Virginia’s new Attorney General Jason Miyares wasted no time in taking his office in a new direction after being sworn in on Saturday, as the Republican A.G. fired 30 staffers, including many attorneys who were unlikely to see eye-to-eye with his promises of enacting law and order in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The first statewide elected Latino in Virginia’s history also announced several new investigations aimed at increasing government transparency and making Old Dominion safer.
In a statement given to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Victoria LaCivita, a spokesperson for Miyares, defended the move, saying, “During the campaign, it was made clear that now-Attorney General-elect Miyares and Attorney General Herring have very different visions for the office.”
“We are restructuring the office, as every incoming AG has done in the past,” Civita added.
As a candidate, Miyares had stated that “George Soros-backed Commonwealth’s attorneys are not doing their jobs,” and he promised to prosecute crimes that progressive attorneys had ignored.
As reported by Fox News, several Virginia prosecutors had received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the progressive financier:
Liberal billionaire George Soros has repeatedly poured thousands into prosecutor’s races in Virginia. In 2019, Soros provided a significant cash infusion to three winning progressive candidates, Parisa Dehghani-Tafti in Arlington County (nearly $1 million from Soros); Buta Biberaj in Loudon County ($850,000 from Soros); and Steve Descano in Fairfax County ($600,000 from Soros). Soros spent about $200,000 in a prosecutor’s race in Norfolk this year. His candidate went on to win the race.
As Attorney General-elect, Miyares also announced that he would be pursuing legislation under Governor Glen Youngkin (R) that “would essentially say, if the chief law enforcement officer in a jurisdiction – either the chief of police or the sheriff – makes a request because a commonwealth’s attorney is not doing their job, then I’m going to do their job for them.”
“I’m thinking specifically, some of the so-called ‘social justice’ commonwealth’s attorneys that have been elected particularly in Northern Virginia. We’re obviously aware of some pretty horrific cases,” he added.
On Saturday, hours after being sworn into office, Miyares launched two new investigations into the Virginia Parole Board as well as Loudoun County Public schools.
“One of the reasons Virginians get so fed up with government is the lack of transparency – and that’s a big issue here,” Miyares said in a statement. “The Virginia Parole Board broke the law when they let out murders, rapists, and cop killers early on their sentences without notifying the victims. Loudoun County Public Schools covered up a sexual assault on school grounds for political gain, leading to an additional assault of a young girl.”
As reported by The Daily Wire on Saturday, two of the 11 executive orders signed into law by Governor Youngkin dealt directly with Virginia’s parole board and LCPS:
- Executive Order Number Three delivers on his Day One promise to restore integrity and confidence in the Parole Board of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
- Executive Order Number Four delivers on his Day One promise to investigate wrongdoing in Loudoun County.
Scandal plagued the Virginia Parole Board after it came to light that the board had allegedly been granting parole to cop killers and murderers without properly following procedure. The board is supposed to inform families of the victims, as well as prosecutors, who have a right to weigh on whether or not individuals should be given parole. But Virginia’s inspector general found those instructions had not been followed.
“It appears that neither the rules nor the law were followed,” Suffolk Commonwealth’s Attorney Phil Ferguson said in April of 2021.
“The three cases in Suffolk were among the worst people I’ve prosecuted in my many years as a prosecutor,” he added in reference to several convicted killers who had been granted parole. “The crimes were committed by people that maybe should have spent the rest of their life in prison.”
In Loudoun, as is well documented by The Daily Wire, school board officials have reportedly faced myriad scandals, including allegedly covering up a sexual assault in one of their schools. That cover-up appears to have been motivated by a desire to protect the county’s transgender bathroom policy.