THE TUG-OF-WAR BETWEEN THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION AND THE JUDICIARY

‘You are fired’: White House pushes to quickly remove new US attorney 

 

by Ella Lee

 

The Hill

Feb 12, 2026

 

 

Donald T. Kinsella was sworn in Wednesday as the new U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York. Four hours later, he was fired by an email from the White House.

 

The top federal prosecutor in upstate New York was fired by the White House just hours after federal judges appointed him to the post.

It’s the latest tug-of-war between the Trump administration and the judiciary over President Trump’s efforts to install loyalist U.S. attorneys across the country, skirting approval from both the Senate and the courts. 

Veteran prosecutor Donald Kinsella was sworn in as U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York in a private ceremony Wednesday, according to an announcement from the district court.

Later that evening, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche wrote on the social platform X that Kinsella was removed from the role.

“Judges don’t pick U.S. Attorneys, @POTUS does,” Blanche wrote. “See Article II of our Constitution. You are fired, Donald Kinsella.”

Kinsella was appointed to replace John Sarcone III, whose tenure a judge determined “was and is unlawful” because the Justice Department maneuvered to keep him in the role after federal judges declined to extend his term, in violation of statutory procedure. He had no prosecutorial experience before Trump tapped him for U.S. attorney.

Federal courts across the country have rejected Trump’s efforts to keep his preferred prosecutors atop U.S. attorneys’ offices.

Alina Habba, the former U.S. attorney for New Jersey and a onetime personal lawyer to Trump, saw her temporary tenure end in July, and federal judges in the state declined to extend the clock. Instead, they invoked a seldom-used power to appoint her next-in-command to the position. 

To keep Habba in the role, Attorney General Pam Bondi fired the judges’ selected successor and gave Habba the title of acting U.S. attorney, alongside the powers that come with it. Habba later resigned after a federal appeals court upheld her disqualification, but she said she would return if a higher court reversed that decision.

The administration has made similar moves in Nevada, California and New Mexico, where the prosecutors were turned from interim to acting U.S. attorneys when judges did not green-light their continued leadership without Senate approval.

In the Eastern District of Virginia, the disqualification of then-U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan resulted in the dismissals of the prosecutions of former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) — two of Trump’s foremost foes. 

Halligan has left the Justice Department, but her disqualification, and the dismissals, are on appeal.

Kinsella has more than 50 years of experience as a criminal and civil litigator. He was an assistant U.S. attorney in New York for much of the 1990s before being promoted to criminal chief of the Northern District of New York’s prosecuting office. He retired from federal service in 2002.

The Hill sought comment from Kinsella.