Donald Kinsella, a veteran prosecutor, had been sworn in by Chief Judge Brenda K Sannes in a private virtual ceremony earlier in the day, only to then receive an email from Morgan Dewitt, a special assistant in the White House personnel office, advising him he was being removed, according to The Albany Times Union.

“Judges don’t pick U.S. Attorneys, POTUS does,” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche wrote on X. “See Article II of our Constitution. You are fired, Donald Kinsella.”

. . . Sarcone had no prior experience as a prosecutor before he took office and had clashed with judges since they decided against giving him the position permanently last summer, an embarrassment for the appointee, given that he had told a TV news station three days earlier that he had extended his tenure.

The judges instead announced they would not be appointing anyone to the position in a short statement in which they said they declined to “exercise the authority granted pursuant to (U.S. Code) to appoint a United States attorney for the Northern District of New York.”

Bondi hit back by naming Sarcone a “special attorney to the United States attorney general,” enabling him to return to the role.