Donald Trump bucked the advice of the nation’s two top prosecutors to not can the attorney who stood up to him over charges against one of his longest-standing nemeses.
The MAGA administration this week announced a shock indictment against former FBI director James Comey—one of the president’s most reviled enemies, who oversaw early investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 elections—for allegedly greenlighting media leaks at the bureau.
An in-depth New York Times analysis of the Justice Department turmoil leading up to the charges found that Attorney General Pam Bondi and her deputy, Todd Blanche—Trump’s former personal lawyer—pleaded with the president not to fire the attorney who’d warned any case against Comey wouldn’t hold up.
“By mid-September, Mr Trump was determined to rid himself of Mr Siebert, a 15-year veteran of the office,” the newspaper writes. “Ms. Bondi and Mr. Blanche, who had worked closely with Mr. Siebert on immigration, drug and gang cases, pushed back.”
“The president was unswayed,” the NYT adds.
Trump forced out Eric Siebert, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, last Friday after learning Siebert—who had been tasked with weighing charges against Comey—concluded there wasn’t enough evidence the former FBI chief had lied to a Senate panel in 2020 about authorizing media leaks on the Russia-interference probe.
It was after effectively firing Siebert the president posted on Truth Social a demand, bizarrely dressed up as a DM, that the Attorney General begin taking serious action against his political enemies, with three people in particular—Comey, Democratic Senator Adam Schiff and New York Attorney General Letitia James—called out by name.
“Pam: I have reviewed over 30 statements and posts saying that, essentially, ‘same old story as last time, all talk, no action.’ Nothing is being done,” he wrote. “What about Comey, Adam ‘Shifty’ Schiff, Leticia??? They’re all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done.”
“JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!” he added.
Trump has since replaced Siebert with Lindsey Halligan, a 35-year-old former insurance lawyer who had otherwise represented the president personally since 2022, notably in his lawsuit against CNN for allegedly comparing him to Adolf Hitler, and in his defense against federal charges of concealing classified documents.
Halligan has zero prosecutorial experience. She has, however, twice competed for the title of Miss Colorado USA, a beauty pageant.
“Ms. Bondi and Mr. Blanche had not been given much of a head’s up, or veto power, over the pick,” the NYT writes. “Both quietly questioned Ms. Halligan’s credentials to run such an important U.S. attorney’s office, according to a person with knowledge of her thinking.”
The newspaper adds that a second person at the Eastern District of Virginia’s field office has quit: Troy A. Edwards Jr., a prosecutor who’s reportedly married to one of Comey’s daughters.
Edwards Jr.’s resignation letter to Halligan was reportedly just one line, stating he was stepping down to better “uphold my oath to the Constitution and the country.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House and the Justice Department for comment.
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