# Erik Siebert **Erik Siebert** was the U.S. Attorney for the **Eastern District of Virginia** until Sept. 19, 2025, when he resigned under pressure from Trump. His prosecutors had reportedly concluded there was not enough evidence to charge [[Letitia James]] and had balked at charging [[James Comey]]. His departure made way for [[Lindsey Halligan]], who brought both indictments within weeks. Both were dismissed in November because Halligan's appointment was unlawful. Siebert is the **personnel** rung of the [[Prosecutorial Threat]] ladder: a prosecutor who wouldn't bring the case, replaced by one who would. ## Career A Virginia Military Institute and University of Richmond Law graduate, Siebert spent about 16 years as a career federal prosecutor in EDVA's Richmond division, working fraud, public corruption, national security and racketeering cases. He became interim U.S. Attorney on **Jan. 21, 2025**, the day after the inauguration. When the 120-day interim term ran out, the district's judges unanimously appointed him to continue, and Trump nominated him for the permanent post. He was a Trump nominee, not a holdover. ## The ouster By September 2025 Trump wanted the James mortgage case brought. Reporting said Siebert's office had not found enough evidence to indict her and had balked at a Comey case. On **Sept. 19, 2025**, Trump said publicly he wanted Siebert out. Siebert resigned within hours. Trump claimed to have fired him first; the AP reported he was told to resign or be fired. The next day Trump posted the "Pam" message demanding charges against "Comey, Adam 'Shifty' Schiff, Leticia." Halligan, a former Trump personal lawyer with no prosecutorial experience, was installed and indicted Comey on Sept. 25 and James on Oct. 9. What followed confirmed the sequence. On **Nov. 24, 2025**, a judge dismissed both indictments because Halligan had been unlawfully appointed, and in December two grand juries refused to re-indict James. House Judiciary Democrats opened an investigation into his removal. ## After On **Feb. 9, 2026** Siebert joined **Holland & Knight** as a partner in its Richmond office, practicing white-collar defense and government investigations. ## Why he matters In the vault's retribution narrative, Siebert matters for what he did not do. A Trump-nominated career prosecutor looked at the evidence, declined to bring the cases, and lost his job for it. That sequence is the clearest documentary evidence that the Comey and James prosecutions were driven from the top and not by the evidence. The judges who reappointed him, and the grand juries that later refused to indict, reached the same conclusion he had. ## See also - [[Prosecutorial Threat]] · [[Comey Indictment]] · [[Letitia James]] · [[Lindsey Halligan]] - [[How a U.S. Attorney Is Appointed and Removed]] · [[Federal Prosecutors Hub]] · [[Attorney General]] - [[Pam Bondi]] · [[Sergio Gor]]