(Chris Wade, The Center Square) The U.S. Justice Department has fired a new top federal prosecutor for New York’s Albany division, just hours after a panel of judges appointed him to fill a vacancy.
The panel of judges in the Albany-based Northern District of New York said Wednesday they had appointed former prosecutor Donald T. Kinsella to lead the office after a Trump nominee was found to be unlawfully serving in the role.
But just hours after he was sworn into the new role, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche took to social media to rebuke the judges’ decision and declare Kinsella’s appointment unlawful.
“Judges don’t pick U.S. Attorneys, @POTUS does. See Article II of our Constitution,” he posted on X. “You are fired, Donald Kinsella.”
Last month, U.S. District Judge Lorna Schofield ruled that acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York John Sarcone — who served as Trump’s campaign attorney — was in that role unlawfully. The judge also barred Sarcone from heading an investigation into New York Attorney General Letitia James and quashed two subpoenas issued in the DOJ’s probe into her handling of Trump’s civil fraud trial and a National Rifle Association investigation
Sarcone was appointed to the post as an interim U.S. attorney, a term that expired in July after 120 days. In response, Attorney General Pam Bondi appointed Sarcone to first assistant U.S. attorney in the Northern District — the office’s second-in-command — allowing him to lead the office by serving as acting U.S. attorney. But Schofield ruled that Bondi’s move violated federal laws governing the appointment of U.S. attorneys.
On Wednesday, the federal judges in the Albany district declined to extend Sacone’s temporary posting, instead opting to appoint Kinsella as the new U.S. attorney. They cited a federal law allowing them to fill the U.S. attorney’s role if it is vacated. The DOJ’s move hours later leaves the post unfilled, and it wasn’t clear whether there would be a legal fight over Kinsella’s appointment.
The wrangling over the New York prosecutor’s office comes as the Trump administration’s picks for U.S. attorneys in New Jersey, California, Virginia, Nevada and other states have also faced pushback from federal judges.
That includes former interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Lindsey Halligan, whose appointment to the job led a federal judge to toss out criminal indictments against Trump critics James and former FBI Director James Comey.
While presidents traditionally nominate a new roster of federal prosecutors once they take over the White House, the posts are normally Senate-confirmed. But the Trump administration has sought to keep U.S. attorneys in several districts in those jobs on a temporary basis amid a shortage of applicants. The White House is also complaining that Democrats in the Senate have blocked key nominations.
