President Donald Trump is expected to fire Erik Siebert, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, because he was unable to dig up any mortgage fraud evidence on New York Attorney General Letitia James, reportsABC News.
This decision, ABC says, "could throw into crisis one of the most prominent U.S. attorney's offices, which handles a bulk of the country's espionage and terrorism cases due to its proximity to Washington, D.C., and heighten concerns about Trump's alleged use of the DOJ to target his political adversaries."
The president has futilely used dubious claims of mortgage fraud to target Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, accused of occupying two homes as her main residence, despite his own Cabinet member, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, showing evidence of the exact same accusation.
Siebert was nominated to the position by Trump last May.
ABC reported Wednesday that after a five-month investigation, federal prosecutors in Virginia found "no clear evidence to prove that James had knowingly committed mortgage fraud when she purchased a home in the state in 2023."
Despite that, Trump still pressured prosecutors to bring against her to no avail.
If the president does fire Siebert, sources tell ABC he will replace him with someone who will bring charges against James, whom Trump has relentlessly attacked since she successfully brought a civil fraud case against him last year and leads multiple lawsuits challenging his administration's policies.
"To be clear, Trump is about to issue retribution to HIS NOMINEE because the prosecutor couldn't legitimately deliver the retribution that Trump demanded against New York's AG," journalist Jim Roberts posted on Bluesky.