President Donald Trump speaks in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House following an unspecified threat at the annual White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in Washington on Saturday, April 25, 2026, while acting Attorney General Todd Blanche looks on. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon).
A federal prosecutor in Washington state, briefly installed as U.S. attorney before President Donald Trump moved to dismiss him minutes later, is now taking the fight to court.
Roger Rogoff, a veteran Seattle prosecutor, was unanimously selected last week by a panel of district court judges to head the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington. The judges acted to fill a vacancy the 45th and 47th president had not addressed. But within roughly an hour of the appointment, Trump sent an email purporting to remove Rogoff from the role.
In a 24-page complaint, Rogoff’s attorneys argue that the president’s “purported firing” was not legally valid and should not be allowed to take effect.
The lawsuit warns that the Western District of Washington could remain mired in uncertainty if Trump is permitted to block Rogoff from serving in the position the federal judges appointed him to hold.
“U.S. Attorneys have a statutory duty to prosecute all federal offenses within the district and to prosecute and defend, for the federal government, all civil actions in which the United States is concerned,” the complaint states. “By preventing Mr. Rogoff from fulfilling the duties lawfully entrusted to him, Defendants’ actions are causing immediate and severe harm to Mr. Rogoff and the public interest.”
Rogoff is asking the court for an injunction restoring his prosecutorial authority and duties, while also preventing the Trump administration from interfering with his access to the benefits, tools and resources tied to the office.
The post ‘Cannot stand’: Washington US attorney ‘purportedly fired’ by Trump says president does not have the authority to remove a judge-appointed top prosecutor first appeared on Law & Crime.
