Trump backer barred from being U.S. attorney; James subpoenas tossed

Jan. 8 (UPI) — A federal judge on Thursday disqualified a U.S. attorney in New York and threw out the subpoenas he issued to the state’s Attorney General Letitia James.

U.S. District Judge Lorna Schofield wrote in her opinion that John Sarcone III has been unlawfully serving as the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York.

“When the Executive branch of government skirts restraints put in place by Congress and then uses that power to subject political adversaries to criminal investigations, it acts without lawful authority,” Schofield wrote. “Subpoenas issued under that authority are invalid. The subpoenas are quashed, and Mr. Sarcone is disqualified from further participation in the underlying investigations.”

Sarcone, a President Donald Trump loyalist, was appointed as an interim U.S. attorney for 120 days while awaiting Senate confirmation. When the interim term was up, district judges in northern New York chose not to appoint him to continue in the job.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi appointed Sarcone as a “special attorney” with an indefinite term to keep him in the job.

He then signed two grand jury subpoenas to James. One was about her office’s fraud lawsuit against Trump, his children and his business. The other was for her office’s ongoing lawsuit against the National Rifle Association.

When he issued the subpoenas, he alone signed them and directed the government to send documents to him personally.

Sarcone used his office, “to subpoena a state law-enforcement office that the President had publicly cast as a political adversary,” Schofield wrote. “Grand juries are ‘not meant to be the private tool of a prosecutor,'” she said, “much less one who is not lawfully appointed.”

Sarcone had no apparent prosecutorial experience, Politico reported. He made missteps early on, including listing his home address that was actually a boarded-up building on a police affidavit. Federal prosecutors have failed twice to re-indict James, whose prosecution the president has continued to demand.