US Attorney Erik Siebert Resigns Following Trump’s Call for Dismissal
Erik Siebert, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, has resigned, informing his staff via email, according to the New York Times and other U.S. media outlets.
The resignation came just hours after former President Donald Trump, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, said of Siebert, “I want him out,” in response to a question about firing him.
Siebert had recently faced pressure to pursue legal action against two of Trump’s political adversaries: former FBI Director James Comey, who Trump fired in 2017, and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Some administration officials reportedly argued for Siebert to remain in his post despite the pressure.
Officials told the Washington Post that Siebert had declined to prosecute Comey over allegations of lying to Congress and found insufficient evidence to charge James with mortgage fraud.
Comey, fired during his investigation into potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia in the 2016 election, has remained a vocal critic of Trump. Meanwhile, James, as New York’s state prosecutor, had brought a $464 million case against Trump, alleging he and his company inflated property values to secure favorable loans and insurance.
Trump has previously criticized James and other Democratic officials, including Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte, who accused them of falsifying mortgage documents. Asked about James’s case on Friday, Trump said, “It looks to me like she’s really guilty of something, but I really don’t know.”
Siebert, a Virginia Military Institute graduate and former Washington police officer, oversaw a team of roughly 300 prosecutors in a district frequently handling high-profile national security cases.
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