© John Tully for The New York Times
Virginia state Senator Lillie Louise Lucas was indicted Thursday on five charges that include drug trafficking, money laundering, fraud and firearms charges after being accused of running a marijuana distribution enterprise, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Lucas is among seven indicted in the sprawling racketeering scheme, a group that includes her two daughters, Lisa Lucas-Burke and Theresa Lucas-Lamb, and her grandson Ryan Eichelberger, Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a Thursday press conference.
"Louise Lucas has served in a position of public trust in the Commonwealth of Virginia for over three decades," Blanche said in a DOJ statement.
"The charges alleged in this indictment reveal the behavior of a public servant who put her own financial interests before the people she was elected to serve. Our federal prosecutors will continue to be guided by the facts and evidence that led a grand jury to indict Ms. Lucas and her alleged co-conspirators."
DEMS BLAST TRUMP OVER VIRGINIA FBI RAID BUT PROBE STARTED UNDER HIS PREDECESSOR
The 82-year-old Lucas has served as a Virginia state senator since 1991, and as the president pro tempore of the state's Senate since 2020. As president pro tempore, she is the presiding member of the state senate in the absence of the state's lieutenant governor.
She has also served as chair of the state's Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee since 2024.
"During that time, as alleged in the indictment, her and her six co-conspirators, instead of serving the public as was her job, manufactured and created a criminal enterprise to illicitly enrich themselves by procuring sales and stores and divisions through the marijuana and CBD enterprise," FBI Director Kash Patel said Thursday.
"Through her elected office, Senator Lucas has been a public servant of the people of Virginia. Her first duty should have been looking out for her constituents before herself, but the charges listed in the indictment reflect the alleged behavior of a public servant who put her own financial interests before the people she was elected to serve," Blanche also said Thursday.
The DOJ said Lucas led the Lucas Enterprise with a close-knit group of friends and family that included her two daughters and a grandson.
"[They] orchestrated a multi-year scheme to enrich their own criminal marijuana enterprise, 'the Lucas Enterprise,' using Lucas' position as Chairwoman of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee to insulate the enterprise from criminal scrutiny and influencing legislation to financially benefit themselves," FBI Director Kash Patel said in the statement.
Lucas was directly involved in a wide range of activities within the enterprise, including the acquisition and distribution of 100 kilograms or more of marijuana and for the laundering of the drug sales proceeds, the DOJ said.
The state senator opened The CBD Shoppe and The Cannabis Outlet in 2019, according to the indictment. The pot shops' openings came nearly two years before Virginia officially legalized marijuana for recreational use on July 1, 2021.
In 2021, Lucas and her daughter Lisa Lucas-Burke, who is currently running for mayor in Portsmouth, Virginia, also opened The Cannabis Outlet in Portsmouth.
SPANBERGER REFUSES TO HONOR ICE DETAINER IN MURDER CASE, ESCALATING SHOWDOWN WITH TRUMP DHS
During a conversation with an unindicted co-conspirator, Lucas pushed for favorable language in a Virginia state bill on marijuana reform, telling the co-conspirator, "This is our last chance at generational wealthâ¦I've got too old to not be greedy," the indictment stated.
The FBI raided Lucas' office and businesses in May.
Lucas responded to the indictment Thursday morning with a post on X.
"Today, the FBI, the Department of Justice, and the full weight of the federal government have been wielded against an 82-year-old great-grandmother," she wrote.
"I grew up under Jim Crow. I've seen what happens when people in power try to silence those who stand up to them. I spent my life fighting back, and I'm not stopping now," she continued.
"I'm not new to this. I'm true to this. I will not be intimidated. I will not be bullied. And I will not back down," she concluded.
Lucas has a history of emphatically antagonizing President Donald Trump, his administration and Virginia Republicans broadly.
In March 2023, following a New York grand jury's indictment of Trump, Lucas wrote in a post on X "Donald Trump just learned no one is above the law!"
She has also been a central figure in her state's faked redistricting effort, taking to social media to brag about the redrawn legislative map Virginia Democrats tried to push through. In an April post on X she wrote "Ten f----- one," in reference to the proposed partisan breakdown which would have given the state's Democrats 10 of the state's 11 legislative districts.
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Four other co-conspirators were charged in the indictment: Prince Albert William Hudson III, Theresa Lucas-Lamb, Carlton Upton Jr. and Tameka Johnson.
Lillie Louise Lucas and Lisa Lucas-Burke's mayoral campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital for comment.
Fox News Digital's Charles Creitz and Robert Schmad contributed to this report.
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Should President Donald Trump deliver a primetime address next week with the avowed purpose of impacting the elections nationwide?
Yes. Absolutely yes.
President Trump is often the best proponent of his own policies, and the much-anticipated "blue wave" would effectively paralyze those policies and his plans to finish the battle with Iran, build the Golden Dome and Golden Fleet, and slow, if not reverse, the regulatory overhaul underway.
MORNING GLORY: MINNESOTA'S MASSIVE FRAUD SCANDAL COULD DELIVER A STUNNING SENATE UPSET
Loss of the Senate majority would also mean near-zero chances of confirming any appellate judges or Supreme Court justices. Spending on the Pentagon would also plummet as Democrats return to their long-standing position of insisting that every dollar of increased defense spending must be matched by one for non-defense domestic discretionary spending.
If President Trump makes these arguments directly to voters and names the names of the senators or Senate candidates who are key allies or the Democratic nominees he believes are from the far, far left, the sharpened focus could help mobilize his base to again support his agenda one last time.
13 DAYS UNTIL MIDTERMS, TRUMP HEADS TO SOUTH CAROLINA AS DEMOCRATS WIDEN BATTLEGROUND MAP
There are precedents for such an appeal, and they had mixed results.
On October 24, 2022, President Biden made a direct closing argument for Democrats at Democratic National Committee headquarters, 15 days before Election Day. The expected "red wave" that year was reduced to a ripple.
On October 25, 2006, President George W. Bush held a nationally televised news conference less than two weeks before the midterms. President Bush discussed Iraq and framed the election choice around national security and taxes. It was a news conference, not a formal primetime address. The GOP got "thumped," to borrow President Bushâs own characterization of the 2006 results.
The takeaway from that limited data set? A speech could work to rally a presidentâs base voters. A press conference wonât.
President Trumpâs rallies around the country have always served as a feedback loop for his messaging. He knows itâs his base that turns out, and he tries out various messages and themes, then amplifies what works and cuts what doesnât in subsequent rallies and in his conversations with the press.
Getting the feedback is particularly important when it comes to turning out the base. As the president has been everywhere in the past month, he has a good idea of what "works" in this campaign cycle.
TRUMP CAMPAIGN INSIDER REVEALS STRATEGY BEHIND MIDTERM BLITZ THAT WHITE HOUSE HOPES PAYS OFF BIG
The Trump PAC may even want to buy network time for an address, or it may simply allow social media to do its thing. A tight 15 minutes would play and play, give birth to ten thousand posts and reels and, crucially, focus the base and independent voters on the stakes, which are very high indeed.
President Trump has got a fine writing staff, but brevity is not second nature to him or them when it comes to speeches. If he does try such a direct appeal, the crucial points I hope he makes in succinct fashion are these:
TRUMP'S UNUSUAL ROLE AT MIDTERM CONVENTION REVEALED AS SCHEDULE GOES PUBLIC
VOTERS PREPARE TO WEIGH-IN ON TRUMP'S ECONOMY AS COSTS CONTINUE TO SURGE
The president should explicitly ask voters to support Mike Rogers in Michigan, Michele Tafoya in Minnesota, Ken Paxton in Texas and Susan Collins in Maine. President Trump should note that Rogers and Tafoya are likely to be as independent-minded as Sen. Collins, who has often opposed presidential policies, but that all of them represent their states very well.
States that are "light blue" or "light red" deserve senators that represent them, not Hamas or other extremist positions.
President Trump should close by reminding everyone of the mess he inherited. The once wide-open border is now completely closed and sealed tight, with the long-awaited wall nearing completion. Fraud in Minnesota, California and other blue states is being exposed and corrected. Inflation is way down from the 9.1% it reached under President Joe Biden but needs to go down further still, and President Trump and his economic team can get that done with support from Congress, not obstruction.
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And the evil regime in Iran that has terrorized the world for 47 years is on its last legs and wobbling. Its nuclear weapons program is obliterated and will not be allowed to be rebuilt. There is work to be done with our allies across the globe, but taking us down the impeachment road because the Democrats have no proposals to do anything else would be a disaster for everyone.
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"Americaâs Golden Age is indeed upon us," President Trump should conclude. "I need your vote, and so do these great Republican candidates. Please make a plan to vote and turn out. Thank you. God bless our troops everywhere, but especially in the blockade and at the bases around the Islamic radicals in Iran, and those confronting Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, and God bless the United States."
Hugh Hewitt is a Fox News contributor and host of "The Hugh Hewitt Show" heard weekday afternoons from 3 PM to 6 PM ET on the Salem Radio Network, and simulcast on Salem News Channel. Hugh drives Americans home on the East Coast and to lunch on the West Coast on over 400 affiliates nationwide, and on all the streaming platforms where SNC can be seen. He is a frequent guest on the Fox News Channelâs news roundtable, hosted by Bret Baier weekdays at 6pm ET. A son of Ohio and a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Michigan Law School, Hewitt has been a Professor of Law at Chapman Universityâs Fowler School of Law since 1996 where he teaches Constitutional Law. Hewitt launched his eponymous radio show from Los Angeles in 1990. Hewitt has frequently appeared on every major national news television network, hosted television shows for PBS and MSNBC, written for every major American paper, has authored a dozen books and moderated a score of Republican candidate debates, most recently the November 2023 Republican presidential debate in Miami and four Republican presidential debates in the 2015-16 cycle. Hewitt focuses his radio show and his column on the Constitution, national security, American politics and the Cleveland Browns and Guardians. Hewitt has interviewed tens of thousands of guests from Democrats Hillary Clinton and John Kerry to Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump over his 40 years in broadcasting. This column previews the lead story that will drive his radio/ TV show today.
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© Pool photo by Robin Buckson
A Dallas-area juvenile arrested by the FBI for planning a terrorist attack on behalf of ISIS may also have been planning to assassinate Rep. Keith Self (R-TX), the co-founder and co-chair of the Sharia-Free America Caucus, according to information reviewed by Breitbart News.
The post Exclusive — Juvenile Arrested by FBI for ISIS Terror Attack Plot May Have Also Planned to Assassinate Sharia-Free America Caucus Co-Founder Rep. Keith Self appeared first on Breitbart.
Rev. Franklin Graham is urging Americans to "look prayerfully at what both parties stand for," laying out a few key differences between the Republican Party and Democrat Party in a viral social media post less than two weeks before Election Day.
The post Franklin Graham Lays Out the Differences Between Parties Ahead of Midterms: ‘Look Prayerfully at what Both Parties Stand For’ appeared first on Breitbart.
In this segment of Free Media, Reason Senior Editor Robby Soave and Daily Caller Editor in Chief Amber Duke discuss worrisome remarks from Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and journalist Kara Swisher, suggesting retribution for those in the Trump Administration if and when Democrats regain control of Congress.
If you enjoy Free Media, come watch Robby debate at our upcoming Reason Versus in D.C. Tickets are available here.
The post Elissa Slotkin and Kara Swisher Want Democrats To Go After MAGA if They Win appeared first on Reason Magazine.
Powered by a clear favorability advantage, a large gender gap and voter discontent with both household finances and President Donald Trump, former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown has the edge over appointed Republican Sen. Jon Husted in the Ohio Senate race.
A Fox News survey of likely Ohio voters finds Brown leads Husted, 52% to 47%.
Brown’s advantage is anchored by his stronger personal standing, with his favorability rating 2 points above water (50% favorable, 48% unfavorable), while Husted’s rating sits 13 points underwater (42% favorable, 55% unfavorable).
FOX NEWS POLL: COST-OF-LIVING CONCERNS WEIGH ON GOP IN MIDTERMS
More Brown supporters (88%) than Husted backers (83%) say they’re certain of their vote.
FOX NEWS POLL: IT’S A LONE STAR SENATE SHOWDOWN BETWEEN TALARICO AND PAXTON
Economic unease creates another headwind for Husted, as about two and a half times as many voters say their financial situation is worse than two years ago rather than better (46% vs. 19%). Those who say things are worse favor Brown by 49 points, while those who say their finances are better or the same favor Husted by 51 and 24 points, respectively.
The president’s standing in Ohio adds to Husted’s difficulties. Trump won the Buckeye State with 55% of the vote in 2024, but just 43% now approve of his job performance. A 57% majority disapproves, with 46% saying they "strongly" disapprove.
Meanwhile, 52% express concern that Husted is too close to Trump, including 38% who are extremely concerned. Brown faces similar concerns about being too liberal, as 50% are worried, though fewer, 30%, are extremely concerned.
In the matchup, women favor Brown by 14 points, while men support Husted by 4, an 18-point gender gap. Brown also has advantages among voters under 35, voters with a college degree, union voters, and those living in urban and suburban areas. Husted relies on rural communities, non-college White men, married voters, and has a narrow edge among those ages 65 and up.
Partisan crossovers further tilt the field toward the challenger. While Husted receives 90% of Republicans, 9% cross over to back Brown. Some 97% of Democrats support Brown, while just 2% choose Husted — and Brown carries independents by nearly two to one.
Voters who view both Senate candidates unfavorably prefer Husted by nearly 20 points.
Brown is up by 9 points among those who are extremely interested in the election and leads by 29 points among the 15% of Ohioans who say they have already voted.
Legislative preference tilts toward the Democrats, with Ohioans dividing 50% for Democratic control of the U.S. Senate and 48% for Republican control.
In the governor's contest, likely voters favor Democrat Amy Acton over Republican Vivek Ramaswamy by 50% to 48%. Women favor Acton by 10 points, while men back Ramaswamy by 7, a nearly identical gender gap to the Senate race.
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Ticket splitting goes in both directions: 8% of Brown supporters cross over to Ramaswamy, while 6% of Husted supporters back Acton.
The survey was completed before a negative television ad from Ramaswamy’s campaign, featuring Acton’s estranged mother, became public.
Conducted October 15-19, 2026, under the joint direction of Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R), this Fox News Poll includes interviews with a sample of 2,005 Ohio registered voters randomly selected from a statewide voter file. Respondents spoke with live interviewers on landlines (219) and cellphones (1,306) or completed the survey online after receiving a text message (480). Results based on the registered voter sample have a margin of sampling error of ±2 percentage points and for the subsample of 1,592 likely voters it is ±2 percentage points. Sampling error for results among subgroups is higher. In addition to sampling error, question wording and order can influence results. Sources for developing weight targets include the most recent American Community Survey, Fox News Voter Analysis, and voter file data. Weights are generally applied to age, race, education, and area variables to ensure the demographics of respondents are representative of the registered voter population. Likely voters are based on a probabilistic statistical model that relies on past vote history, interest in the current election, intention to vote, age, education, race, ethnicity, and marital status. Results among subgroups are only shown when the sample size is at least N=100.
Fox News’ Victoria Balara contributed to this report.
Minnesota Democratic U.S. Senate nominee and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan previously claimed she graduated Phi Beta Kappa despite never belonging to the prestigious honor society, while her official state biography suggests she completed two college majors when she actually earned one major and a minor, according to an exclusive report published Wednesday by the Wall Street Journal.
The post Report: Minnesota Dem Senate Nominee Peggy Flanagan Falsely Claimed Phi Beta Kappa Membership, Misrepresented College Credentials appeared first on Breitbart.
Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) has released a campaign advertisement highlighting allegations that Democrat congressional challenger Janelle Stelson was naked outside her home in view of a neighbor's grandchild, referencing a written statement from a neighbor who claims to have photographed the incident.
The post Rep. Scott Perry Ad Highlights Police Complaint Alleging Democrat Janelle Stelson Exposed Herself to a Child appeared first on Breitbart.
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