By Sarah N Lynch and Jeff Mason, for Reuters
US President Donald Trump said he had soured on US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Erik Siebert. Photo: ALON SKUY / AFP
- Erik Siebert tells staff of his resignation in an internal email
- 'I want him out,' Trump told reporters, before Siebert resigned, later says Siebert was fired
- Siebert hesitated to indict James due to weak evidence, sources say
- Trump's actions seen as targeting political rivals
- James' attorney denies wrongdoing, accuses head of the probe Ed Martin of seeking retribution.
The top prosecutor who is overseeing a criminal mortgage fraud investigation into New York Attorney General Letitia James resigned from his post on Friday, after US President Donald Trump called for him to be removed from the job, according to an internal email seen by Reuters and a person familiar with the matter.
Erik Siebert, the US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, informed his staff about his resignation, not long after Trump told reporters at the White House he had lost confidence in him.
"This evening, I submitted my resignation as Interim US Attorney for EDVA," he wrote. "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."
Siebert could not immediately be reached for comment.
On Friday, Trump told reporters: "I want him out."
Then, on Saturday, Trump said he had withdrawn the nomination of Siebert to be a federal prosecutor in Virginia.
"Today, I withdrew the nomination of Erik Siebert as US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, when I was informed that he received the UNUSUALLY STRONG support" of two Democratic senators, Trump posted on his Truth Social app.
"He didn't quit, I fired him!"
Siebert has previously expressed doubts about the strength of the case, according to two people familiar with the matter. Before Trump's public comments, administration officials privately informed Siebert that the White House might fire him, the two sources added.
Siebert was first appointed as interim US Attorney in January and later appointed by the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, after his temporary appointment expired. Trump had also previously nominated him to be confirmed by the Republican-controlled US Senate.
In addition to handling the mortgage fraud probe against James, Siebert's office has also been involved in a separate criminal investigation of former FBI director James Comey, related to the agency's past probes of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Siebert expressed a view that the evidence in both cases was weak and that it would be difficult to bring an indictment against them, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to discuss non-public investigations and personnel issues.
The threats to fire Siebert were first reported by ABC News.
Trump has attempted to purge the Justice Department of officials viewed as disloyal, as he leverages US government agencies to target political rivals.
James is one of at least three public officials facing mortgage fraud investigations, along with US Senator Adam Schiff of California and Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook, whom Trump has tried to fire. All three have denied wrongdoing.
Trump has repeatedly complained about James, who pursued a civil fraud case against him that resulted in a half-billion-dollar penalty. A New York judge in the case found that Trump and his family business fraudulently inflated the value of his assets, although a New York appeals court last month threw that penalty out, while preserving the fraud case against him.
The investigation into James was sparked by Federal Housing Finance Agency chief Bill Pulte, who alleged that James falsely described her Norfolk, Virginia, home as a primary residence to secure a more favourable interest rate on a home mortgage loan. Pulte also said James may have inaccurately described her Brooklyn home.
Legal experts and a person familiar with the Justice Department's thinking on the case have said the evidence was weak and unlikely to lead to a criminal charge.
Pulte declined to comment earlier on Friday, when contacted by Reuters.
The probe is also being handled by Justice Department official Ed Martin, a staunch Trump ally, who is involved in the mortgage fraud probes targeting Cook and Schiff.
After the investigation into James was under way, Martin took the unusual step of posing for a photograph outside James' Brooklyn home clad in a brown trench coat.
The photo was published in the New York Post and he told the newspaper his job was to "stick the landing". Justice Department rules governing prosecutorial conduct forbid such behaviour.
James' attorney, Abbe Lowell, has repeatedly denied that she did anything wrong and has accused Martin of seeking retribution against her, because of the civil case she brought against Trump.
- Reuters
