Trump set to oust U.S. attorney over Letitia James probe
White House signals replacement of U.S. Attorney Erik Siebert after he could not find mortgage-fraud evidence against New York Attorney General Letitia James, despite internal pressure to charge.
President Donald Trump is poised to fire U.S. Attorney Erik Siebert after he failed to secure charges against New York Attorney General Letitia James in a mortgage-fraud investigation, despite pressure from the White House, according to ABC News.
ABC News reported on Thursday night that Trump officials pressed Siebert to pursue charges tied to James's 2023 Virginia home purchase, even as prosecutors in Virginia said they could not find clear evidence of a crime. Officials told ABC that Siebert’s last day on the job would be Friday as the administration moves to appoint a successor more aggressive in pursuing the James matter.
The broader feud between Trump and James stretches back to her successful 2023-24 action against the Trump Organization for alleged fraud. A New York judge, Arthur Engoron, ordered the company to pay about $354 million in damages, a figure later overturned by a New York appeals court last month. Those rulings have framed the current push to replace Siebert with a U.S. attorney who will more aggressively investigate James.
The mortgage-fraud inquiry began in April after Bill Pulte, who leads the Federal Housing Finance Agency, referred the matter to the DOJ. Pulte described the case as potentially “riddled with mortgage fraud,” a claim he reiterated in televised interviews as he argued that James used knowledge of the law to pursue Trump. Prosecutors have said James’s team allegedly claimed her Virginia property was a primary residence on a financial document related to the 2023 purchase, a point critics say raises questions about residency requirements for an elected official.
James is legally required to reside in New York, where she serves as attorney general, and Trump publicly criticized her on social media, urging resignation and casting the case as part of a broader political vendetta. In April, Trump wrote on Truth Social that James, whom he has repeatedly labeled corrupt, should resign immediately, a line that has echoed through allies who argue that the DOJ is being used to target political opponents.
Siebert, nominated by Trump in May, has faced pressure from within the White House to deliver charges against James. The administration’s plan now appears to be to replace him with a U.S. attorney who would take a tougher approach to the James investigation. Critics from across the political spectrum have accused the DOJ of being leveraged for partisan ends, a point Democrats and other opponents say warrants careful scrutiny of how prosecutions are pursued in politically sensitive cases.
The Daily Mail, which published the initial brief on the matter, did not receive comment from the White House for its report, and the New York attorney general’s office did not respond to requests for comment.