A panel of judges in New York appointed a new top federal prosecutor in Albany on Wednesday after a Trump nominee was found to be serving in the role unlawfully — but within hours, the Justice Department announced it had fired the judges’ new hire.
The back-and-forth adds to months of friction between the Trump administration and the federal judiciary over who is allowed to lead U.S. attorney’s offices around the country.
In a somewhat unusual move, the judges in the Albany-based Northern District of New York said Wednesday they had appointed and sworn in a new person to lead the U.S. attorney’s office: Former prosecutor Donald T. Kinsella. They cited a law that allows judges to temporarily name people to that job if the role becomes vacant because an interim U.S. attorney’s term has expired.
A month earlier, a federal judge had ruled that acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York John Sarcone was serving in that role unlawfully, opening up the job.
Then, late Wednesday evening, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche rebuked the judges’ decision, writing on X: “You are fired, Donald Kinsella.”
“Judges don’t pick U.S. Attorneys, [the president] does. See Article II of our Constitution,” wrote Blanche, referring to the section of the U.S. Constitution that lays out presidential powers, including the authority to appoint people to federal offices.
CBS News has reached out to Kinsella for comment.
The conflict in Albany began last year. Sarcone, a former campaign attorney for President Trump, was initially appointed interim U.S. attorney. But that interim role is limited to 120 days, and when that term limit elapsed in July, the judges in the district declined to extend it.
Attorney General Pam Bondi responded by naming Sarcone to the role of first assistant U.S. attorney in the Northern District — effectively the office’s second-in-command — so that, under federal law, he could continue to lead the office by serving as acting U.S. attorney. Bondi also named Sarcone to the role of “special attorney” and gave him the power of a U.S. attorney.
Last month, U.S. District Judge Lorna Schofield ruled that Bondi’s maneuver wasn’t permitted under the laws governing vacancies in U.S. attorney’s offices, finding Sarcone “is not lawfully serving as Acting U.S. Attorney.”
The judge also barred Sarcone from overseeing an investigation into New York Attorney General Letitia James and quashed two subpoenas issued in that probe. Sarcone’s office had been looking into James for her handling of a civil fraud investigation into Mr. Trump and an investigation into the National Rifle Association, CBS News has previously reported.
The government appealed Schofield’s ruling last month and asked her to temporarily stay her ruling while a federal appellate court considers the issue.
Sarcone is one of at least five Trump administration picks for interim or acting U.S. attorneys who have faced pushback from federal judges, following similar rulings in New Jersey, California, Virginia and Nevada.
The role of U.S. attorney is typically Senate-confirmed, but in several districts, the Trump administration has sought to keep people in those jobs on a temporary basis.
Critics have accused the administration of sidestepping the Senate’s confirmation process. But the Justice Department argues that the president and attorney general have the authority to choose prosecutors. In some cases, Mr. Trump has also accused Senate Democrats of obstructing his nominees.
One conflict in the Eastern District of Virginia led a federal judge to toss out criminal indictments against Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey — two Trump foes — on the grounds that interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan was serving in the role unlawfully.
Halligan continued to use the title of “United States Attorney” in court filings, leading to a rebuke from a federal judge who suggested she could be making false statements — a move the Justice Department called a “gross abuse of power.” The judge hit back and warned Halligan could face discipline if she kept using the title. Halligan then left the Justice Department, with Bondi saying the “circumstances that led to this outcome are deeply misguided.”
