FBI monitored my calls: Suhas Subramanyam

Washington: Indian American Congressman Suhas Subramanyam has said the FBI and Justice Department informed him that his telephone conversations with a senior Virginia state lawmaker were monitored as part of a federal investigation, calling the surveillance “deeply concerning” and its timing “extremely suspicious.”

Subramanyam, a Democrat representing Virginia’s 10th Congressional District, said Thursday that the monitored conversations were with Virginia State Senator Louise Lucas, who serves as 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.

“This is deeply concerning.”

The Congressman said the wiretap took place between March and May, a politically consequential period in Virginia.

“The timing of this wiretap and investigation is extremely suspicious,” he said.

“The tap took place between March and May, which was at the peak of campaigning for the redistricting referendum in Virginia.”

Subramanyam also linked the timing to congressional efforts to question Attorney General Pam Bondi over the investigation involving Jeffrey Epstein.

“This was also while the Oversight Committee was calling on Pam Bondi to testify on the Epstein investigation,” he said.

“This should concern anyone who believes in a real Department of Justice that serves the American people and not a singular President.”

Subramanyam accused the Trump administration of using the Justice Department against political opponents.

“Trump’s DOJ has become his own personal law firm, with his former personal attorney carrying out vendettas on Trump’s political enemies,” he said.

“They have politically investigated multiple states’ Attorneys General and the former FBI director. Now they admit they have surveilled conversations by a sitting Democratic Congressman.”

The Justice Department and FBI did not immediately respond in Subramanyam’s statement to his allegations about the motivation for the surveillance.

His statement also does not say that Subramanyam himself was the target of the investigation.

Instead, the Congressman said his conversations were monitored “as part of their investigation into Senator Lucas.”

Subramanyam vowed that the episode would not deter Democrats from challenging the administration.

“If this surveillance was done to scare us and to get Democrats to stop pushing back against Trump’s political overreach, they are mistaken,” he said.

“We will not back down. We will continue our investigations into this President and his corrupt administration.”

Subramanyam, who was born in Bengaluru and raised in the United States, was elected to Congress from Virginia in 2024 after previously serving in the Virginia General Assembly.

A lawyer and former technology policy adviser in the Obama administration, he became one of a growing number of Indian Americans serving in the US Congress.

IANS