Virginia Democrat says DOJ wiretapped phone calls with state Senate leader

Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.) said Thursday that the FBI and Justice Department (DOJ) informed him they had wiretapped his past phone conversations with a Virginia state lawmaker.

Subramanyam’s office shared photos of two letters he said he received from the agencies, dated from July and August, notifying him they monitored some of his calls with Virginia state Senate President Pro Tempore Louise Lucas (D).

The representative slammed this action as “deeply concerning” in his Thursday statement , accusing the Trump administration of trying to intimidate Democrats.

A federal judge authorized the phone call interception in April, according to the letters. A month later, federal agents conducted a search of Lucas’ office and a cannabis dispensary she co-owned as part of this investigation. The state legislator has denied any wrongdoing and claimed the federal probe was politically motivated.

Subramanyam’s statement described called the timing of the phone tapping and investigation into the Virginia state senate leader “extremely suspicious.”

He noted the probe occurred within the same period Virginia Democrats were pushing for a redistricting referendum — an effort that Lucas championed.

The Virginia representative also pointed to his role on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform as a potential reason for the agencies’ scrutiny, noting he and other Democrats were demanding answers from the DOJ at the time over its handling of the investigation into late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

“This should concern anyone who believes in a real Department of Justice that serves the American people and not a singular president,” Subramanyam said.

“If this surveillance was done to scare us and to get Democrats to stop pushing back against [President] Trump’s political overreach, they are mistaken,” he continued. “We will not back down. We will continue our investigations into this President and his corrupt administration.”

The Hill has reached out to the DOJ and Lucas for comment. The FBI declined to comment.