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WASHINGTON (AP) — James Comey was charged Thursday with lying to Congress in a criminal case filed days after President Donald Trump appeared to urge his attorney general to prosecute the former FBI director and other perceived political enemies.

The indictment makes Comey the first former senior government official involved in one of Trump’s chief grievances, the long-concluded investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, to face prosecution. Trump has for years derided that investigation as a “hoax” and a “witch hunt” despite multiple government reviews showing Moscow interfered on behalf of the Republican’s campaign, and has made clear his desire for retribution.


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A 28-year-old reportedly trying to pass classified documents to a foreign government last week is the latest episode in a long history of espionage-related cases in Arlington.

Nathan Vilas Laatsch, an IT specialist for the Defense Intelligence Agency, was arrested on Thursday after allegedly arranging to hand sensitive records to an undercover FBI agent in an Arlington park.


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A 28-year-old Alexandria man is due in court today after he allegedly tried to pass classified documents to a foreign government.

Nathan Vilas Laatsch was employed as an IT specialist for the Defense Intelligence Agency when he “offered to provide classified information to a friendly foreign government,” according to the Justice Department.


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A large contingent of FBI personnel and unmarked vehicles have blocked off a street in an otherwise quiet north Arlington neighborhood.

An armed standoff involving someone inside a house on the 3600 block of N. Abingdon Street, in the Old Glebe neighborhood, started early Wednesday morning.


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Update on 11/7/23 — The suspect in this case has pleaded guilty, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. More, below, from a U.S. Dept. of Justice press release.

A former FBI contractor pleaded guilty today to production and receipt of child sexual abuse material (CSAM).


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Federal and state law enforcement have joined the investigation into a series of small explosions in the Arlington Forest neighborhood.

As ARLnow first reported, someone blew up a Little Free Library on the 100 block of N. Columbus Street and caused another small explosion at the nearby Lubber Run amphitheater early Wednesday morning.


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A national media outlet has shed some light on a mysterious FBI raid in Arlington earlier this year.

Rolling Stone reports that the raid on a Columbia Pike apartment building, which ARLnow first reported in April, targeted a well-known ABC News producer, James Gordon Meek.


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President Joe Biden has nominated Arlington resident Dr. Colleen Shogan to be the Archivist of the United States.

In normal times, the Archivist nomination does not make national news headlines. But now, Shohan is reportedly facing pushing back on Capitol Hill by some Republicans upset with the FBI’s search of former President Donald Trump’s Florida home.


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It’s unclear why, but the FBI was out in force along Columbia Pike this morning.

Photos show several unmarked federal law enforcement vehicles, including a Lenco BearCat armored SWAT vehicle, in front of the Siena Park Apartments on the 2300 block of the Pike.


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More on the Weird Chime Sound — “Janae Bixby first heard the sound near Pentagon City, where I-395 and Glebe Road intersect, as she picked up her kid from daycare on Monday evening around 5. She described it as ‘some sort of clock or doorbell chime that you would hear — very digital.’ She assumed the noise was coming from the building and started heading home. But then, in her car ride home to the southern edge of the Del Ray neighborhood in Alexandria, she kept hearing it, again and again.” [DCist]

Parents Group Wants Smaller Class Sizes — “A group of parents in Arlington, Virginia, is urging the county’s board to allot additional funding to its school system in the next fiscal year’s budget. The group Arlington Parents for Education said in a letter to the board this week that more money should be provided so that class sizes can be smaller, teacher pay can be competitive with surrounding school districts and student mental health and learning loss can be addressed.” [WTOP]


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County Prepping New Tree Study — “Arlington leaders may take their next crack at guesstimating the number of trees in the county – a topic not without political as well as environmental ramifications – early in 2023, if all goes according to plan… estimating the cost at $100,000 to $150,000.” [Sun Gazette]

New Name for GMU Arlington Campus — “George Mason University announced today that its Arlington Campus will be renamed Mason Square as the new centerpiece of the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor for multi-disciplinary talent and business development, as well as a civic and cultural destination. Also being announced is Fuse at Mason Square, the name of the new technology-forward building that is the heart of Mason’s commitment to growing Northern Virginia’s next-generation workforce. A groundbreaking ceremony for Fuse at Mason Square will take place April 6.” [Press Release]


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Arlington police say they’re working with the FBI after two pipe bombs were found in a Ballston home.

The county bomb squad safely removed the pipe bombs from the home last night. Bosnick is being held without bond on numerous charges.


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