U.S. Attorney Erik Siebert resigned Friday evening after his office declined to seek an indictment of New York Attorney General Letitia James, according to people familiar with the matter and multiple news reports.
Siebert led the Eastern District of Virginia, one of the Justice Department’s most prominent posts. His departure followed days of mounting pressure from the White House to criminally charge James.
The president disputed that Siebert quit. In an early Saturday social media post, he wrote, “He didn’t quit, I fired him,” and said he had withdrawn Siebert’s nomination for a full four-year term.
He also faulted the strong support Siebert received from Virginia’s Democratic senators.
The episode underscores a widening rift over prosecutorial independence and the role politics is playing inside federal law enforcement.
Investigators had spent months reviewing allegations that James made false statements tied to a Virginia home purchase.
After interviewing witnesses and reviewing records, investigators and senior Justice Department officials concluded there was not enough evidence to bring a criminal case, according to people briefed on the process. James has denied wrongdoing.
What happens next in Virginia remains fluid, Staff in the Eastern District of Virginia received an email Saturday from Justice Department official Mary “Maggie” Cleary stating she had been named acting head of the office.
Separately, the president said he will nominate senior White House aide Lindsey Halligan to lead the office.
Any permanent appointment would require Senate confirmation.
Siebert, a career federal prosecutor who joined the office in 2010, became interim U.S. attorney in January and was formally nominated to a full term in May.
His nomination advanced through the Senate Judiciary Committee and was placed on the Senate’s executive calendar on September 11.
The Justice Department’s biography for Siebert lists more than a decade of service in the district and prior work as a Washington, D.C., police officer.
The political fight around his exit has been unusually public. The president told reporters Friday he wanted Siebert “out.”
In weekend statements, Virginia Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner defended Siebert and said he acted ethically by declining to bring charges unsupported by the facts.
The dispute has drawn fresh scrutiny to the traditional firewall that separates the White House from day-to-day prosecutorial decisions.
The turnover at one of the country’s most consequential U.S. attorney’s offices bears watching.
The Eastern District of Virginia handles national security matters, cybercrime, procurement fraud, and complex financial cases.
Leadership uncertainty can slow decisions on indictments, settlements, and cooperation deals, and it can shift enforcement priorities in ways that affect timelines for companies under scrutiny or seeking to self-report.
Even if day-to-day cases continue, the signal from Washington is unmistakable. Political imperatives are testing institutional guardrails, and the ripple effects could reach far beyond a single investigation in Norfolk.
The investigation into James is not closed, according to people familiar with the matter, but the evidence threshold set by career prosecutors remains unchanged.
Absent new facts, the outcome that prompted Siebert’s departure is unlikely to shift.
The larger question is whether the clash over a single case becomes a template for how prosecutorial disagreements are resolved during the current term.
