U.S. Legal professional Erik Siebert resigned his place Friday amid stress from Trump administration officers to convey a criminal case in opposition to New York Legal professional Common Letitia James.
Siebert, the U.S. legal professional for the jap district of Virginia, knowledgeable staff at his workplace in Alexandria of his determination 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 neighborhood,” Siebert wrote. “Thanks for the teachings you may have taught me, the sacrifices you may have made, and the pursuit of justice you try for day by day.”
“He didn’t stop, I fired him!” Trump wrote in an early Saturday morning put up on his social media platform.
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 expected to fire Siebert after investigators have been unable to seek out incriminating proof of mortgage fraud in opposition to James, in line with sources. Trump officers had pushed Siebert to convey prices in opposition to James, regardless of investigators failing to seek out clear proof that she dedicated against the law, sources stated.
“It seems to me like she could be very responsible of one thing, however I actually do not know,” Trump informed reporters within the Oval Workplace on Friday.
Erik Siebert, interim U.S. Legal professional for the jap 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 Power, on the Manassas FBI Subject Workplace, March 27, 2025, in Manassas, Va.
Rod Lamkey/AP
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.
“Once I noticed that he acquired accepted by these two males, I stated, pull it, as a result of he cannot be any good,” Trump stated. “Once I realized that they voted for him, I stated, I do not actually need him.”
In his subsequent social media put up, Trump wrote, “At the moment I withdrew the Nomination of Erik Siebert as U.S. Legal professional for the Japanese District of Virginia, after I was knowledgeable that he obtained the UNUSUALLY STRONG assist of the 2 completely horrible, sleazebag Democrat Senators, from the Nice State of Virginia. Subsequent time let him go in as a Democrat, not a Republican.”
Whereas Siebert resigned from his place as interim U.S. legal professional, he informed 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 shall be permitted to return to his earlier position as an assistant U.S. legal professional.
Siebert’s elimination leaves one of many nation’s most essential U.S. legal professional’s workplaces and not using a chief, in line with sources, as Siebert’s deputy has already left her place and intends to proceed work within the workplace as a line prosecutor. Along with her place vacant, there may be 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 felony referral alleging that James falsified data 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 data to acquire higher mortgage phrases, ABC Information first reported earlier this week.
James has denied wrongdoing, and her lawyer, in a press release on Friday, known as the reported firing of Siebert a “brazen assault on the rule of regulation.”
“Firing individuals 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 a press release 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 considered 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.
Legal professional Common Letitia James sits within the courtroom through the civil fraud trial of former President Donald Trump at New York Supreme Courtroom, Jan. 11, 2024, in New York.
Seth Wenig/Pool/Getty Pictures
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 premise 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 normal on this state.”
Following a three-month trial, a New York choose concluded that Trump and his household had dedicated a decade of business 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 faculty in 2009 and has labored as an assistant United States legal professional within the Japanese District of Virginia since 2010. Along with serving as a line prosecutor, Siebert headed the workplace’s organized drug crime process 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. Legal professional within the Japanese 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 a press release in Could, pledging to assist his nomination.
