Donald Trump took to Truth Social just after midnight on Friday to insist that he had fired Erik Siebert, his hand-picked U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, despite reports that Siebert had already resigned hours earlier.
“He didn’t quit, I fired him!” Trump wrote at 12:14 a.m. According to reports, Siebert faced pressure from within the administration to pursue mortgage fraud charges against New York Attorney General Letitia James. James, a frequent Trump critic, won a civil fraud case against him earlier this year.
In April, Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, urged Trump to take aim at James. The administration directed Siebert to examine whether James improperly listed her Virginia home as a primary residence to secure favorable loan terms.
After months of review, investigators found no basis for prosecution. The only reference to the home being a primary residence appeared on a limited power of attorney form that allowed James’ niece and co-purchaser to sign documents. With no evidence to support charges, Siebert declined to move forward.
On Wednesday evening, ABC News reported that Trump was expected to fire Siebert. But by 7:53 p.m.—four and a half hours before Trump’s Truth Social post—ABC reported that Siebert had already resigned. In an email to staff, Siebert confirmed his departure but made no mention of the James investigation.
Earlier that day, Trump told reporters he was “not following” the case closely but voiced doubts about Siebert because he had been confirmed with support from Virginia’s Democratic Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner.
“They voted for this guy, and I have other people, judges, and U.S. Attorneys from other states who have the same situation, and they can’t get approved,” Trump said in an Oval Office photo op with ABC’s Jonathan Karl. “So when I learned that they voted [for Siebert], I said, I don’t really want him.”
Trump nominated Siebert in May, making the fallout especially unusual. University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias expressed surprise at Trump’s criticism. He noted that Siebert had been carrying out Trump’s broader agenda, particularly through aggressive immigration enforcement.
“He’s certainly carrying out something that the president wants, and that (Gov. Glenn) Youngkin has strongly supported,” Tobias told Richmond.com. “It’s not as if he’s a renegade.”