Rep. Suhas Subramanyam Says FBI Monitored Calls With Virginia State Senator
Washington — Indian American Rep. Suhas Subramanyam said the FBI and Justice Department informed him that his telephone conversations with a senior Virginia lawmaker were monitored as part of a federal investigation, raising concerns about the timing and purpose of the surveillance.
Subramanyam, a Democrat representing Virginia’s 10th Congressional District, said the monitored conversations were with Virginia State Sen. Louise Lucas, the president pro tempore of the state Senate.
“The FBI and DOJ recently informed me that my phone conversations with State Senator and President Pro Tempore Louise Lucas were being monitored as part of their investigation into Senator Lucas,” Subramanyam said in a statement Thursday. “This is deeply concerning.”
Subramanyam said the surveillance occurred between March and May, during a period of political activity surrounding a redistricting referendum in Virginia.
“The timing of this wiretap and investigation is extremely suspicious,” he said.
He also noted that the surveillance occurred while members of the House Oversight Committee were seeking testimony from Attorney General Pam Bondi regarding the Jeffrey Epstein investigation.
Subramanyam accused the Trump administration of politicizing the Justice Department and suggested the investigation could have been motivated by political considerations. He did not provide evidence establishing that political retaliation was the reason for the surveillance.
The congressman also made clear that he was not told he was the target of the federal investigation. According to his statement, his calls were intercepted because investigators were monitoring Lucas as part of an investigation involving the state senator.
In a separate television interview Thursday, Subramanyam said he had received a letter informing him after the fact that his conversations had been intercepted. He said he wanted the FBI and Justice Department to explain why Lucas was being monitored and whether politics played any role in the investigation.
“If this surveillance was done to scare us and to get Democrats to stop pushing back against Trump’s political overreach, they are mistaken,” Subramanyam said. “We will not back down.”
The FBI and Justice Department had not publicly confirmed Subramanyam’s characterization of the investigation or responded to his allegations about its motivation in the statement released by his office.
Subramanyam was elected to Congress in 2024 after previously serving in the Virginia General Assembly. A lawyer and former technology policy adviser in the Obama administration, he represents a Northern Virginia district that includes much of Loudoun County. (Source: IANS)
