Legal/Law/Criminal Justice and Reform

Trump Admin Fires Attorney Hours After Court Appoints Him

(Official White House Photo by Molly Riley)

The Trump administration fired a court-appointed U.S. Attorney on Wednesday night, hours after judges installed him in the position.

Federal judges in the Northern District of New York announced Donald T. Kinsella would replace John A. Sarcone III, whose appointment was deemed unlawful by a judge, as the office’s top prosecutor.

“Judges don’t pick U.S. Attorneys, @POTUS does,” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blache wrote Wednesday night on X. “See Article II of our Constitution. You are fired, Donald Kinsella.”

Kinsella received an email from a White House official hours after his private swearing in cermony informing him of his removal, according to the New York Times.

“Check your email, Don,” White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino wrote on X.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The court’s announcement stated Kinsella “has more than 50 years of experience in complex criminal and civil litigation.”

“Mr. Kinsella prosecuted or defended several high profile federal and state criminal cases in New York. Mr. Kinsella served as an Assistant United States Attorney from 1989 until 1998 when he was promoted to Criminal Chief of the Office of the United States Attorney for the Northern District of New York,” it states. “He held this position until 2002 when he retired from federal service.”

Before Sarcone was disqualified, he was probing alleged “selective enforcement” in Democratic New York Letitia James’ cases against President Donald Trump’s businesses and the National Rifle Association.

“When the Executive branch of government skirts restraints put in place by Congress and then uses that power to subject political adversaries to criminal investigations, it acts without lawful authority,” Judge Lorna Schofield, an Obama appointee, wrote in the opinion disqualifying Sarcone.

Other judges have found U.S. attorneys in the Eastern District of Virginia, New Jersey, Nevada and California unlawfully appointed after the administration used creative legal maneuvers to keep them in place past the time limits for temporary appointments.

Federal judges in Virginia posted a job application online in January seeking a replacement for Lindsey Halligan, who brought cases against FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

“When will they learn?” Alina Habba, who was disqualified by a judge from serving as U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, wrote on X.

“Let our U.S. Attorneys work to fight crime and stop the games,” Habba continued. “Judges are not running this administration. President Donald J. Trump is.”