Less than an hour after Judge Roger Rogoff was appointed as the top federal prosecutor in Seattle, President Donald Trump fired him.
The former King County Superior Court judge was sworn in as U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington in the early morning hours Wednesday at the federal courthouse in downtown Seattle.
EXCLUSIVE: Drama unfolding at the @TheJusticeDept in Seattle. Federal judges here appointed their own U.S. Attorney since Democrats blocked @POTUS‘ pick, Neil Floyd. The choice of judges, Democrat Roger Rogoff, showed up this morning at 8am to try to take over the office. 30… pic.twitter.com/IRqTbZUTZh
— Brandi Kruse (@BrandiKruse) July 15, 2026
In a social media post shortly after, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced that Rogoff was out of the position.
“District court judges can appoint a temporary U.S. Attorney, and POTUS can fire them,” he wrote on X.
“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,” Blanche, who was testifying before the Senate in his confirmation hearing, said. “Roger Rogoff has been fired by the President.”
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…
— Acting AG Todd Blanche (@DAGToddBlanche) July 15, 2026
After being sworn in, Rogoff reportedly “went to the U.S. Attorney’s Office and asked to meet with Charles Neil Floyd, the Trump administration’s preferred choice for the job, whose 120-day interim term expired in February,” Fox News reported. “While Rogoff waited in the lobby, he received an email notifying him that Trump had removed him from office.”
“The quick dismissal came after all 17 active and senior federal judges in the deep-blue district appointed Rogoff to the vacancy. The judges, appointed by five presidents (10 by Democrats and seven by Republicans), had opened an application process after the administration did not send Floyd’s nomination to the Senate and instead kept him in place by making him first assistant U.S. attorney while leaving the top job vacant,” the outlet reported.
(Video: KING 5 Seattle/YouTube)
“I don’t think it’s the way to run the Department of Justice,” Rogoff told The New York Times. “When you have this sort of made up way of putting people in these positions, the process breaks down.”
Rogoff relayed that he thought he may not last in the position, but maintained that being U.S. attorney is “the best job there is.”
“I’m really proud of my career,” he said. “The fact that the judges of this district — most of whom I’ve spent my career appearing in front of, or trying cases against, or working with — believed that I was the right person to do this work is just really humbling and amazing.”
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida. Powers also contributes to BizPac Review.
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