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Trump admin fires US attorney in Seattle minutes after he was appointed

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Trump admin fires US attorney in Seattle minutes after he was appointed.

The Trump administration took the fight over who controls U.S. attorney appointments to a whole new level, firing a Seattle-based prosecutor less than an hour after he was picked for the job without the blessing of the administration.

"District court judges can appoint a temporary U.S. Attorney, and POTUS can fire them," acting Attorney General Todd Blanche wrote Wednesday on X as he was testifying before the Senate in his confirmation hearing.

The quick dismissal came after all 17 active and senior federal judges in the deep-blue district appointed Rogoff to the vacancy. The judges, appointed by five presidents (10 by Democrats and seven by Republicans), had opened an application process after the administration did not send Floyd's nomination to the Senate and instead kept him in place by making him first assistant U.S. attorney while leaving the top job vacant.

U.S. attorneys are normally nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. Federal law allows the attorney general to name an interim U.S. attorney for 120 days. If that period expires without a confirmed nominee, district judges may appoint someone to serve until the vacancy is filled. Because of obstruction by Democrats in the narrowly held Senate, the Trump administration has resorted to using acting titles and other personnel moves to keep its prosecutors in place. Courts have pushed back in several Democrat-heavy districts like Seattle and New Jersey.

"I don't think it's the way to run the Department of Justice," Rogoff told The New York Times. "When you have this sort of made up way of putting people in these positions, the process breaks down." Rogoff, who spent 20 years as a state prosecutor and six as a federal prosecutor before becoming a state judge, said he knew the administration might fire him immediately. But he said he had no qualms about the potential conflict he was walking into, because being U.S. attorney is "the best job there is."