Latest / THE DAILY BRIEF / 'This is about the rule of law'_ U.S. attorney fired by Trump sues to overturn dismissal

Transcript

'This is about the rule of law'_ U.S. attorney fired by Trump sues to overturn dismissal · THE DAILY BRIEF

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: A US attorney in Washington State who was abruptly fired
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: by the Trump administration is now suing the government over
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: his dismissal, starting a major legal fight over the president's
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: power to shape the judiciary. Our Justice correspondent Ali Rogan
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: has more.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: Roger Rogoff, a former Washington State judge and prosecutor, was
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: sworn in last week as US attorney for the Western
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: District of Washington after a panel of judges in the
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: district unanimously selected him. Less than an hour later, he
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: was fired via email by a senior Trump administration official.
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: His was the latest in a series of similar dismissals.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: The Justice Department argues his firing is lawful and that
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: the president can remove any court appointed interim US attorney.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: Rogoff disagrees and has filed a lawsuit to overturn his firing.
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: He says, quote, the President's actions violate the law and
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: they ignore the protections of the Constitution of the United States,
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: and Roger Rogoff joins us, now, thank you so much
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: for being here.
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: My pleasure, thanks for having me.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: You were sworn in last week and then fired within
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: the hour. I want to ask what was going through
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: your mind at the time.
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: Well, it wasn't unexpected.
• 1:13
  Speaker 4: This had been a long process, and I knew that
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: I was going to be appointed a couple weeks before,
• 1:20
  Speaker 4: and I know that the judges had reached out to
• 1:22
  Speaker 4: the administration and they were aware as well, and we
• 1:25
  Speaker 4: tried to reach out to the administration. So it was
• 1:28
  Speaker 4: not a surprise given that they had not responded that
• 1:32
  Speaker 4: that's how it would end up.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: You are not the first US attorney President Trump has
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: fired in this way. He's not the first president who
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: has fired US attorneys. So why file suit and what
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: argument are you making?
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: So this is about the rule of law.
• 1:45
  Speaker 4: This is about ensuring that the constitutional directive for divided
• 1:51
  Speaker 4: government and the constitutional directive for the advice and consent
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: of the Senate and the involvement of Congress is followed vigorously.
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: That is what this is about. We want to make
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: sure that someone doesn't continue serving as the head of
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: the US Attorney's Office at the Western District of Washington
• 2:11
  Speaker 4: who's not a US attorney. He is not the person
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: designated to lead the office, and it should be a
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: US attorney leading this office.
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: Right He has been doing so on a de facto
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: basis after his temporary appointment to that role expired in February,
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: so there hasn't been anybody in that job officially since then.
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: What does it do to cases in the district when
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: there isn't someone officially in charge.
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: I think it puts them in danger. I think they
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: are subject to motions by criminal defendants. I think they're
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: subject to motions by civil litigants saying that indictments, subpoenas,
• 2:47
  Speaker 4: and other documents signed by a purported head of the
• 2:50
  Speaker 4: office are not valid documents. I also think it creates
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: problems in terms of leadership within the office out within
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: the office. You do not want to have the office
• 3:04
  Speaker 4: led via this chaotic situation. It hurts those folks who
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: are doing the work every day.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: Acting Attorney General Todd blanch has defended this firing. Others
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: like it, saying that this is a presidential prerogative and
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: that there are rogue judges appointing their own choices. What
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: do you say to that there.
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: Are no rogue judges. The judges in this district followed
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: the law. They followed the Vacancies Act and did exactly
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: what the Act requires them to do, which is after
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: one hundred and twenty days with no US attorney appointed
• 3:42
  Speaker 4: and confirmed.
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: The judges have the right and the.
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: Duty to put a US attorney in place until the
• 3:50
  Speaker 4: President does what he's supposed to do, which is get
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: a US attorney appointed and get them before the Senate
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: so that they can be confirmed. Until that happened, we
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: follow the law, and the law says that the judges
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: get to do exactly what the judges did.
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: I want to ask you about what your role would
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: be in this Department of Justice at this time. It's
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: been well established that this DOJ maintains its role is
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: to zealously defend the president's agenda and interests, and the
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: Supreme Court recently affirmed the president's ability and authority to
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: fire any government almost any government official at will. So
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: if you don't agree with the Department of Justice about
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: what your role would entail, why wouldn't the President be
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: justified in firing you?
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: Well, a couple things.
• 4:42
  Speaker 4: First of all, as I told the judges, as I
• 4:45
  Speaker 4: told the bipartisan commission that pushed me through to be
• 4:49
  Speaker 4: interviewed by the judges, I agree that that's my job
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: is to push forward the priorities of this administration, and
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: it's what I promised I would do. The priorities of
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: this administration are not a mystery, and they're not something
• 5:04
  Speaker 4: that's out in the ether. They are written down in
• 5:06
  Speaker 4: a memorandum that was put together by A. G. Pambondi
• 5:12
  Speaker 4: in twenty twenty five, and they set out I think
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: six priorities, none of which are particularly controversial or difficult.
• 5:19
  Speaker 4: They include focusing on human trafficking, They include focusing on
• 5:26
  Speaker 4: international drug and gun trafficking organizations. They focus on criminal
• 5:31
  Speaker 4: immigration cases, and a couple of other things, and all
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: of them are reasonable. And I read that memorandum and
• 5:39
  Speaker 4: I can certainly put forward the president's priorities and agenda
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: for the US Attorney's Office in the Western District of Washington.
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: So that is not a problem. The case that you
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: refer to, the slaughter case, which came down a couple
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: of weeks ago, is not the same situation as US
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: attorney appointments that are at issue here. There is a
• 6:04
  Speaker 4: clear statutory description of what should happen when there is
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: a vacancy in an office of the US Attorney's office,
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: and we have followed the judges have followed that to
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: the letter, and that vacancy's Act is designed to ensure
• 6:22
  Speaker 4: that congressional involvement, which is part of the Constitution, is respected,
• 6:28
  Speaker 4: and that we follow through on that requirement.
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: Roger Rogoff, thank you so much for sharing your story.
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: Thank you so much. It's great to be here, great
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: to meet you.