Prosecutor Who Subpoenaed Letitia James Could Be Disqualified, Judge Suggests

ALBANY, New York — A federal judge suggested Thursday that she may disqualify a Trump loyalist as the top federal prosecutor in the Albany region, a move that would extend a string of losses in the Trump administration’s gambit to circumvent the Senate confirmation process to install U.S. attorneys.

During oral arguments, U.S. District Judge Lorna Schofield, appointed by President Barack Obama, appeared poised not only to toss the prosecutor, John Sarcone III, from the top job, but also from other posts that might allow him to serve in the same capacity.

“The only remedy, if one found an improper appointment, that would cure that would be disqualifying him,” Schofield said. “If I were to find that he was not properly acting as a U.S. attorney, leaving him as first assistant and the office vacant wouldn’t accomplish much.”

The legal fight stems from an effort by New York Attorney General Letitia James to quash a pair of subpoenas Sarcone’s office issued earlier this year, related to civil cases she brought against Trump and the National Rifle Association. James argued the subpoenas are invalid because Sarcone wasn’t legally appointed.

Sarcone, a Republican lawyer who ran for office unsuccessfully several times, had no apparent prosecutorial experience when he was appointed as a temporary U.S. attorney. He had a tumultuous start to his tenure that included listing as his home address a location that was actually a boarded-up building on a police affidavit.

When Sarcone’s 120-day interim posting expired, district judges in northern New York declined to appoint him to continue in the job, nor did they select a substitute — they simply didn’t appoint anyone. Attorney General Pam Bondi then appointed Sarcone as a “special attorney” with an “indefinite” term so that he could return to the job.

On Thursday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Rick Bellis argued that complaints over whether Sarcone properly signed off on paperwork with his correct title of “special attorney” were squabbling over “form over substance.”

“This court should not reach a legal conclusion that threatens to interrupt the process of the U.S. attorney’s office unnecessarily,” Bellis told the judge. “I don’t think there’s any dispute a special attorney has the authority to issue subpoenas.”

Schofield, however, spent most of the hearing discussing what the remedies might be if she disqualified Sarcone.

It wasn’t clear, though, that any disqualification of Sarcone would doom the subpoenas James is fighting.

Schofield floated the notion that quashing the subpoenas wouldn’t do much, since an assistant U.S. attorney could simply file identical paperwork the next day.

The challenge to Sarcone’s authority comes as the Trump administration has suffered a series of losses over its strategy to install loyalists as top federal prosecutors without Senate confirmation or judicial appointment.

Earlier this week, a panel of appeals court judges upheld the disqualification of Alina Habba, the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey.

Last week, a judge disqualified top federal prosecutor Lindsey Halligan in the Eastern District of Virginia and tossed the politically charged cases she brought against Trump’s perceived enemies: James and former FBI Director James Comey. The Justice Department is now strongly considering seeking to re-indict both James and Comey.

Federal judges have also disqualified the U.S. attorneys in Nevada and the Los Angeles area.