The U.S. attorney who filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit against the Trump administration after he was abruptly fired last week told MS NOW’S Nicolle Wallace that “the rule of law is not being followed” and said the people of the Western District of Washington deserve a “legitimate” top prosecutor who has been “appointed pursuant to the legislative acts that have been created according to the Constitution.”

A panel of judges unanimously appointed Roger Rogoff to the position on July 15, which had been vacant for more than three years. However, less than an hour after his selection, he was notified via email that he would be removed from his post. 

Rogoff, who previously served as a judge and a prosecutor, said the firing was illegal, arguing in his complaint that President Donald Trump can’t fire court-appointed U.S. attorneys. He said he should serve in the role until the president appoints and the Senate confirms a replacement.

Typically, U.S. attorneys are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. However, judges can fill the role if there is a long-term vacancy.

“The idea is that the president is supposed to appoint U.S. attorneys across the country, but he has to do it with the advice and consent of the Senate, and he hasn’t done that,” Rogoff told Wallace on “Deadline: White House” on Thursday. “The rule of law is not being followed. The purpose of the advice and consent clause of the Constitution is being frustrated, and that’s not the way that the process is supposed to work.”

The lawsuit names the president, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and the Justice Department as defendants.

Rogoff isn’t the first judicially-appointed U.S. attorney to be fired by the administration. Trump has terminated prosecutors in New Jersey, New York, Nevada and Virginia. But Rogoff is the first to challenge the firing in a court of law. 

“My connection to the Department of Justice, no matter who’s been in office, whether it’s been Democrats and Republicans, has been light touches, and I am not involved in what happens at Maine Justice,” he said. “In this case, with this department, with this district that I live in, and that I’ve worked in my entire career, it is not working the way it’s supposed to work. And someone needs to make it work right.”

The former prosecutor told Wallace his legal challenge was not about politics, but about protecting the process laid out in the Constitution.

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Allison Detzel

Allison Detzel is an editor/producer for MS NOW. She was previously a segment producer for “AYMAN” and “The Mehdi Hasan Show.”