Statement from Loudoun County Attorney Regarding Misinformation Published by WJLA-TV

The County Attorney for Loudoun County Government, Leo P. Rogers, issued the following statement regarding the erroneous report filed by WJLA-TV/Channel 7 reporter Nick Minock on July 3, 2024:

"WJLA reporter Nick Minock incorrectly reported that the Virginia State Police is investigating the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors regarding travel associated with the county's sister city program. This is not correct. The police are not conducting an investigation. This is irresponsible reporting that misleads WJLA viewers.

I have reviewed the information provided to the Commonwealth's Attorney in Loudoun County. The office received about a dozen emails and one letter that were encouraged to be sent to the Commonwealth's Attorney by political activists. The emails are largely based on the misinformation included in Mr. Minock's prior reporting.

The Commonwealth's Attorney forwarded the emails he received to the Virginia State Police to assess the validity of the content of the emails. All expenditures by members of the Board and their staff for all travel have been made in accordance with the law and county policies and all travel and expenditures were conducted in a transparent manner. In fact, the chair's travel was pre-approved on January 18, 2023, by an independent body, the Economic Development Authority. Additionally, the travel was publicly discussed at the 2023 State of the County address, the February 14, 2023, Finance/Government Operations and Economic Development Committee, and the February 21, 2023, Board of Supervisors meetings-all of which are in the county's archives.

The travel was consistent will all policies and laws."

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