The Trump White House moved swiftly to fire a Democrat prosecutor installed by federal judges to supplant the administrations preferred interim US Attorney in Washington state, escalating an already fraught separation-of-powers fight and leaving conservative-leaning incumbent Neil Floyd in place.
According to The Post Millennial, the 17 federal judges of the Western District of Washington attempted to bypass the administration by appointing Roger Rogoff, a former King County Superior Court judge, to temporarily replace First Assistant US Attorney Floyd, a former immigration judge aligned with stricter enforcement policies. The judges relied on a disputed federal statute that allows courts to name a US Attorney when the president has not yet submitted a formal nominee to the Senate, a move that critics say stretches the law to undermine the executives constitutional prerogatives.
Rogoffs elevation was widely viewed within legal and political circles as an end-run around the Department of Justice and the Constitutions clear allocation of appointment power to the president. The episode underscores a broader pattern in which elements of the judiciary and the progressive legal establishment have sought to blunt President Donald Trumps agenda by procedural maneuver rather than through the ballot box.
Rogoff was sworn in at 7:40 a.m., only to receive an email from the White House 54 minutes later informing him that he had been dismissed from the post. He has reportedly reached out to the Trump administration but has not yet received a response, and he acknowledged that he had no prior contact with the White House before federal judges attempted to install him.
"We are working on legal action right now," Rogoff told the Seattle Times, signaling that the dispute may soon shift from an internal personnel matter to a full-blown court battle. Citing sources familiar with the confrontation, journalist and podcaster Brandi Kruse reported that Rogoff tried to remove Floyd from his office on Wednesday morning, only to find himself terminated instead.
Similar judicial maneuvers have unfolded in other blue-leaning jurisdictions, including New York and New Jersey, where local legal elites have resisted Trumps efforts to place tougher prosecutors in key federal posts. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche had previously drawn a clear line, stating that "Judges don't pick US Attorneys, President Trump does," and grounding that position in Article II of the US Constitution.
Blanche has overseen the removal of other judge-appointed US Attorneys who attempted to supplant the administrations choices, reinforcing the principle that federal prosecutors ultimately answer to an elected president, not to life-tenured judges. "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," he said.
Democrats, however, have rallied behind Rogoff and used the episode to attack Trumps efforts to reassert executive authority over the Justice Department. "Roger Rogoffs is eminently qualified," Washington Senator Patty Murray said, praising his "outstanding commitment to public service" and insisting that "he was appointed legally by the federal judges in the Western District of Washington."
Murray escalated her rhetoric, charging that Rogoff "should have never been fired, but the President wants to appoint an out-of-touch extremist who will put Trump over the rule of law," and claiming, "This administration doesnt want to deal with advice and consentthey just want to install cronies to carry out a corrupt political agenda." She further argued, "The people of Washington state deserve someone in this role who will enforce the law fairly and responsiblynot some Trump administration sock puppet. The President needs to understand that DOJ works for the American peopleits not his personal law firm to enforce his mob-style politics."
Floyd, originally appointed by former Attorney General Pam Bondi in October 2025, completed his 120-day statutory term in February and was then elevated to "First Assistant US Attorney," effectively maintaining his leadership role. His path to formal nomination was blocked when Senator Murray invoked the Senates "blue slip" traditionan informal veto power long used by Democrats to stall conservative nomineesprompting the Trump administration to withhold Floyds name from official submission.
With Rogoff now removed, Floyd will continue serving as First Assistant US Attorney, preserving the administrations prosecutorial priorities in a jurisdiction that has become a central legal battleground. The US District Court for the Western District of Washington has been a favored venue for lawsuits targeting Trumps policies since his return to the White House in 2025, making control of the top federal prosecutors office there a high-stakes contest between an elected executive and an activist bench determined to check him from the inside.
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