Chris Hayes smells a rat in Trump's raid on Virginia lawmaker

MS NOW's Chris Hayes kicked off his segment on Wednesday evening with an analysis of the suspiciously timed FBI raid on the office of Virginia state Sen. Louise Lucas just weeks after passage of an anti-Trump redistricting referendum she helped lead.

This came after Hayes discussed the recent FBI actions against reporters who ran unflattering stories about FBI Director Kash Patel and his girlfriend. However, he continued, "Threatening reporters wasn't the only thing the FBI was up to today."

Hayes then played a clip of a Fox News segment earlier in the day, stating that "Federal agents are arresting people in that string of FBI raids across Virginia. This is all connected to an influential Democrat in the Commonwealth of Virginia, state Senator Louise Lucas. They are at her office executing warrants as part of a major corruption probe."

"Now, you see that picture there? The FBI agents in camouflage with long guns," said Hayes. "You think that's necessary for this raid of the office? Here are those FBI agents this morning raiding the office of Louise Lucas. Look at the — 82-year-old state representative, I think. You think you got to do that for that? Do you think that's done for the cameras? Lucas, the second woman of color to serve in the Virginia state Senate after growing up under Jim Crow."

"The move comes, as you might know, just two weeks after it was Lucas who, almost more than anyone else, led the successful push to redraw Virginia's congressional districts to favor Democrats, to respond to the actions of Donald Trump and Republican state legislators, to tip the playing field and in clear defiance of Donald Trump," said Hayes.

"In a statement responding to the raid, Lucas said, quote, 'I've never been afraid to stand up to Donald Trump or anyone else that has tried to undermine our democracy,' adding, 'I am not backing down,' said Hayes. "The FBI says the raid is part of a years-long corruption investigation into Lucas and a bunch of local cannabis dispensaries in Virginia, and that may very well be the case. Maybe. Do you trust them? Can anyone look at this FBI and this Justice Department right now, in this moment, and simply assume they are acting in good faith?"

"Assume it's a coincidence," he added. "These raids came shortly after the Virginia referendum. Lucas led also just a week after Patel giddily announced a new criminal indictment of longtime Trump critic and former FBI Director James Comey. Should we also wonder who tipped off a Fox News correspondent to the Lucas raid after Fox was the only station on the scene in Southeast Virginia when the raid appeared to start?"

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