WASHINGTON — The federal prosecutor weighing mortgage fraud claims against New York state Attorney General Letitia James resigned Friday — after President Trump declared, “I want him out.”
“This evening, I submitted my resignation as Interim U.S. Attorney for [Eastern District of Virginia],” Siebert wrote in an email to staffers. “For the last eight months, I have had the pleasure of leading the finest and most exceptional of DOJ employees who care deeply about our nation and our EDVA community.”
“Thank you for the lessons you have taught me, the sacrifices you have made, and the pursuit of justice you strive for every day,” he added.
Siebert is leaving his post as top prosecutor of the Eastern District of Virginia amid reports he was under pressure from the Trump administration related to the James probe.
President Trump said Friday that US attorney Erik Siebert, who’s weighing mortgage fraud charges on New York Attorney General Leticia James, should be fired. AP“I want him out,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office in response to a question about Siebert, whom he nominated back in May.
Siebert had yet to be confirmed by the Senate, but Trump said he changed his mind after he learned that Virginia’s two Democratic senators, Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, had expressed support for him.
The Trump administration allies have been pushing for James to be rung up on charges related to falsifying mortgage information for a Virginia and New York properties REUTERS“I have other people, judges, and I have US attorneys for other states where I have the same situation. And they can’t get approved. So when I learned that they voted for him, I said, ‘I don’t really want him.'”
In April, Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte requested that the FBI open an investigation into James over allegations of mortgage fraud.
“I want him out,” the president told reporters in the Oval Office, referring to Siebert. REUTERSPulte alleged James “falsified records” to obtain favorable loans on a home she purchased in 2023 in Virginia and a Brooklyn brownstone she’s owned since 2001.
James allegedly indicated the Norfolk, Va. home would be her “principal residence” while acting as state attorney general. She has dismissed the allegations as “baseless” and part of a “revenge tour” by Trump because she brought civil fraud charges against him and his company, the Trump Organization.
“We’re going to see what happens,” Trump said of the case, in which prosecutors have convened a grand jury to hear evidence against James. “I am not following it very closely. It looks to me like she’s very guilty of something, but I really don’t know.”
A source familiar with the process told The Post earlier Friday that Justice Department Special Attorney Ed Martin was due to meet Monday with Siebert to discuss the progress of the case against James.
If Siebert decided not to move forward with charges, standard procedure would be for him to write a memo recommending the case be dropped and send it up the chain of command.
The source said that memo had not been authored or sent as of midday Friday.
The US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.
