of the warrant. “Anytime you apply for a search warrant, one of the factors under the rules is why it needs to happen,” Blanche said. “As the magistrate judge found there, we needed to do it then.”
A federal judge has also ordered President Donald Trump to sit for a deposition by Dec. 11 in his defamation lawsuit against the BBC. The lawsuit centers on a documentary that Trump’s attorneys say spliced his Jan. 6 speech to suggest he encouraged violence. The BBC has apologized, and two top executives have resigned, though the broadcaster denies defaming Trump. Trump previously postponed an October deposition date.
The Lucas case is proceeding in federal court. Trump faces the Dec. 11 deposition deadline in the BBC lawsuit, and the investigation underlying the search of Omar’s home has not been publicly detailed.
