The White House fired Donald Kinsella, the recently appointed U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Fresh York, just hours after he was sworn into office on Wednesday, February 12, 2026. Kinsella’s dismissal, reported first by The Times Union of Albany, marks the latest instance of unusual turnover in U.S. Attorney positions since Donald Trump resumed the presidency.
Kinsella, a veteran government attorney, was appointed by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York, which cited its constitutional authority to fill vacancies in the position. The court argued that Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 of the Constitution allows Congress to vest the appointment of U.S. Attorneys “in the Courts of Law.”
The White House’s response was swift and direct. According to Kinsella, he received an email from Morgan DeWitt Snow, the deputy director of presidential personnel, stating that “the president directed that I be removed,” without providing any explanation. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche publicly affirmed the president’s authority in the matter, posting on X, “Judges don’t pick U.S. Attorneys, @POTUS does. Observe Article II of our Constitution. You are fired, Donald Kinsella.”
Kinsella’s appointment and subsequent firing occurred following the departure of John Sarcone III, a Trump loyalist who was found to have been serving as acting U.S. Attorney unlawfully by a federal judge last month. The circumstances surrounding Sarcone’s removal and the subsequent appointment of Kinsella, and then Kinsella’s dismissal, highlight a pattern of political intervention in the Department of Justice.
This incident echoes similar actions taken during Trump’s previous presidency. A list compiled in 2025 details numerous U.S. Attorney appointments made by Trump, with 86 nominees put forward and 84 confirmed during his first term. More recently, in September 2025, President Trump nominated senior White House aide Lindsey Halligan to serve as the top federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of Virginia, an office involved in a politically sensitive investigation into New York Attorney General Letitia James. Halligan’s nomination came after the previous U.S. Attorney for that district resigned amid pressure to pursue charges against James.
The swift removal of Kinsella, and the broader trend of Trump-appointed U.S. Attorneys being vetted less thoroughly by the Senate, as reported by Politico in September 2025, raises questions about the independence of the Department of Justice and the potential for political influence in federal prosecutions. As of Wednesday evening, the White House had not offered any further explanation for Kinsella’s termination, and the Department of Justice has not commented beyond Deputy Attorney General Blanche’s social media post.
