When federal prosecutors recently declined to indict James, Pulte encouraged Trump to fire Erik Siebert, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and replace him with a prosecutor who would be willing to bring charges against James, sources said. While Martin’s investigation of James’ Virginia properties has failed to yield clear evidence of fraud, sources said, he has taken aggressive steps to publicize the allegations and leapfrogged multiple steps usually taken by prosecutors. Pardon Attorney, Special Attorney for Mortgage Fraud, Associate Deputy Attorney General and Director of the DOJ’s Weaponization working group — has spearheaded the investigations at the Justice Department. Pulte, who has publicized his mortgage fraud claims about James since April, has equated the allegations against James to Trump’s civil fraud case. ‘Help Wanted’Since federal prosecutors began looking into James’ Virginia property, they have interviewed or presented to the grand jury 15 witnesses, including insurers, loan officers, underwriters, realtors, and James’ niece.