When KOMO News asked Rogoff about being the U.S. attorney in Seattle for less than an hour, he replied, 'Greatest hour in my life.'
FILE - King County Superior Court Judge Roger Rogoff stands in court on Oct. 10, 2016, in Seattle. Rogoff, a former judge and prosecutor, is being appointed to oversee Washington state’s new independent office to review cases where police use deadly force — the first such agency in the U.S, Washington Gov.
Jay Inslee said Wednesday, May 18, 2022. Federal judges appointed longtime prosecutor Roger Rogoff to serve as U.S. attorney in Seattle, but President Donald Trump fired him less than an hour after he was sworn in Tuesday. When KOMO News asked Rogoff about being the U.S. attorney in Seattle for less than an hour, he replied, "Greatest hour in my life.
" Rogoff, a longtime federal prosecutor, former King County Superior Court judge and former director of Washington's Office of Independent Investigations, said he was dismissed in an email titled "A Message From the President. ""It basically said, 'I'm informing you that pursuant to his authority, President Trump is hereby removing you from the office of the United States attorney,'" Rogoff said.
"Given that for the last two weeks, after we were made aware that the administration knew that I was going to be appointed, and we had tried to contact them to have a conversation, and we had not received any response back, I was pretty settled with the idea that this was probably going to be the result," Rogoff said. When KOMO News asked the Department of Justice why Rogoff was removed, the agency pointed to a post on X from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.
"District court judges can appoint a temporary U.S. attorney, and POTUS can fire them. 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. Roger Rogoff has been fired by the President," Blanche wrote.
"When the judges appoint somebody constitutionally and statutorily, and they're summarily dismissed without a conversation, without an examination, without any understanding of what they intend to do when they get into office, then yes, I think that firing is not appropriate and is most likely unlawful," Rogoff said. Blanche's post did not dispute the judges' power to appoint a temporary U.S. attorney but asserted that the president's removal power overrides it.
"It was an honor to be chosen by the district judges in the Western District of Washington, whom I respect immensely, and it was an honor to, at least for an hour, have a little bit of kinship again with the incredible lawyers who work in the Western District of Washington and do that work every day for the U.S. Attorney's Office," Rogoff said. Rogoff said the office has been without a "constitutionally appointed" U.S. attorney for three years, with acting or interim officials serving instead.
He also said the firing was not about him but about the rule of law, adding that if Trump appointed someone who was confirmed by the U.S. Senate, he would "be cheering the rule of law.
" KOMO News reached out to the court for a response from the federal judges who appointed Rogoff, but a spokesperson with the clerk of court's office said the judges could not comment. Washington state health officials have reported 27 provisional cases of cyclosporiasis since May 1, but the Washington State Department of Health says the incidWarehouse destroyed in 3-alarm fire in Seattle's Industrial District A 3-alarm fire destroyed a commercial warehouse and two tractor-trailers in south Seattle early Wednesday morning.
The Seattle Fire Department’s Alarm CentAgriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said Wednesday that nearly $10 billion was found in SNAP fraud, and 1,000 arrests were made.
Please follow us on Google to support usUnited States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News: You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
3 arrested after Seattle robbery, pursuit ends in KirklandThree men were arrested after a robbery and police pursuit that stretched from North Seattle to Kirkland.
Read more »
Fire breaks out in commercial building in Seattle's Madison ValleySEATTLE — Firefighters extinguished a fire early Tuesday at a three-story commercial building in Seattle’s Madison Valley, officials said.Video from a Seattle D
Read more »
Trump Goon Cornered Over Glaring Issue in Trump's $1.8B Slush FundSen. John Cornyn got Acting AG Todd Blanche to admit that it’s not quite as “dead” as it seems.
Read more »
Trump immediately fires the new court-appointed top prosecutor in SeattlePresident Donald Trump has fired the new top U.S. prosecutor in Seattle less than an hour after the attorney was unanimously appointed by the federal judges in the district.
Read more »