U.S. Lawyer Erik Siebert resigned his place Friday amid stress from Trump administration officers to deliver a prison case in opposition to New York Lawyer Normal Letitia James.
Siebert, the U.S. legal professional for the japanese district of Virginia, knowledgeable staff at his workplace in Alexandria of his resolution to resign in an e-mail that was obtained by ABC Information.
“For the final eight months, I’ve had the pleasure of main the best and most distinctive of DOJ staff, who care deeply about our nation and our EDVA group,” Siebert wrote. “Thanks for the teachings you’ve gotten taught me, the sacrifices you’ve gotten made, and the pursuit of justice you try for day-after-day.”
Siebert was notified of the president’s intention to fireside him Thursday, sources stated, and Trump stated Friday afternoon within the Oval Workplace that he needed Siebert “out” of his place.
ABC Information has reported that Trump was anticipated to fireside Siebert after investigators have been unable to seek out incriminating proof of mortgage fraud in opposition to James, in response to sources. Trump officers had pushed Siebert to deliver prices in opposition to James, regardless of investigators failing to seek out clear proof that she dedicated against the law, sources stated.
“It appears to me like she may be very responsible of one thing, however I actually do not know,” Trump advised reporters within the Oval Workplace on Friday.
When requested about Siebert, Trump stated he needed him “out” of the place as a result of Virginia’s two Democratic Senators supported his nomination. Trump nominated Siebert for the place in Could, and he has served because the interim U.S. legal professional since Trump’s inauguration.
Erik Siebert, interim U.S. Lawyer for the japanese district of Virginia, speaks throughout a information convention about an MS-13 gang chief who was arrested in an operation by the Virginia Homeland Safety Job Pressure, on the Manassas FBI Area Workplace, March 27, 2025, in Manassas, Va.
Rod Lamkey/AP
“Once I noticed that he received accredited by these two males, I stated, pull it, as a result of he cannot be any good,” Trump stated. “Once I discovered that they voted for him, I stated, I do not actually need him.”
Whereas Siebert resigned from his place as interim U.S. legal professional, he advised his colleagues that he intends to proceed working as a line prosecutor within the workplace, sources conversant in the matter stated.
It’s unclear if he will likely be permitted to return to his earlier position as an assistant U.S. legal professional or be eliminated totally from the Division of Justice.
Siebert’s removing leaves one of many nation’s most essential U.S. legal professional’s places of work with no chief, in response to sources, as Siebert’s deputy has already left her place and intends to proceed work within the workplace as a line prosecutor. Together with her place vacant, there’s presently no reply to who particularly will take over the workplace and whether or not any of its attorneys have any authority to proceed common prosecutorial exercise.
The investigation into James started in April when Invoice Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Company, despatched the Division of Justice a prison referral alleging that James falsified information associated to her 2023 buy of a house in Virginia.
After investigating the allegations for 5 months and interviewing 15 witnesses, investigators have been unable to seek out clear proof that James knowingly falsified information to acquire higher mortgage phrases, ABC Information first reported earlier this week.
James has denied wrongdoing, and her lawyer, in an announcement on Friday, known as the reported firing of Siebert a “brazen assault on the rule of regulation.”
“Firing folks till he finds somebody who will bend the regulation to hold out his revenge has been the President’s sample — and it is unlawful,” Abbe Lowell stated Friday morning in an announcement to ABC Information. “Punishing this prosecutor, a Trump appointee, for doing his job sends a transparent and chilling message that anybody who dares uphold the regulation over politics will face the identical destiny.”
The forcing out of Siebert as a result of he refused to cost certainly one of Trump’s political rivals marks an escalation in what the president’s critics have known as a retribution marketing campaign, with ongoing investigations additionally focusing on Sen. Adam Schiff and Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook dinner.
Trump has repeatedly accused James — who efficiently introduced a civil fraud case in opposition to him final 12 months and leads a number of lawsuits difficult his administration’s insurance policies — of focusing on him for political causes, calling her “biased and corrupt.”
James is “a horror present who ran on the idea that she was going to get Trump earlier than she even knew something about me,” Trump stated throughout his civil fraud trial in 2023. “This has to do with election interference, plain and easy. Now we have a corrupt legal professional basic on this state.”
Lawyer Normal Letitia James sits within the courtroom throughout the civil fraud trial of former President Donald Trump at New York Supreme Court docket, Jan. 11, 2024, in New York.
Seth Wenig/Pool/Getty Pictures
Following a three-month trial, a New York choose concluded that Trump and his household had dedicated a decade of enterprise fraud by overstating the worth of their properties to get favorable mortgage phrases, fining Trump and his sons practically half a billion {dollars}. An appeals courtroom subsequently tossed the monetary penalty however upheld the discovering that Trump dedicated fraud.
A former police officer with Washington, D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Division, Siebert graduated from regulation college in 2009 and has labored as an assistant United States legal professional within the Jap District of Virginia since 2010. Along with serving as a line prosecutor, Siebert headed the workplace’s organized drug crime job power and supervised the workplace’s Richmond division from 2019 to 2024.
Siebert started serving because the interim U.S. legal professional on Jan. 21 after the late Jessica Aber, who ran the workplace from 2021-25, resigned following President Trump’s inauguration. Each of Virginia’s Democratic senators, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, beneficial Siebert to Trump in April, and Trump nominated him for the place in Could.
“Mr. Siebert has devoted his profession to defending public security, from his work with the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Division to his dealing with of violent crimes and firearms trafficking as a line Assistant U.S. Lawyer within the Jap District of Virginia. Along with his expertise and dedication to service, Mr. Siebert is supplied to deal with the challenges and essential obligations related to this place,” Warner and Kaine stated in an announcement in Could, pledging to help his nomination.
