President Donald Trump fired the new top federal prosecutor in Seattle on Wednesday, less than an hour after the attorney was appointed. Roger Rogoff, a former judge and veteran state and federal prosecutor, was fired just 54 minutes after his judicial appointment.
Rogoff had been unanimously appointed as U.S. attorney by a panel of judges on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. He was sworn in before 8 a.m. at the U.S. courthouse in downtown Seattle. After taking the oath, Rogoff went to the U.S. attorney’s office to meet with Charles Neil Floyd, whose 120-day interim term in the position had ended in February.
The swift removal of the prosecutor highlights tensions between the courts and the president over these powerful positions.