Justice Department Caught Colluding With Fox News?

Perfect timing at a Virginia FBI raid casts doubt on DOJ’s impartiality

Fox News did not merely report that the FBI had raided the office of Virginia Senate President Pro Tempore L. Louise Lucas. According to Fox reporter Bill Melugin, Fox News was “on scene” in Portsmouth, Virginia, where federal agents were raiding Lucas’ office.

Melugin’s post identified Lucas as a Democrat and a close ally of Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger. He also said federal law enforcement sources told Fox the raid was connected to a major corruption investigation.

Just as important, Melugin’s post noted that Alex Hogan was reporting from the scene.

That detail is what turned this from a standard breaking news item into a flashing red warning light. Hogan’s own X profile identifies her as a Fox News foreign correspondent based in London.

Fox somehow had her in Portsmouth at the right moment for a politically explosive FBI raid on a prominent Virginia Democrat.

The Political Context Makes It Worse

Sam Stein, a veteran political journalist, immediately raised the obvious suspicion. Lucas, he noted, had also overseen successful redistricting in Virginia. That does not prove the raid was politically motivated, and it does not prove Fox received improper advance notice.

It does make the timing and the media choreography impossible to ignore.

Responding to Melugin’s post, he wrote:

“i will say. some pretty remarkable instincts by Fox News to have its London correspondent placed in Portsmouth, Virginia right in time for the FBI raid of Louise Lucas.”

Continuing, he added:

to be clear, i don't begrudge Fox at all here. take the scoop. but it does suggest a coordination on the part of the FBI and a politicization too. The folks who accused CNN of getting the tip off on Roger Stone seem to be fine with it now

Bulwark Podcast host Tim Miller echoed that sentiment on his X/Twitter account.

“How did Fox News get someone live on the scene of a raid in Portsmouth? Do you all have an office in Portsmouth?”

Virginia Democratic staffer Jason Melendez provided an additional layer of intrigue, posting:

Odd isn’t it… especially when the UK has local elections tomorrow. Wouldn’t that be something the London correspondent would be there for?

DOJ’s Own Manual Raises The Stakes

Scott MacFarlane added the strongest institutional context: the Justice Department’s own manual appears to address exactly this situation.

The manual says DOJ personnel may assist news media in recording or reporting on law enforcement activity only with prior approval from the appropriate United States Attorney or Assistant Attorney General. It also says that when a search warrant or arrest warrant is being executed, no advance information may be given to the news media without express approval.

That rule matters because this was not a press conference. This was a federal raid. If Fox received advance warning from federal law enforcement, then the obvious question is whether that warning had the required approval. If it did, who approved it? If it did not, who leaked it?

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A Lose-Lose For Fox And DOJ

Fox News and the Justice Department now have a problem neither can spin away.

If DOJ approved advance notice to Fox, the public deserves to know who approved it and why. If DOJ did not approve it, then someone inside federal law enforcement may have leaked sensitive information during a politically charged raid.

Either way, the appearance is ugly.

This is not about shielding Louise Lucas from investigation. It is about whether federal power and right-wing media worked in suspicious proximity during a raid on a prominent Democrat.

That demands an answer to one simple question: who told Fox News?

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