Eastern District of Virginia US Attorney Erik Siebert Resigns Under Trump Pressure to Charge Letitia James

On September 20, 2025, Erik Siebert resigned as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia after President Trump publicly stated he wanted Siebert “out” following a monthslong mortgage fraud investigation into New York Attorney General Letitia James that failed to produce criminal charges. Siebert, whom Trump had nominated to lead the office earlier in 2025 after more than a decade of service there, faced intense pressure from the Trump administration to bring charges against James based on alleged paperwork discrepancies involving her Brooklyn townhouse and a Virginia home.

The Justice Department had spent months investigating James under pressure from administration officials, but Siebert’s office had not filed charges despite the extended investigation. Trump’s public criticism and demand for Siebert’s removal came amid a broader pattern of the administration targeting James, who had long been a source of outrage for Trump following her successful 2024 lawsuit against him and his company that resulted in a massive financial penalty (later thrown out by an appeals court in August 2025). Siebert’s top deputy, Maya Song, also announced she would leave her position as First Assistant U.S. Attorney and work as a line prosecutor.

The forced resignation represents a significant escalation in the Trump administration’s efforts to pressure federal prosecutors to bring politically motivated charges against the president’s perceived enemies. Legal experts and former DOJ officials expressed alarm at the president’s direct intervention to remove a U.S. Attorney for refusing to bring charges that prosecutors determined lacked sufficient evidence. The incident underscores the erosion of prosecutorial independence and the weaponization of the Justice Department to pursue Trump’s political adversaries, a pattern that would continue with subsequent personnel changes in the Eastern District of Virginia office.