A conservative lawyer who has said she was falsely accused of being at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, has been named to serve as the top federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of Virginia, according to a copy of an email she sent to staff obtained by CBS News. The Virginia office was thrown into turmoil when its acting U.S. attorney abruptly left on Friday.
Mary “Maggie” Cleary said in an email to staff on Saturday that she had been named the new acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, according to her email.
She replaces Erik Siebert, who resigned amid pressure from Trump administration officials to bring criminal charges against New York Attorney General Letitia James in a mortgage fraud investigation. Multiple sources had told CBS News Friday that federal prosecutors for the district were concerned that Siebert could be removed for failing to prosecute James.
President Trump did not push back on those concerns, saying Friday, “Yeah, I want him out.”
“While this appointment was unexpected, I am humbled to be joining your ranks,” Cleary told employees in the email. “The Eastern District of Virginia has a distinguished legacy upon which we will build.”
Cleary will take over an office in tumult over political pressure by administration officials to criminally charge James, a longtime foe of President Trump. In May, multiple sources familiar with the investigation told CBS News that the Justice Department had launched a criminal fraud probe targeting James.
The investigation stems from allegations that James provided false information on mortgage applications to get better loan rates for a home in Virginia.
The Justice Department has spent months conducting the investigation but has yet to bring charges, and there’s been no indication that prosecutors have managed to uncover any degree of incriminating evidence necessary to secure an indictment. James’ lawyers have vigorously denied any allegations and characterized the investigation as an act of political revenge.
In 2022, James sued Mr. Trump for years of alleged financial fraud, claiming Mr. Trump and his family participated in a conspiracy to inflate his net worth by billions of dollars in order to secure better loan rates, among other things. A judge found them liable and ultimately ruled Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization must pay $354 million in fines, though the actual total recently climbed to above $500 million due to interest while he appeals.
While Siebert said in an email to colleagues Friday evening that he had submitted his resignation, Trump wrote in a social media post: “He didn’t quit, I fired him!”
Mr. Trump wrote Friday that he “withdrew” Siebert’s nomination for U.S. attorney when he “was informed” that Siebert had “received the UNUSUALLY STRONG support” of Democratic Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner of Virginia. Both senators had expressed support for Siebert’s nomination back in May.
“What is Trump focused on?” the two senators wrote in a joint statement Friday. “Threatening to pull anyone who criticizes him on TV off the air. And now, pushing out the interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia that we recommended and he himself nominated because Erik Siebert is an ethical prosecutor who refused to bring criminal charges against Trump’s perceived enemies when the facts wouldn’t support it.”
The president reiterated his statement that he fired Siebert in follow-up Truth Social post Saturday, writing that Siebert “lied to the media and said he quit, and that we had no case. No, I fired him, and there is a GREAT CASE, and many lawyers, and legal pundits, say so.”
Cleary recently rejoined the Justice Department as a senior counsel in the criminal division after working as a prosecutor in the Culpepper Commonwealth’s Attorneys Office. She also worked as deputy secretary of public safety in Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration and later served in Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares’ office.
Cleary wrote in an article for The Spectator World earlier this year about being wrongly identified in a photo which allegedly placed her on Capitol grounds during the Jan. 6 riot. Cleary, who at the time was working as a federal prosecutor in the Western District of Virginia, wrote: “Everyone knew I was a conservative. It was all over my resume. I was in leadership in my local Republican Committee. But I had not gone to the Capitol that day.”
She described being placed on administrative leave and interviewed by agents before later being cleared to return to work.
“In the last four years, I’ve been somewhat cautious about sharing my experience, but now, while Donald Trump is president, I feel emboldened to finally tell how, I, too, was targeted politically,” Cleary wrote.
At the time the article was published in May, she was interviewing to serve as U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia. Cleary said she wanted that job “to end this type of treatment.”
contributed to this report.
