PORTSMOUTH, Va. — Federal agents raided Virginia State Senator Louise Lucas' office and business Wednesday, carrying boxes out of the locations as news crews watched.
The FBI has not revealed why it is targeting Lucas.
Federal defense attorney Robert L. Jenkins Jr., who is not connected to this case, says search warrants can come at different stages of an investigation.
"Sometimes it occurs on the front end after they become suspicious or have reasonably believe that a crime might be occurring, and then sometimes it happens after they've already collected evidence through other meetings and it might even occur toward the end of the investigation signaling their charges are eminent," Jenkins said.
Jenkins says cases involving politicians often face added scrutiny and warrants must stay narrowly focused.
"I know the Department of Justice in the federal Bureau of Investigation FBI is under the Department of Justice. They have certain guidelines about searching you know certain places that might be sensitive. Local politicians definitely would qualify," Jenkins said.
Jenkins says cooperation on Lucas' part will be key.
"What you don't wanna do if you're the subject of a search warrant is to obstruct in anyway or try to impede the investigation cause there are certain criminal charges that you could expose yourself to," Jenkins said.
Political analyst Dr. Jesse Richman says reactions are already becoming politically divided.
"There's so much we don't know about this case currently it's hard to know exactly how we ought to categorize it," Richman said.
Jenkins says it is only a matter of time before the basis for the raid is revealed.
"At some point in time we will gain access to not only to search warrant itself, but also that all important affidavit that was submitted," Jenkins said.
Lucas is not facing any charges at this point.
Click here to see how we use AI at WTKR News 3.
