Trump Dispatched Todd Blanche to Torch the Prosecutor Seattle Judges Picked Before He Could Even Sit Down

Democrat judges pulled the exact same stunt in New Jersey when they tried installing their own prosecutor over Alina Habba.

Seventeen federal judges in Seattle just ran that identical play against Trump's man Neil Floyd.

Rogoff knew exactly what was coming and walked through that door anyway.

Rogoff Knew What Was Coming and Took the Job Anyway

Roger Rogoff showed up at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Seattle around 8 a.m. Wednesday, ready to take command.

The office he walked into employs about 85 federal attorneys and 70 support staffers.

Rogoff spent 20 years as a state prosecutor and six more as a federal prosecutor before he ever put on a judge's robe.

He knew the administration might fire him within minutes of taking the oath.

He took the job anyway.

Rogoff later admitted he couldn't turn down "the best job there is."

He got his answer in under an hour.

Rogoff was killing time in the lobby, waiting to meet Floyd, when word came through that Trump had already pulled the plug on his appointment.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche made it official on X within minutes, arguing district court judges can install a temporary prosecutor and the president can remove one just as fast.

He accused the Seattle judges of skipping consultation with the administration entirely before making their pick.

This Is the Fourth Time Judges Have Tried This Exact Move on Trump

Seattle isn't new territory for this fight.

Trump fired a previous judge-installed prosecutor there, Tessa Gorman, back in 2025.

In New Jersey, judges tried the same maneuver with Alina Habba after her interim term expired, and Trump's Justice Department fired her replacement too.

In the Eastern District of Virginia, judges swore in longtime litigator James Hundley as interim U.S. Attorney, and DOJ fired him within hours, bluntly telling the court that Trump picks the U.S. Attorney, not judges.

In New York, a federal judge stripped Trump pick John Sarcone of authority over active subpoenas.

Democrat-appointed judges keep installing their own prosecutors, and the White House keeps ending the experiment before lunch.

Legal reporting from that same day found that seven of the judges sitting on that Seattle bench got their seats under Joe Biden.

Washington Republican Party Chairman Jim Walsh called the whole spectacle embarrassing for Seattle's left-wing judges, adding that they're "destroying what little credibility they had by playing and losing partisan politics."

Democrat Senator Calls Trump's Own Prosecutor an Extremist

Sen. Patty Murray wasted no time defending the ousted Rogoff, calling him highly qualified and accusing the administration of installing cronies to push a corrupt political agenda.

Then Murray turned her fire on Neil Floyd, the actual sitting prosecutor who has run the office competently since October, branding him an "out-of-touch extremist."

Floyd is a former immigration judge known for backing stricter enforcement policies.

To Murray, that apparently makes him dangerous.

Rogoff was already bracing for a possible court fight before the day was over.

Judges writing themselves the power to install executive branch prosecutors was a shaky idea the day Congress passed it, and it hasn't gotten any sturdier since.

The legal fight underneath all of this traces back to 28 U.S.C. § 546, a Civil War-era statute letting district courts appoint an interim prosecutor once a 120-day term expires.

The president fires the judges' pick, the Senate stalemate over blue slips continues, and Neil Floyd keeps running the Seattle office as first assistant with no signs of Trump backing down.

Every one of those benches bet Trump would blink first.

Not once has he taken that bet.

Patty Murray spent her whole statement calling Trump's actual prosecutor an extremist while defending the judges' rejected pick as the better man for the job.

Neil Floyd is still running that office tonight, and Roger Rogoff isn't.

Sources:

• Teri Christoph, "You're Fired: Trump Boots Blue State Judges' Pick for US Attorney in Under an Hour," RedState, July 16, 2026.
• "Trump admin fires US attorney in Seattle minutes after he was appointed," Fox News, July 16, 2026.
• "Trump fires Seattle's new U.S. attorney less than an hour after he took office," Washington Times, July 16, 2026.
• "Trump immediately fires judge-appointed Dem US Attorney just 54-mins after being 'sworn in'," The Post Millennial, July 15, 2026.
• "BREAKING: President Trump FIRES Judges' U.S. Attorney Pick Just 54 Minutes Into The Job," WLT Report, July 15, 2026.