US attorney under pressure to charge Letitia James in mortgage fraud case is resigning: AP sources

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WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal prosecutor in Virginia whose monthslong mortgage fraud investigation into New York Attorney General Letitia James has not resulted in criminal charges is resigning under pressure from the Trump administration, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Friday.

Erik Siebert is being replaced as U.S. attorney for prestigious the Eastern District of Virginia office amid a push by Trump administration officials to indict James, a perceived adversary of the president who has successfully sued him for fraud. The people who confirmed his plans to resign spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter.

To the extent the effort to remove Siebert is designed to hasten criminal charges, the move is likely to deepen concerns that the department — already investigating other public figures President Donald Trump regards as foes — is being weaponized by a White House seeking to have its prosecutorial powers used for purposes of retribution.

Trump said earlier Friday that he wanted Siebert "out," and said he believes James is “really guilty of something.”

James’ lawyers have vigorously denied any allegations and characterized the investigation as an act of political revenge.

It was not immediately clear Friday afternoon who would replace Siebert, who was nominated by Trump to the top job in the office after having worked there for more than a decade. Siebert’s top deputy, Maya Song, is also leaving her position as first assistant U.S. attorney and will work as a line prosecutor, one of the people familiar with the matter said.

Justice Department spokespeople declined to comment.

Trump administration officials have been aggressively pursuing allegations against James arising from alleged paperwork discrepancies on her Brooklyn townhouse and a Virginia home. The Justice Department has spent months conducting the investigation but has yet to bring charges, and there’s been no indication that prosecutors have managed to uncover any degree of incriminating evidence that could support bringing an indictment.

ABC News was first to report that Trump administration officials were pressuring prosecutors to bring charges and that the Republican administration was preparing to oust Siebert, who was nominated by Trump to the top job in the office after having worked there for more than a decade.

James has long been a particular source of outrage for Trump, in part because of a lawsuit she filed against him and his company that resulted in a massive financial penalty. That penalty was thrown out last month by an appeals court that narrowly upheld a judge’s finding that Trump had engaged in fraud by exaggerating his wealth for decades.

The case has taken a series of unorthodox turns. It emerged last month that Ed Martin, who helms the Justice Department’s Weaponization Working Group and is helping coordinate the investigation, had sent a letter urging James to resign from office “as an act of good faith” after starting his mortgage fraud investigation of her. He later turned up outside James’ Brooklyn townhouse in a “Columbo”-esque trench coat. A New York Post writer at the scene observed him tell a neighbor: “I’m just looking at houses, interesting houses. It’s an important house.”

James’ lawyer, Abbe Lowell, told Martin in a letter that the request for James’ resignation defied Justice Department standards and codes of professional responsibility and legal ethics.

The Justice Department “has firm policies against using investigations and against using prosecutorial power for achieving political ends,” Lowell wrote. “This is ever more the case when that demand is made to seek political revenge against a public official in the opposite party.”

A former District of Columbia police officer, Siebert joined the Eastern District of Virginia — an elite Justice Department prosecution office with a history of sophisticated national security and criminal cases — in 2010. He was nominated to the role of U.S. attorney by Trump this year with the backing of the state’s two Democratic senators, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine.

The office has separately been involved in investigating matters related to the years-old investigation into potential ties between Russia and Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, a longstanding grievance of the president. No charges have been announced as part of that work.

Although U.S. attorneys are presidential appointees, they are rarely fired. But the Trump administration has repeatedly disregarded norms and traditions meant to insulate Justice Department prosecutors from White House political influence. Prosecutors and other support personnel who worked on the special counsel team of Jack Smith that investigated and prosecuted Trump have been fired, as was Maurene Comey, whose father, former FBI Director James Comey, was terminated by Trump months into his first term amid the Russia election interference investigation.

Martin’s investigation stems from a letter Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte sent to Attorney General Pam Bondi in April asking her to investigate and consider prosecuting James, alleging she had “falsified bank documents and property records.”

Pulte, whose agency regulates mortgage financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, cited “media reports” claiming James had falsely listed a Virginia home as her principal residence, and he suggested she may have been trying to avoid higher interest rates that often apply to second homes.

Records show James was listed as a co-borrower on a house her niece was buying in 2023. Lowell said records and correspondence easily disproved Pulte’s allegation. While James signed a power-of-attorney form that, Lowell said, “mistakenly stated the property to be Ms. James’ principal residence,” she sent an email to her mortgage loan broker around the same time that made clear the property “WILL NOT be my primary residence.”

____ Associated Press writer Michael R. Sisak in New York contributed to this report.