Trump Forces Out the U.S. Attorney Who Declined to Charge Letitia James

Erik Siebert, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, resigned on September 19, 2025 after the White House gave him the choice of stepping down or being fired. Reporting attributed his removal to his unwillingness to bring mortgage-fraud charges against New York Attorney General Letitia James, who had sued Trump and his company in a civil fraud case. Trump said he had withdrawn Siebert's nomination for the permanent post, telling reporters that when he saw the prosecutor had been approved by Virginia's two Democratic senators, "I said, pull it because he can't be any good" — a reference to Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, who had cleared the nomination under the Senate's blue slip custom. On September 22, Trump's former personal attorney Lindsey Halligan was sworn in as interim U.S. Attorney.

United States attorneys serve at the president's pleasure, so the removal was within his authority. The significance lies in the stated reason: a career prosecutor's charging judgment in a case involving a presidential adversary was treated as grounds for dismissal, and the office was handed to a lawyer who had represented the president personally. That bears on the norm, long maintained across administrations, that charging decisions are insulated from White House direction.

Halligan secured an indictment of former FBI Director James Comey three days after taking office. A federal judge later ruled her appointment invalid.