Trump fires newly appointed U.S. attorney in Seattle less than an hour after swearing-in

Federal judges appointed longtime prosecutor Roger Rogoff to serve as U.S. attorney in Seattle, but President Donald Trump fired him less than an hour after he was sworn in Tuesday. When KOMO News asked Rogoff about being the U.S. attorney in Seattle for less than an hour, he replied, "Greatest hour in my life." Rogoff, a longtime federal prosecutor, former King County Superior Court judge and former director of Washington's Office of Independent Investigations, said he was dismissed in an email titled "A Message From the President." VOTE: How worried are you about political interference in the American justice system? "It basically said, 'I'm informing you that pursuant to his authority, President Trump is hereby removing you from the office of the United States attorney,'" Rogoff said. KOMO News asked Rogoff whether he anticipated the move. "Given that for the last two weeks, after we were made aware that the administration knew that I was going to be appointed, and we had tried to contact them to have a conversation, and we had not received any response back, I was pretty settled with the idea that this was probably going to be the result," Rogoff said. When KOMO News asked the Department of Justice why Rogoff was removed, the agency pointed to a post on X from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. "District court judges can appoint a temporary U.S. attorney, and POTUS can fire them. WDWA judges 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," Blanche wrote. KOMO News also asked Rogoff whether he believes his removal was lawful. "When the judges appoint somebody constitutionally and statutorily, and they're summarily dismissed without a conversation, without an examination, without any understanding of what they intend to do when they get into office, then yes, I think that firing is not appropriate and is most likely unlawful," Rogoff said. Blanche's post did not dispute the judges' power to appoint a temporary U.S. attorney but asserted that the president's removal power overrides it. "It was an honor to be chosen by the district judges in the Western District of Washington, whom I respect immensely, and it was an honor to, at least for an hour, have a little bit of kinship again with the incredible lawyers who work in the Western District of Washington and do that work every day for the U.S. Attorney's Office," Rogoff said. Rogoff said the office has been without a "constitutionally appointed" U.S. attorney for three years, with acting or interim officials serving instead. He also said the firing was not about him but about the rule of law, adding that if Trump appointed someone who was confirmed by the U.S. Senate, he would "be cheering the rule of law." KOMO News reached out to the court for a response from the federal judges who appointed Rogoff, but a spokesperson with the clerk of court's office said the judges could not comment.