Virginia Democrats who previously defended investigations and allegations against Donald Trump are urging restraint now that federal prosecutors have charged one of their own.The shift is evident across the party's top ranks following the indictment of Virginia Senate President Pro Tempore L.Louise Lucas.
Lieutenant Gov.Ghazala Hashmi, who rejected Republican claims that Trump was being selectively prosecuted after his 2023 classified-documents indictment, is now stressing Lucas' "constitutional presumption of innocence" and arguing Lucas "is fully entitled to legal due process." Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones, who said last year that Trump tried to "incite a riot" and "overturn an election," says the allegations against Lucas must be tested through a legal process "free from political interference or bias."Rep.
Bobby Scott, D-Va., likewise joined Sens.Mark Warner and Tim Kaine in declaring that "those charged with crime are innocent until proven guilty" and questioning the Justice Department's motivations — years after Scott said during Trump's first impeachment that "the facts are uncontested," called his conduct a "gross abuse of presidential power" and declared that "no one is above the law." Trump was later acquitted by the Senate.POWERFUL DEM’S JABS AT TRUMP COME BACK TO HAUNT HER AFTER OFFICE RAIDED BY FBI: ‘AGED WELL’Abigail Spanberger, Jay Jones and state Sen.
Ghazala Hashmi conduct a bus tour through Virginia to connect with constituents as Spanberger campaigns for governor at the Stacy C.Sherwood Community Center in Fairfax, Va., on June 26, 2025.
(Maxine Wallace/The Washington Post via Getty Images)Gov.Abigail Spanberger, meanwhile, is stressing Lucas' presumption of innocence after calling congressional defenses of Trump's handling of classified documents "deeply detrimental to our national security" days after his 2023 indictment in a case that was ultimately dismissed without a trial.Lucas, who also chairs the powerful Senate Finance...