President Donald Trump immediately fired the newly appointed U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington, Roger Rogoff, a mere 54 minutes after he was sworn into office.
This incident is part of a broader, high-stakes structural conflict over who holds final authority over temporary federal prosecutors.
Legal Loop hole:
Usually, the president nominates U.S. attorneys who must be confirmed by the Senate.
However, if a vacancy remains unfulfilled, federal law permits the district’s federal judges to appoint an interim U.S. attorney to serve until the Senate confirms a permanent replacement.
The move comes as 17 federal judges in Seattle unanimously appointed Rogoff—a former state judge and veteran prosecutor after the 120-day interim term of Trump’s preferred pick, Charles Neil Floyd which expired without a formal Senate nomination.
The administration had instead shifted Floyd’s title to “first assistant U.S. attorney” to leave him in charge of the office indefinitely without facing a Senate confirmation hearing—a legal maneuver courts have viewed with deep skepticism.
The ‘immediate firing’ and Todd Blanche’s response:
Rogoff , received an electronic notification from the Trump administration informing him that he had been summarily removed.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche publicly defended the decision, stating on social media that while district judges can technically make a temporary appointment, the president maintains absolute authority to fire them.
Blanche additionally accused the local bench of abandoning the “time-honored process of consultation with the administration”
