Trump said he has retracted Eric Siebert’s appointment to US lawyers for the Eastern District of Virginia.
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WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump said he investigated New York Attorney General Letitia James and fired a U.S. lawyer a few hours after he signaled his complaints with prosecutors.
Trump said he has retracted Eric Sheebert’s appointment for U.S. lawyers for the Eastern District of Virginia over “unusually strong support” from state Democrats.
“He didn’t quit, I fired him! Next time I let him go as a Democrat, not a Republican,” Trump wrote in a post on True Society on September 20.
According to the New York Times, Washington Post and other outlets, he was overseeing a criminal mortgage investigation into James before he left the Post Friday after Trump asked him to be removed from work.
Sheebert had informed the Department of Justice that there was insufficient evidence to pursue the charges against James, the outlet reported. He also raised concerns about another lawsuit against former FBI director James Comey.
In addition to handling the mortgage fraud investigation against James, Siebert’s office is also involved in Comey’s criminal investigation in connection with past probes of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
“I want him,” Trump told reporters Friday.
Siebert later said in an email obtained by the outlet that he had resigned.
“For the past eight months, I have been able to lead the best and most exceptional of DOJ employees who have a deep interest in our country and the EDVA community,” he writes. “I appreciate the lessons you taught me, the sacrifices you have made, and the pursuit of justice you strive for every day.”
Siebert was first appointed interim US attorney in January, and was later appointed by the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia after his temporary appointment expired. Trump previously nominated him to be confirmed by the Republican-controlled US Senate.
Two Virginia Democrat Senators, Tim Kane and Mark Warner, supported his nomination.
They said in a September 19 statement that Trump pushed Siebert out as “a ethical prosecutor who refused to file criminal charges against Trump’s perceived enemies when the facts didn’t support it.”
“The Eastern District of Virginia is at the forefront of important cases that are essential to our national security, and like American courts, we should focus on justice instead of revenge on light-skinned presidents,” the senator wrote.
Trump has tried to clean up the Justice Department, which is deemed dishonest because he uses US government agencies to target political rivals.
James is one of at least three civil servants facing investigation into mortgage fraud, along with Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California and Democrat Sen. Lisa Cook, a Democrat appointee Trump has tried to fire. All three deny fraud.
As a member of the House, Schiff led the first bluff against Trump to withhold aid from Ukraine to pressure him to carry out the political favors of President Voldime Zelensky. Schiff also joined the committee that investigated the Capitol attack on January 6, 2021.
Trump repeatedly complained about James. The New York judge in the case discovered that Trump and his family business had fraudulently inflated the value of his assets, but last month the New York Court of Appeals abandoned the penalty while maintaining a fraud case against him.
The investigation into James was caused by Chief Bill Palt, a federal housing finance agency who allegedly misdescribed his home in Norfolk, Virginia as a primary residence in order to secure a more favorable interest rate on his mortgage. Palt also said James may have inaccurately described the Brooklyn home.
James’ attorney, Abbe Lowell, repeatedly denied that she had done something wrong and accused DOJ of seeking retaliation against her for the civil lawsuit she brought against Trump.
Contribution: Reuters
