Doj Fires Acting Us Attorney In Ny Who Was Appointed By Judges

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche fired the acting U.S. attorney in the Northern District of New York late Wednesday night, mere hours after he was appointed by a panel of federal judges.

It’s the latest move by the Trump administration to circumvent both the Senate and the courts to install favored prosecutors.

New York-based federal judges picked longtime lawyer Donald Kinsella to serve as the new U.S. attorney working in Albany, tapping into their long-held power to appoint top prosecutors when an interim U.S. attorney’s term ends.

Blanche, however, announced the administration’s intention to sack Kinsella in a post on X Wednesday night.

“Judges don’t pick U.S. Attorneys, @POTUS does,” he wrote. “See Article II of our Constitution. You are fired, Donald Kinsella.”

The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the personnel maneuvers in New York.

In districts across the country, courts have rebuffed the Trump administration’s efforts to install and keep favored prosecutors in U.S. attorney jobs. In New Jersey, Trump loyalist Alina Habba left her post after an appeals court upheld her disqualification. In several other districts, the administration is fighting rulings deeming its U.S. attorney picks illegal.

Kinsella was appointed to replace John Sarcone III, a Trump loyalist who was disqualified by a judge in January after the Trump administration used a procedural maneuver to keep him in the job beyond his 120-day term as interim U.S. attorney. Sarcone, who had no apparent prosecutorial experience when he was selected for the post, was leading an investigation into New York Attorney General Letitia James, a longtime Trump foe.

“When the Executive branch of government skirts restraints put in place by Congress and then uses that power to subject political adversaries to criminal investigations, it acts without lawful authority,” said District Judge Lorna Schofield, an Obama appointee, in her 24-page opinion.

In disqualifying Sarcone, the judge also quashed two subpoenas to James that had been signed by Sarcone. The Justice Department is appealing Schofield’s decision.