The U.S. attorney who filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit against the Trump administration after he was abruptly fired last week told MS NOW’S Nicolle Wallace that “the rule of law is not being followed” and said the people of the Western District of Washington deserve a “legitimate” top prosecutor who has been “appointed pursuant to the legislative acts that have been created according to the Constitution.”
A panel of judges unanimously appointed Roger Rogoff to the position on July 15, which had been vacant for more than three years. However, less than an hour after his selection, he was notified via email that he would be removed from his post.
Rogoff, who previously served as a judge and a prosecutor, said the firing was illegal, arguing in his complaint that President Donald Trump can’t fire court-appointed U.S. attorneys. He said he should serve in the role until the president appoints and the Senate confirms a replacement.
Typically, U.S. attorneys are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. However, judges can fill the role if there is a long-term vacancy.
“The idea is that the president is supposed to appoint U.S. attorneys across the country, but he has to do it with the advice and consent of the Senate, and he hasn’t done that,” Rogoff told Wallace on “Deadline: White House” on Thursday. “The rule of law is not being followed. The purpose of the advice and consent clause of the Constitution is being frustrated, and that’s not the way that the process is supposed to work.”
The lawsuit names the president, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and the Justice Department as defendants.
Rogoff isn’t the first judicially-appointed U.S. attorney to be fired by the administration. Trump has terminated prosecutors in New Jersey, New York, Nevada and Virginia. But Rogoff is the first to challenge the firing in a court of law.
“My connection to the Department of Justice, no matter who’s been in office, whether it’s been Democrats and Republicans, has been light touches, and I am not involved in what happens at Maine Justice,” he said. “In this case, with this department, with this district that I live in, and that I’ve worked in my entire career, it is not working the way it’s supposed to work. And someone needs to make it work right.”
The former prosecutor told Wallace his legal challenge was not about politics, but about protecting the process laid out in the Constitution.
“I don’t know that Republican, Democrat, or whatever really matters with this lawsuit,” he said. “The idea is that every president faces hurdles with Congress, and the idea is that the president figures it out and appoints someone who can be confirmed, whether that takes a couple tries or not.”
“That’s the way presidents have done it forever, and that’s the way this president should do it as well,” he added.
In a statement posted to X, Blanche maintained that the president had the right to dismiss Rogoff.
“District court judges can appoint a temporary U.S. Attorney, and POTUS can fire them,” he wrote.
The acting attorney general, who is in the midst of his own confirmation battle, said the Seattle-area panel of judges did not consult with the White House about their selection.
“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,” he said. “Roger Rogoff has been fired by the President.”
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