{"id":343960,"date":"2025-10-30T20:40:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T20:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/343960\/"},"modified":"2025-10-30T20:40:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T20:40:13","slug":"ny-ag-james-challenges-appointment-of-us-attorney-investigating-her-case-against-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/343960\/","title":{"rendered":"NY AG James challenges appointment of US attorney investigating her case against Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

New York Attorney General, Letitia James, speaks after pleading not guilty outsidethe United States District Court on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025, in Norfolk, Va. (AP Photo\/John Clark)<\/p>\n

Oct 30, 2025 \u2014 <\/p>\n

Lawyers for Attorney General Letitia James are fighting a subpoena from federal prosecutors based in Albany by arguing that Acting U.S. Attorney John Sarcone wasn\u2019t validly appointed to his position, according to two people familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n

Sarcone, who has no previous prosecutorial experience, subpoenaed documents<\/a> from James\u2019 office related to cases she brought against President Trump and the National Rifle Association. That case centered on inappropriate spending by executives<\/a> of the gun-rights group. James in 2022 sued Trump and his business<\/a> for fraud. A judge fined Trump more than $350 million, but the penalty has been set aside<\/a> as the case is appealed.<\/p>\n

Trump has said he was targeted in a \u201cwitch hunt\u201d and pushed leaders of the Department of Justice to go after James. She pleaded not guilty<\/a> in a Virginia court last week to two counts related to alleged mortgage fraud,<\/a> charges she said are politically motivated.<\/p>\n

James\u2019 lawyers filed a motion challenging her indictment in Virginia, arguing that prosecutor Lindsey Halligan wasn\u2019t properly appointed. A different set of James\u2019 lawyers is taking the same tactic with Sarcone – whose investigation is in an earlier stage, according to people familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n

Outside lawyers<\/a> hired by the state attorney general\u2019s office filed a motion opposing the subpoena on the grounds that Sarcone is not validly serving as a U.S. attorney, said the people, who requested anonymity because they weren\u2019t authorized to speak publicly. The motion pending in the Southern District of New York, the people said, because of the potential for conflicts in the Northern District.<\/p>\n

James\u2019s spokesperson declined to comment. Sarcone didn\u2019t return messages seeking comment. A spokesperson for his office declined to comment.<\/p>\n

Trump has bypassed the traditional appointment process, which requires U.S. Senate confirmation, for federal prosecutors across the country. The approach allowed the Republican president to quickly install loyalists in key prosecutorial offices. But it\u2019s come with some risks.<\/p>\n

A judge in California ruled Tuesday that the Acting U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles couldn\u2019t serve as the top prosecutor in southern California because of his circumspect appointment. Similar cases regarding Halligan and Alina Habba in New Jersey are pending.<\/p>\n

Attorney General Pam Bondi installed Sarcone as an interim U.S. attorney in the spring, which allowed him to serve for 120 days. He was a non-traditional choice: he had never worked as a prosecutor, but worked for the General Services Administration during Trump\u2019s first term and was an election lawyer for his campaign. Sarcone unsuccessfully sought the GOP nomination to run for attorney general against James in 2022.<\/p>\n

Federal law allows judges in a district to appoint a U.S. attorney if the post is vacant or an interim prosecutor\u2019s term expires. Sarcone made his pitch for a permanent appointment<\/a> to the judges in the Northern District, which includes Albany and Syracuse, but in July they declined to install him.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bondi then appointed Sarcone as the first-assistant U.S. Attorney in Albany. He now serves as acting U.S. Attorney<\/a> because the top position is vacant. New York County Lawyers Association President Richard Swanson said the maneuvers are part of Trump\u2019s politicization of the justice system.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth Sarcone and Habba are obviously political players, and they’re important to the Trump administration and to the achievement of its goals,\u201d Swanson said.<\/p>\n

Sarcone said in September that he believed his position would withstand any challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy status is confirmed,\u201d he said. \u201cI think it would be a waste of … taxpayer resources to defend [my appointment]. I think that everyone who has seen what I’ve been doing here is satisfied that I’m doing the job that I was sent here to do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York Attorney General, Letitia James, speaks after pleading not guilty outsidethe United States District Court on Friday,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":343961,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[20184,5229,3228,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,80,94839,277,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-343960","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-albany","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-law","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-newyork","14":"tag-newyorkcity","15":"tag-ny","16":"tag-nyc","17":"tag-politics","18":"tag-tish-james","19":"tag-trump","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-united-states-of-america","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115465055384495965","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343960\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/343961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}