Trump Rants In Dead of Night That Defiant Prosecutor Didn’t Quit — ‘I Fired Him!’

President Donald Trump dropped a post-midnight rant claiming that Interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Erik Siebert didn’t resign under pressure to prosecute New York Attorney General Letitia James, but rather that “I fired him!”

Trump spoke for an hour during a photo op in the Oval Office Friday, during which he was asked about the case against James not going forward. Trump told ABC News White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl that “I want him out”:

JONATHAN KARL: Are you disappointed that the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia has not prosecuted Letitia James, do you intend to fire him?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, we’re going to see what happens. I am not following it very closely. It looks to me like she’s very guilty of something, but I really don’t know.

I know that the U.S. Attorney from the Eastern District or from that district in Virginia, that he was approved by two Democrat senators who, in my opinion, are among the worst.

And when I learned that two senators, Democrats, because, as you know, it’s very hard with the Blue Slip, it is very hard for a Republican to get somebody approved if you have one senator that’s a Democrat because of an old custom. It’s not a law, it’ s a custom. It’s a ridiculous custom, but if you had a Democrat senator, you have to get that senator approval. In this case, we had two.

When I saw that he got two senators. Two gentlemen that are bad news, as far as I’m concerned. When I saw that he got approved by those two men, I said, pull it, because he can’t be any good.

JONATHAN KARL: So you want Siebert fired, you want him out.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah, I want him out. Yeah. When I learned that he was blue-slipped through by two Democrat senators in Virginia, people that would never vote for it, people that haven’t voted for us for probably years, okay, probably years.

In my opinion, two bad guys, you know, they are Warner and Kane, two big guys, bad senators, too. They do a terrible job for the people of Virginia. But when I saw that he got approved by these two terrible people that haven’t voted, they just don’t vote. No matter what it is, we could give them the greatest deal ever and they still wouldn’t vote.

And they voted for this guy, and I have other people, judges, and U.S. Attorneys from other states who have the same situation, and they can’t get approved. So when I learned that they voted him, I said, I don’t really want him.

Shortly thereafter, Siebert announced his resignation in a staff email:

EDVA, This evening, I submitted my resignation as Interim US Attorney for EDVA. 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. Thank you for the lessons you have taught me, the sacrifices you have made, and the pursuit of justice you strive for every day.
Forever in debt to my EDVA family.

But at a quarter-past-midnight, Trump took to Truth Social to make sure everyone knew that Siebert didn’t quit, he was fired:

Today I withdrew the Nomination of Erik Siebert as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, when I was informed that he received the UNUSUALLY STRONG support of the two absolutely terrible, sleazebag Democrat Senators, from the Great State of Virginia. He didn’t quit, I fired him! Next time let him go in as a Democrat, not a Republican. Thank you for your attention to this matter. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! President DJT

Siebert was nominated by Trump in May, and had the support of the Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) as well.

Watch above via The White House.