<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA) stated on Thursday that he was informed by the Department of Justice and the FBI that his phone calls with Virginia state Sen. L. Louise Lucas were being monitored as part of a corruption investigation into the lawmaker.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The two agencies notified several individuals in the Virginia political sphere that their phones had been tapped during the investigation into Lucas.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In a press release, Subramanyam expressed that the time frame in which his calls were monitored is "extremely suspicious" and criticized President Donald Trump and the DOJ for surveilling a sitting member of Congress.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“Trump’s DOJ has become his own personal law firm, with his former personal attorney carrying out vendettas on Trump’s political enemies,” Subramanyam said. “They have politically investigated multiple states’ Attorneys General and the former FBI director. Now they admit they have surveilled conversations by a sitting Democratic Congressman.”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Subramanyam indicated that his calls were monitored between March and May, a period during which the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee was seeking testimony from former Attorney General Pam Bondi. Subramanyam is a member of that committee.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“The tap took place between March and May, which was the peak of the campaigning for the redistricting referendum in Virginia,” Subramanyam said. “This was also while the Oversight Committee was calling on Pam Bondi to testify on the Epstein investigation. This should concern anyone who believes in a real Department of Justice that serves the American people and not a singular president.”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Subramanyam suggested that the monitoring of his phone was intended to intimidate Democrats from opposing Trump.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“If this surveillance was done to scare us and to get Democrats to stop pushing back against Trump’s political overreach, they are mistaken,” he said. “We will not back down. We will continue our investigation into this President and his corrupt administration.”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In May, the FBI conducted multiple court-approved searches at Lucas’s office in Portsmouth, Virginia, and also searched a nearby cannabis dispensary located next door to the senator’s office.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">At that time, Lucas stated she was not aware of the cause of the investigation, and limited details are available regarding the purpose of the FBI’s probe into her. The investigation into Lucas has been ongoing since the Biden administration, according to previous reports from the New York Times.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Lucas serves as the chairwoman of the state Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee and is considered one of the most influential Democrats in Virginia politics. As president pro tempore of the Virginia Senate, she is among the chamber’s top-ranking officials.</p>