US attorney under pressure to charge Letitia James in mortgage fraud
case has resigned
[September 20, 2025]
By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and ERIC TUCKER
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal prosecutor in Virginia whose monthslong
mortgage fraud investigation into New York Attorney General Letitia
James has not resulted in criminal charges resigned Friday under
pressure from the Trump administration.
Erik Siebert confirmed his departure in an email to colleagues, reviewed
by The Associated Press, in which he praised them as the “finest and
most exceptional” of Justice Department employees but made no mention of
the political turmoil that preceded his resignation.
The replacement of Siebert as U.S. attorney for the prestigious Eastern
District of Virginia office comes amid a push by Trump administration
officials to indict James, a perceived adversary of the president who
has successfully sued him for fraud. President Donald Trump told
reporters in the Oval Office on Friday that he wanted Siebert “out” and
multiple people familiar with the matter later told the AP that Siebert
had informed his colleagues of his plan to resign from the position.
The administration's effort to oust him from the job represents a
further erosion of norms meant to insulate the Justice Department from
White House influence on prosecutorial decisions. The move is likely to
deepen concerns that the department — already investigating other public
figures Trump regards as foes — is being weaponized by a White House
seeking to have its prosecutorial powers used for purposes of
retribution.
It was not immediately clear Friday afternoon who would replace Siebert,
who was nominated by Trump to the top job in the office this year after
having worked there for more than a decade. Siebert’s top deputy, Maya
Song, is also leaving her position as first assistant U.S. attorney and
will work as a line prosecutor, one of the people familiar with the
matter said.
Justice Department spokespeople declined to comment.
Trump administration officials have been aggressively pursuing
allegations against James arising from alleged paperwork discrepancies
on her Brooklyn townhouse and a Virginia home. The Justice Department
has spent months conducting the investigation but has yet to bring
charges, and there’s been no indication that prosecutors have managed to
uncover any degree of incriminating evidence that could support bringing
an indictment.
Asked about the issue at the White House Friday, Trump, without citing
any evidence, said, “It looks to me like she’s really guilty of
something, but I really don’t know.” Trump also said he was bothered
that Siebert had been supported by the state’s two Democratic senators.
James’ lawyers have vigorously denied any allegations and characterized
the investigation as an act of political revenge.
ABC News was first to report that Trump administration officials were
pressuring prosecutors to bring charges and that the Republican
administration was preparing to oust Siebert.
James has long been a particular source of outrage for Trump, in part
because of a lawsuit she filed against him and his company that resulted
in a massive financial penalty last year. That penalty was thrown out
last month by an appeals court that narrowly upheld a judge’s finding
that Trump had engaged in fraud by exaggerating his wealth for decades.
The case has taken a series of unorthodox turns. It emerged last month
that Ed Martin, who leads the Justice Department’s Weaponization Working
Group and is helping coordinate the investigation, had sent a letter
urging James to resign from office “as an act of good faith” after
starting his mortgage fraud investigation of her. He later turned up
outside James’ Brooklyn townhouse in a “Columbo”-esque trench coat. A
New York Post writer at the scene observed him tell a neighbor: “I’m
just looking at houses, interesting houses. It’s an important house.”
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James’ lawyer, Abbe Lowell, told Martin in a letter that the request for
James’ resignation defied Justice Department standards and codes of
professional responsibility and legal ethics.
The Justice Department “has firm policies against using investigations
and against using prosecutorial power for achieving political ends,”
Lowell wrote. “This is ever more the case when that demand is made to
seek political revenge against a public official in the opposite party.”
A former District of Columbia police officer, Siebert joined the Eastern
District of Virginia, an elite Justice Department prosecution office
with a history of sophisticated national security and criminal cases, in
2010. He was nominated to the role of U.S. attorney by Trump this year
with the backing of the state’s two Democratic senators, Mark Warner and
Tim Kaine.
The office has separately been involved in investigating matters related
to the years-old investigation into potential ties between Russia and
Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, a longstanding grievance of the
president. No charges have been announced as part of that work.
Although U.S. attorneys are presidential appointees, they are rarely
fired. But the Trump administration has repeatedly disregarded norms and
traditions meant to protect Justice Department prosecutors from White
House political influence.
Prosecutors and other support personnel who worked on the special
counsel team of Jack Smith that investigated and prosecuted Trump have
been fired, as was Maurene Comey, a federal prosecutor in New York whose
father, former FBI Director James Comey, was terminated by Trump months
into his first term amid the Russia election interference investigation.
Martin’s investigation stems from a letter Federal Housing Finance
Agency Director William Pulte sent to Attorney General Pam Bondi in
April asking her to investigate and consider prosecuting James, alleging
she had “falsified bank documents and property records.”
Pulte, whose agency regulates mortgage financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac, cited “media reports” claiming James had falsely listed a Virginia
home as her principal residence, and he suggested she may have been
trying to avoid higher interest rates that often apply to second homes.
Records show James was listed as a co-borrower on a house her niece was
buying in 2023. Lowell said records and correspondence easily disproved
Pulte’s allegation. While James signed a power-of-attorney form that,
Lowell said, “mistakenly stated the property to be Ms. James’ principal
residence,” she sent an email to her mortgage loan broker around the
same time that made clear the property “WILL NOT be my primary
residence.”
____
Associated Press writer Michael R. Sisak in New York contributed to this
report.
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