President Donald Trump fires a U.S. attorney in Seattle less than an hour after being sworn in. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
A federal prosecutor in Seattle was fired by President Donald Trump less than one hour after being sworn in.
Roger Rogoff, a longtime prosecutor and former state judge, was appointed to be the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington by a panel of federal judges. The position had been left vacant by the Trump administration.
U.S. attorneys, appointed by presidents, must be confirmed by the Senate within 120 days of their appointment. The Justice Department under the Trump administration has left these positions open and instead left prosecutors as first assistant U.S. attorneys.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd served as the interim U.S. attorney in the district, and his term ended in February. The administration never forwarded his appointment to the Senate.
A bipartisan panel of judges unanimously chose to hire Rogoff to fill the position instead, which they have the power to do when an attorney’s temporary term has expired, and the administration fired him 54 minutes after he was sworn in.
Rogoff has retained an employment law firm to discuss his options.
“District court judges can appoint a temporary U.S. Attorney, and POTUS can fire them,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche posted on X Wednesday. He said the judges who appointed Rogoff “abandoned the time-honored process of consultation with the administration so that the selected U.S. Attorney is qualified to serve in the administration. Roger Rogoff has been fired by the President.”
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., criticized Rogoff’s firing. She had opposed Floyd’s appointment to the position.
“Throughout [Rogoff’s] career, he has demonstrated an outstanding commitment to public service, and he was appointed legally by the federal judges in the Western District of Washington,” Murray said in a statement. “This administration doesn’t want to deal with advice and consent — they just want to install cronies to carry out a corrupt political agenda. … The President needs to understand that DOJ works for the American people — it’s not his personal law firm to enforce his mob-style politics.”
Rogoff, 57, was a state prosecutor for 20 years and a federal prosecutor for six years. He knew the administration might fire him.
“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.
“Morale breaks down in each office. The ability to do the work breaks down. The ability for the work to be respected and to be credible with judges and defense attorneys and victims and defendants is hurt. So it’s just not a way to run an office, and, by the way, it’s also unconstitutional.”
This week in Washington
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is sworn in at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on his nomination to be attorney general at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday. Blanche has served as acting attorney general since April, when former Attorney General Pam Bondi was fired. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
