US Attorney to resign after Trump’s remarks calling for his removal over Letitia James investigation – reports
US attorney Erik Siebert told employees on Friday that he intends to resign, according to several reports, after President Donald Trump said he wants him “out.”
Siebert was pushed by the Trump administration to bring charges against New York attorney general Letitia James and former FBI director, James Comey, two longtime Trump rivals. Investigations failed to find clear evidence that they committed crimes.
Earlier today, Trump said, “I want him out,” referring to Siebert. The US attorney reportedly told employees about his departure at his office in Alexandria, Virginia, after these comments.
Key events
Closing summary
This liveblog is now closing. Here’s a summary of today’s developments:
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The federal prosecutor for the eastern district of Virginia resigned Friday under intense pressure from Donald Trump, after his office determined there wasn’t sufficient evidence to charge New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, a political rival of the president, with a crime. Erik Siebert told colleagues he was resigning in a letter sent Friday, NBC News reported. Hours earlier, Trump bluntly told reporters in the Oval Office: “I want him out.” The president claimed he soured on Siebert because Virginia’s two Democratic senators had endorsed his nomination, but also claimed that James “is very guilty of something”. ABC News reported earlier on Friday that Trump decided to fire Siebert after he failed to obtain an indictment against James. More here.
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Donald Trump signed a proclamation on Friday that would impose an annual $100,000 fee on H-1B visa applications, dealing a potentially major blow to the US tech industry, which relies heavily on workers from India and China. The US commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, said at a Friday press briefing that “all the big companies” had been briefed on the new fee. More here.
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The Trump administration asked the US supreme court on Friday to intervene for the second time in a case involving its bid to end deportation protections the former president, Joe Biden, granted to hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans in the United States. The justice department filed an emergency application asking the justices to lift a federal judge’s ruling that the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, lacked the authority to end the protections for Venezuelans under the temporary protected status, or TPS, program. More here.
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Donald Trump announced on Friday that the US military had carried out another deadly strike on a vessel in the Caribbean, killing three men on board the vessel whom Trump alleged had been trafficking illicit narcotics. “On my orders,” Trump wrote in a social media post shared by the White House and defense secretary, “the Secretary of War ordered a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization conducting narcotrafficking in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility.” More here.
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The acting inspector general of the Department of Education, Heidi Semann, said that her office would be launching an investigation into the department’s handling of sensitive data. It comes after several Democratic lawmakers, led by the senator Elizabeth Warren, wrote to the department’s watchdog, asking her to review the so-called “department of government efficiency’s” “infiltration” of the education department.
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The House passed a stop-gap funding bill – written by Republicans to stave off a government shutdown – only for Democrats to reject it in the Senate. In kind, GOP lawmakers blocked a Democratic version of the bill. Funding expires at the end of September, and with congressional lawmakers on recess next week, the threat of a shutdown is perilously close.
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In response, legislators from both sides of the aisle spent the day shirking blame and claiming the other party would be responsible for a shutdown on 1 October. Senate majority leader John Thune said: “Democrats are yielding to the desires of their rabidly leftist base and are attempting to hold government funding hostage to a long list of partisan demands.” His counterpart, Chuck Schumer, said that Republicans “want” the shutdown to happen. “They’re in the majority. They don’t negotiate, they cause the shutdown – plain and simple,” he said.
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A resolution honoring murdered rightwing activist Charlie Kirk passed the House of Representatives with bipartisan support, but only after causing considerable consternation among Democrats. All Republicans in attendance voted in favor of the resolution, which describes Kirk as “a courageous American patriot, whose life was tragically and unjustly cut short in an act of political violence”. Ninety-five Democrats supported the resolution, while 58 opposed it. Several Democrats who opposed the resolution said they condemned Kirk’s murder, and political violence at large, but could not support a figure who used his speech. More here.
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A federal judge dismissed Donald Trump’s $15bn defamation lawsuit against the New York Times over its content. US district judge Steven Merryday said Trump violated a federal procedural rule requiring a short and plain statement of why he deserves relief. He gave Trump 28 days to file an amended complaint, and reminded the administration it was “not a protected platform to rage against an adversary”. More here.
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The Trump administration also asked the supreme court on Friday to intervene in a bid to refuse to issue passports to transgender and non-binary Americans that reflect their gender identities. It’s one of several disputes in regard to an executive order Trump signed after returning to office in January that directs the government to recognize only two biologically distinct sexes: male and female. A lower court judge had blocked the policy earlier this year, and an appeals court let the judge’s ruling stay in place. More here.
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Donald Trump and Xi Jinping “made progress on many very important issues” during their call this morning, according to a Truth Social post from the president. Trump said that the pair discussed “trade, fentanyl, Russia’s war in Ukraine, and the TikTok deal”. The president also said he and Xi would have a face-to-face meeting at the APEC summit in South Korea next month, he would travel to China “in the early part of next year”, and Xi would also come to the US at a later date.
President Donald Trump took an out-of-the-blue jab at the retired late-night host David Letterman on Truth Social on Friday.
“Whatever happened to the very highly overrated David Letterman, whose ratings were never very good, either,” Trump said. “He looks like hell, but at least he knew when to quit. LOSER!!!”
Letterman has denounced the move to indefinitely suspend “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” amid the host’s comments around the Charlie Kirk shooting this week.
Letterman told a crowd attending a panel at the Atlantic Festival on Thursday that Trump’s presidency is an “authoritarian criminal administration.”
“You know, I just, I feel bad about this because we all see where this is going, correct? It’s managed media. And it’s no good. It’s silly. It’s ridiculous,” Letterman said as he was introduced by Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg. “And you can’t go around firing somebody because you’re fearful or trying to suck up to an authoritarian criminal administration in the Oval Office. That’s just not how this works.”
Prosecutors are requesting a prison sentence of at least 30 years for the person who admitted attempting to kill the US supreme court justice Brett Kavanaugh at his Maryland residence in 2022.
Prosecutors described Sophie Roske’s actions as “bone-chilling”, adding that her carefully planned attempt to assassinate Kavanaugh in order to influence the decisions of the supreme court’s conservative majority justified a harsh penalty, according to a court filing.
“The defendant’s objective – to target and kill judges to seek to alter a court’s ruling – is an abhorrent form of terrorism and strikes at the core of the United States Constitution and our prescribed system of government,” US attorney for Maryland Kelly Hayes and other prosecutors wrote.
Roske’s defense attorneys revealed that she is transgender. In their filing, prosecutors referred to her by her legal name.
Pentagon to restrict access to journalists who pledge not to publish certain information
The Pentagon announced that reporters covering the agency could enter the building only if they agreed not to publish certain information, marking an unprecedented move that gives the department overarching control over what the media can report.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell told journalists on Friday that they may continue entering the defense department only if they pledge not to publish classified material or even less sensitive documents that aren’t officially marked as secrets.
The rule will take effect in two to three weeks, Politico reports.
“[Defense department] information must be approved for public release by an appropriate authorizing official before it is released, even if it is unclassified,” read the note for reporters to sign. “Failure to abide by these rules may result in suspension or revocation of your building pass and loss of access.”
“The ‘press’ does not run the Pentagon – the people do,” defense secretary Pete Hegseth said in a Friday night post on X. “The press is no longer allowed to roam the halls of a secure facility. Wear a badge and follow the rules – or go home.”
The Trump administration asked the US supreme court on Friday to intervene for the second time in a case involving its bid to end deportation protections the former president, Joe Biden, granted to hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans in the United States.
The justice department filed an emergency application asking the justices to lift a federal judge’s ruling that the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, lacked the authority to end the protections for Venezuelans under the temporary protected status, or TPS, program.
“So long as the district court’s order is in effect, the secretary must permit over 300,000 Venezuelan nationals to remain in the country, notwithstanding her reasoned determination that doing so even temporarily is ‘contrary to the national interest’,” the justice department said in its filing.
The supreme court previously sided with the administration in May to lift a temporary order that US judge Edward Chen in San Francisco issued at an earlier stage of the case that had halted the TPS termination while the litigation played out in court.
Chen issued a final ruling in the case on 5 September finding that Noem’s actions to terminate the program violated a federal law that governs the actions of federal agencies.
Read the full story here:
Trump says US carried out strike on vessel in US southern command’s ‘area of responsibility’
Donald Trump said that Washington had carried out a strike on a vessel in the US southern command’s “area of responsibility”, killing three men on board whom Trump alleged were trafficking illicit narcotics.
The Pentagon “ordered a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization conducting narcotrafficking in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility”, Trump said on Truth Social on Friday.
“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was trafficking illicit narcotics, and was transiting along a known narcotrafficking passage enroute to poison Americans,” he added.
US southern command (Southcom) is the US military’s combatant command that encompasses 31 countries through South and Central America and the Caribbean.
The strike comes four days after the US carried out a strike on a second Venezuelan boat and killed three alleged terrorists Trump claimed had been transporting drugs.
DHS announces it will end temporary status for about 4,000 Syrians
The Department of Homeland Security announced on Friday that it will end temporary status for about 4,000 Syrians, the latest move from the Trump administration to make more immigrants in the US eligible for deportation.
The temporary protected status has allowed about 4,000 Syrians to live and work in the US for more than a decade.
During the Biden administration, the number of people protected by temporary protected status grew to more than 1 million. Trump has already ended the status for Venezuelans, Hondurans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, Ukrainians and thousands of others.
DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said conditions in Syria had improved and “no longer prevent their nationals from returning home”. She said Syrians who were protected by temporary protected status have 60 days to voluntarily depart the US.
After that, they will be detained and deported, she said.
In a post on X, The New York Times’ Glenn Thrush shared an email by US Attorney Erik Siebert sent to staff, submitting his resignation.
“For the last eight months, I have had the pleasure of leading the finest and most exceptional of DOJ employees, who care deeply about our nation and our EDVA community,” reads the email. “Thank you for the lessons you have taught me, the sacrifices you have made, and the pursuit of justice you strive for every day.”
US Attorney to resign after Trump’s remarks calling for his removal over Letitia James investigation – reports
US attorney Erik Siebert told employees on Friday that he intends to resign, according to several reports, after President Donald Trump said he wants him “out.”
Siebert was pushed by the Trump administration to bring charges against New York attorney general Letitia James and former FBI director, James Comey, two longtime Trump rivals. Investigations failed to find clear evidence that they committed crimes.
Earlier today, Trump said, “I want him out,” referring to Siebert. The US attorney reportedly told employees about his departure at his office in Alexandria, Virginia, after these comments.
The US attorney investigating New York attorney general Letitia James was also looking into former FBI director James Comey, according to the New York Times.
Erik Siebert’s office ran into obstacles in its probe of Comey over allegations that he lied under oath.
Last week, prosecutors subpoenaed Daniel Richman, a Columbia law professor and close friend of Comey, to investigate whether Comey had authorized Richman to leak information to the media, The Times reports. Richman’s statements to prosecutors were not fruitful in their efforts to build a case against Comey.
US attorney investigating Letitia James mortgage fraud claims reportedly ousted
The US attorney whose office has been investigating mortgage fraud allegations against New York attorney general Letitia James has been told he is being removed from the position, a person familiar with the matter told the Associated Press on Friday, amid a push by Trump administration officials to bring criminal charges against the perceived adversary of the president.
The move to replace Erik Siebert, a career prosecutor in the prestigious eastern district of Virginia, was described by a person who was not authorized to discuss the matter and spoke on the condition of anonymity. It was unclear which official told Siebert he was being removed, what reason was given or who might replace him.
The status of any leadership change remained unclear as no public announcement had been made by Friday afternoon. Spokespeople for Seibert’s office and the justice department declined to comment.
The development comes as 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 has been no indication that prosecutors have managed to uncover any degree of incriminating evidence necessary to secure an indictment.
Here’s the full story:
Ty Cobb, a former White House attorney under Donald Trump, said that the Trump administration is undermining constitutional freedoms, especially under the First Amendment, after ABC pulled Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show off the air.
During an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press NOW, Cobb made historical parallels to authoritarian regimes that silenced dissent, including under dictator Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany.
“In 1939, Doctor Goebbels and Hitler, as an instruction, removed five comedians—or witticists, as they were called at the time—from the airwaves in Germany for criticizing or making fun of the government and a number of satire way,” Cobb said.
“These people are abandoning our constitutional rights and our constitutional freedoms,” Cobb added. “I think this is really tragic. And I think, as Carr said yesterday, there will be more shoes to drop. I think we can count on that. This will be 3.5 more years of vengeance.”
Politico is reporting that the Treasury Department has ordered a federal advisory committee for the IRS to pause public meetings while the White House reviews the panel’s membership.
An email dated 17 September says that all 75 volunteer members of the Taxpayer Advisory Panel, which provides recommendations to the IRS on tax forms and taxpayer assistance centers based on public feedback, are undergoing the White House’s vetting process.
Two members of the panel have so far said they are stepping down because of the directive.
“I didn’t care to go through the additional vetting,” said a former panel member to Politico. “I had to be fingerprinted. I gave them, I recall, permission to review my tax returns. There was a significant amount of vetting already.”
During his remarks in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump pushed back against a UN panel that found Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
When asked about the report that was issued by the international body this week, Trump didn’t directly answer whether he believes Israel is committing genocide. Instead, he noted the atrocities committed by Hamas.
“Did anybody commit genocide on October 7? What do you think about that?” Trump asked. “That was genocide at the highest level. That was murder, genocide, you can call it whatever you want.”
A team of independent experts commissioned by the United Nations Human Rights Council concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, issuing a report Tuesday that calls on the international community to end the genocide and act to punish those responsible for it.
Here’s more on the report:
President says attorney investigating Letitia James – the New York attorney general who prosecuted Trump – should be sacked
President Donald Trump said that he wants the US Attorney investigating New York’s attorney general, Letitia James “out.”
During his remarks in the Oval Office, Trump said, “I want him out,” referring to Erik S Siebert, the US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.
The Trump administration has pushed Siebert to seek an indictment against James, his political rival, in a probe of potential mortgage fraud.
The investigation is at a standstill because federal agents and prosecutors don’t believe they have enough evidence to get a conviction if the case were to go to trial.
On Friday, Trump criticized the fact that Siebert was approved through the Senate’s “blue slip” process, which allows senators to influence judicial appointments in their state.
“I learned that he was blue slipped through by two Democrats, senators in Virginia, people that would never vote for the people – that haven’t voted for us for probably years,” Trump said.
The president called Virginia senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner “two bad guys, bad senators, too.”
Trump signs order raising H1-B visa fee to $100,000
The Trump administration officially announced plans to raise the fee companies pay to sponsor H‑1B workers to $100,000, claiming the move will ensure only highly skilled, irreplaceable workers are brought to the US while protecting American jobs.
“I think it’s going to be a fantastic thing, and we’re going to take that money and we’re going to reduce taxes, we’re going to reduce debt,” Trump said.
Lutnick criticized the H‑1B visa program, saying it has been “abused” to bring in foreign workers who compete with American employees.
“All of the big companies are on board,” Lutnick said.
Foreigners who pay $1m to get faster visa pathway, says Trump
President Donald Trump, along with commerce secretary Howard Lutnick, unveiled a new immigration program called the “Gold Card,” which would create an expedited visa pathway for foreigners who pay $1 million to the US Treasury.
If visa holders are sponsored by a corporation, they must pay $2 million.
“Essentially, we’re having people come in, people that, in many cases, I guess, are very successful or whatever,” Trump said. “They’re going to spend a lot of money to come in. They’re going to pay, as opposed to walking over the borders.”
After a reporter asked President Donald Trump about his thoughts on cancel culture amid surging debates about free speech, the president claimed that networks gave him overwhelmingly negative coverage, citing – without evidence – that more than 90% of stories about him were “bad.”
“I think that’s really illegal,” he said.
Trump told reporters that the level of negative coverage made his election victory “a miracle” and said that the networks lack credibility with the public.
He also repeated a false claim that the Federal Communications Commission licenses US TV networks. While the FCC requires the owners of local television stations, which are often affiliated with national networks that produce programming, to obtain licenses, the FCC states on its website: “We do not license TV or radio networks (such as CBS, NBC, ABC or Fox) or other organizations that stations have relationships with, such as PBS or NPR.”
