NEW TARGETS: The FBI is eyeing a top Democratic state lawmaker and a journalist who wrote an unfavorable article about the agency’s director as its latest targets in potential criminal investigations.
Federal officials executed a search warrant Wednesday at the office of Virginia Senate President Pro Tempore L. Louise Lucas (D) as part of a corruption investigation, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to NewsNation, The Hill’s partner network. The Nexstar affiliate WAVY reported a law enforcement presence was also seen at a nearby cannabis store co-owned by Lucas.
A spokesperson for the FBI’s Norfolk field office said agents were carrying out a “court-authorized federal search warrant” in Portsmouth but declined to share further details.
The 82-year-old, who often shares profane and combative memes on her X account, was recently one of the top advocates of Virginia’s ballot measure on redistricting that narrowly passed last month, poising Democrats to pick up House seats in November.
"Today's actions by Federal agents are about far more than one state senator; they are about power and who is allowed to use it on behalf of the people,” Lucas said in a statement Wednesday night. "I am not backing down, and I will keep fighting for the people of Portsmouth and the Commonwealth of Virginia.”
The search came as MS NOW reported that the FBI has launched a criminal leak investigation focusing on Sarah Fitzpatrick, a journalist for The Atlantic who reported a story about FBI Director Kash Patel’s work behavior.
Patel sued the outlet for defamation after the publication of the article, which accused him of drinking heavily and often being unreachable.
Two people familiar with the probe told MS NOW that the investigation is highly unusual because it didn’t come from a disclosure of classified information and is focused on leaks to a reporter.
“If confirmed to be true, an FBI criminal leak investigation targeting our reporter would represent an outrageous attack on the free press and the First Amendment itself,” The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg said in a statement.
▪ The Hill: Who is Lucas?
▪ The New York Times: Lucas raid jolts Virginia politics.
WAITING ON IRAN: The U.S. is awaiting a response from Iran on a reported one-page memorandum designed to bring an end to the war, but Iranian officials cast doubt about the seriousness of the progress made.
The memorandum would reportedly include a 30-day window for the U.S. and Iran to negotiate a more detailed agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, restrict Iran’s nuclear program and lift U.S. sanctions. The Iranian and U.S. blockades on the strait would be rolled back during that window.
But Ebrahim Rezaei, a spokesperson for the Iranian parliament’s foreign policy and national security committee, called the peace proposal the “Americans’ wish list.”
“Americans will not obtain through a failed war what they failed to gain in face-to-face negotiations, Iran has its finger on the trigger and is ready; if they do not surrender and grant the necessary concessions, or if they or their devilish henchdog allies try to act mischievously, we will deliver a harsh and regret-inducing response,” he said in a post on X.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who has been involved in negotiations, told the Iranian people in an audio message that they should be prepared for military attacks to renew against the country, The New York Times reported. But he said economic pressure is the more immediate threat.
Trump threatened Wednesday to resume bombing against Iran with “higher level and intensity” attacks if the country doesn’t agree to a peace deal.
▪ The Hill: What’s in the one-page peace proposal?
▪ The Hill: Trump takes sharp turn toward ending war.
CRYING FOUL: House Democrats slammed what they called an “egregious cover-up" following testimony from Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick over his relationship with Epstein.
Lutnick appeared behind closed doors for a transcribed interview Wednesday before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, the latest high-profile deposition as part of the panel’s probe into Epstein and his contacts. The Cabinet member has been under scrutiny over revelations that he visited Epstein’s island in 2012, years after he previously claimed to have cut ties.
Democrats accused Lutnick of evading their questions during his testimony and slammed the decision for his testimony not to be videotaped. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) said Trump would fire Lutnick if he heard what was said during the testimony.
But House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) rejected Democrats’ claims, saying he felt Lutnick had been “very transparent.”
▪ The New York Times: Who has faced fallout from the Epstein files.
COUNTERTERRORISM TARGETS: The Trump administration has unveiled a National Counterterrorism Strategy that will focus on left-wing “violent secular” groups that officials argue are most responsible for political violence in recent years.
Sebastian Gorka, who spearheaded the framework in his role as the National Security Council’s senior counterterrorism director, told reporters the strategy will prioritize the “rapid” identification and neutralization of the groups, whose ideologies are “anti-American, radically pro-gender or anarchist,” The Hill’s Filip Timotija reports.
“We will not permit politically motivated violence in the United States from either side of the aisle. But the sad truth is, the left has far more politically motivated assassinations — or attempted assassinations, to its credit — in recent years, not the right,” Gorka said.
Right-wing attacks have made up much of the political violence of recent decades, but those from the left have ticked up recently. An analysis from the Center for Strategic and International Studies found last year that 2025 was the first year in more than three decades that left-wing terrorist attacks outnumbered those from the right.
The framework will also focus on drug cartels in the Western hemisphere and top Islamist jihadi groups.
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