Jason Miyares is off to a truly historic start as Virginia’s attorney general. From holding Big Pharma accountable to putting victims first and criminal last, Attorney General Miyares has been a shining example of common-sense, competent governance and following through on his campaign promises.
In just the last few weeks, Miyares has delivered multiple victories for parents and students in Virginia’s public school system.
Following revelations that more than a dozen Virginia high schools, including Thomas Jefferson High School – one of the top schools in the country – were withholding National Merit awards from students in of the name of “equity,” Miyares announced a full civil rights probe into the scandal. As he stated, purposefully withholding award information that could help students earn college scholarships and other academic and career opportunities is an unacceptable and egregious act.
Attorney General Miyares also released a shocking grand jury report late last year detailing a shameful attempted cover-up of a rape and sexual assault in two Loudoun County public high schools. As the report details, school officials and administrators knowingly allowed a male student who had raped a 9th grade female student in May of 2021 to attend classes at another district high school the following fall, where he abducted another female student into a classroom and sexually assaulted her – all of this despite repeated warnings from teachers’ aides, students, and even the perpetrator’s grandmother that the offending student was dangerous.
As the story came to light throughout the 2021 campaign season, then-candidates Jason Miyares and Glenn Youngkin promised a full investigation – a pledge that Democrats and the mainstream media slandered as a “dangerous attack” on the officials responsible for the cover-up. On his first day in office, Governor Youngkin signed an executive order authorizing the investigation by Attorney General Miyares, and he got to work.
Throughout the investigatory process, Virginia Democrats fought tooth and nail to shield Loudoun County school officials from accountability. In February of last year, four Democrat Loudoun County Supervisors staged a walkout to protest the investigation, with Democrat Chairwoman Phyllis Randall tweeting that the inquiry was “unacceptable and dangerous.” Even former President Barack Obama attempted to dismiss the scandal as “phony.”
Now, it’s easy to see why Democrats were so terrified of transparency. The final report detailed shameful derelictions of duty not just from school officials and the Democrat-run school board, but also from Loudoun County’s far-left prosecutor, Buta Biberaj. She knew about the first rape, but did nothing to protect other students, even almost allowing the perpetrator to return to the same high school. Instead, Biberaj prosecuted the father of the first rape victim, Scott Smith, for demanding answers from the school board – a case from which Biberaj was eventually dismissed over concerns about impartiality.
It fell to Jason Miyares to get justice for Mr. Smith, his daughter, and the other victims in the case, and to provide the answers that Loudoun County parents deserved. Were it not for the integrity of Miyares and his team, and their willingness to persevere even when the entire Democratic establishment and mainstream media mobilized against them, the truth may have never seen the light of day.
His accomplishments don’t stop there.
Miyares has secured more than $700 million in opioid settlements for Virginians, helping to address the disastrous effects that opioid addiction has had on families and communities in the Commonwealth. Miyares has also launched the “one pill can kill” initiative, which raises awareness about the dangers of counterfeit drugs, fentanyl, and opioids. In September, he joined 17 other state attorneys general in urging President Biden to classify fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction in order to funnel more federal resources and attention to fighting the crisis, and he is supporting legislation here in Virginia to address the epidemic.
One of Attorney General Miyares’s biggest promises was to bring back Operation Ceasefire, a program that was extremely successful at reducing violent crime in Richmond from 2004-2008. Through this program, the Attorney General is hiring special prosecutors who are focused on the getting the most dangerous criminals off our streets while investing in firearm safety and gang prevention programs. While Democrats continue to attack legal gun owners and the Second Amendment, Miyares is working to address the root causes of gun crime while respecting Virginians’ constitutional rights.
Jason Miyares is proving that he is unphased by any obstacle to justice, whether it be powerful corporate interests or Democrat obstructionism. Working alongside Governor Youngkin, Miyares is ensuring that the rule of law will once again reign supreme in Virginia.