SEATTLE — President Donald Trump on Wednesday dismissed Roger Rogoff as U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington less than an hour after federal judges unanimously appointed and swore him into office, escalating a dispute over who has authority to fill the top federal prosecutor's post when no Senate-confirmed nominee is in place.
Rogoff, a former Washington state judge and veteran state and federal prosecutor, said he was sworn in shortly before 8 a.m. at the federal courthouse in Seattle. After arriving at the U.S. Attorney's Office, he received an email notifying him that his appointment had been terminated immediately, according to his account.
The appointment came after the term of interim U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd expired without President Trump nominating a permanent replacement confirmed by the Senate. Under a federal statute, judges in the district appointed Rogoff to fill the vacancy after a bipartisan selection process, according to court officials and people familiar with the matter.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the administration's decision, saying the judges had acted without consulting the executive branch and maintaining that U.S. attorneys are presidential appointees. Following Rogoff's dismissal, Floyd resumed leadership of the office, Reuters reported.
Rogoff said he was considering legal action to challenge his removal, arguing that the circumstances raise unresolved questions about whether a president may immediately dismiss a court-appointed U.S. attorney under the governing statute. He said he had anticipated the possibility of being fired but accepted the appointment because of the confidence placed in him by the district's judges.
Democratic U.S. Senator Patty Murray of Washington condemned the dismissal, describing Rogoff as highly qualified and arguing that his appointment had been made lawfully. The White House has not publicly addressed Murray's criticism.
The Seattle dispute follows similar confrontations this year in New York, New Jersey and Virginia involving court-appointed or acting U.S. attorneys after courts questioned or rejected appointments made by the Trump administration. Those episodes have intensified legal debate over the balance of authority between the executive branch and the federal judiciary in filling vacancies at U.S. attorney offices.
As of Thursday, no lawsuit challenging Rogoff's dismissal had been filed publicly, and the Western District of Washington's U.S. Attorney's Office was again being led by Floyd while the broader legal dispute remained unresolved.
