Joe Sarcone
// alina?
NOT FED SOC? MORE COP?
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NYT
Trump-Driven Chaos Comes to U.S. Attorney’s Offices in Waves
In Manhattan, Brooklyn, Albany and Newark, confusion has reigned as prosecutors are fired or walk out, and U.S. attorneys serve in limbo while awaiting confirmation.
By Santul Nerkar and Jonah E. Bromwich
July 18, 2025
On Wednesday afternoon, the highest ranking federal prosecutor in Manhattan, Jay Clayton, was blindsided.
He had just learned that officials in Washington had decided to fire Maurene Comey, a veteran prosecutor in his office, without first notifying him, according to three people with knowledge of the interaction. He was not told the reason.
The sudden firing from the Southern District of New York — and Mr. Clayton’s inability to intervene — raised questions about his autonomy as the leader of an office that has long prided itself on its independence from Washington and has led high-profile investigations into public corruption, financial crimes and gang violence.
The episode typified the chaos that has gripped four U.S. attorney’s offices in the New York region since President Trump reclaimed the White House, taking closer control of the Justice Department than any president in the last half-century and rattling the nation’s legal system.
None of the offices in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Albany and Newark has a permanent leader. Instead, Mr. Trump has concentrated power within the Justice Department in Washington and, in two of the offices, has elevated loyalists with little prosecutorial experience, leading to confusion and plummeting morale within the rank and file.
His moves raise the question of what, exactly, a U.S. attorney is empowered to do, beyond serving Mr. Trump’s chosen agenda.
“It’s not a one-off,” said Daniel Richman, a professor at Columbia Law School and a former federal prosecutor in Manhattan. “Sad to say, there are a number of U.S. attorney’s offices across the country that have been caught in various partisan efforts that have reduced the quality of the work they do, and the respect they get.”
Though U.S. attorney’s offices have always answered to top Justice Department officials in Washington, they have historically enjoyed a certain sway over their own territory, including the ability to hire and fire and to conduct investigations without micromanagement from the Washington headquarters, typically referred to as Main Justice.
The Southern District in particular has historically set its own course, earning the nickname the Sovereign District. But on Wednesday, Mr. Clayton was reduced to a bystander.
“The role of the U.S. attorney is to mediate between the dictates from Washington and the integrity of the office’s day-to-day work,” Professor Richman said. “And if he can’t do that, he’s just a paper-pusher.”
A spokesman for the Southern District declined to comment.
The ouster of Ms. Comey, who is the daughter of James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director and an adversary of President Trump, was just the latest jolt to the Southern District in Mr. Trump’s second term. In February, the administration moved to drop corruption charges against Mayor Eric Adams of New York City, saying they were hindering him from helping with immigration enforcement. The office’s interim U.S. attorney, Danielle R. Sassoon, resigned in protest.
She was succeeded by an interim official who held the office for about two months before Mr. Trump named Mr. Clayton, who served as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission during Mr. Trump’s first term. But Mr. Clayton, like the U.S. attorneys in Newark, Brooklyn and Albany, remains unconfirmed by the Senate.
Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, a Democrat, used a Senate provision known as a blue slip to block the nominations of Mr. Clayton and Joseph Nocella Jr., the interim U.S. attorney in Brooklyn. That has left it unclear how long they can continue to lead those storied New York offices. Mr. Clayton’s 120-day term expires in mid-August. After that, if he remains unconfirmed, the judges of the federal court in the Southern District could appoint him.
The Supreme Court declines to halt Trump’s White House ballroom construction, for now.
Seeking to lower prices, Trump says he will temporarily reduce tariffs on some beef imports.
John Sarcone, wearing a dark suit, stands at a lectern with a U.S. flag behind him.
John Sarcone III, Alina Habba and Jay Clayton are all serving without Senate confirmation.Credit...Johnny Milano for The New York Times, Kenny Holston/The New York Times and Brendan Mcdermid/Reuters
Of the four U.S. attorneys in the New York region, the tenure of John A. Sarcone III, Mr. Trump’s choice to lead the U.S. attorney’s office in Albany, has perhaps been marked by the most personal disarray. Mr. Sarcone, who took over in March as head of the office, was never formally nominated to lead it.
Mr. Sarcone had never worked as a prosecutor before his elevation, and had been a regional administrator for the General Services Administration, which manages the federal government’s property portfolio. In his brief tenure, Mr. Sarcone has harshly criticized immigrants and the Albany police and removed The Albany Times Union from his office’s press distribution lists for its probing coverage of his leadership.
This week, still lacking Senate confirmation, Mr. Sarcone needed the approval of the judges of the Northern District of New York in order to extend his tenure. But in a rare decision, the judges declined to appoint him as the office’s permanent leader. After that, Mr. Sarcone was reappointed by the Justice Department to lead the office as a “special attorney to the attorney general.”
A spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Albany declined to comment.
In New Jersey, Alina Habba, Mr. Trump’s former campaign spokeswoman and personal lawyer, has courted controversy as the interim U.S. attorney. She has aggressively targeted critics of the Trump administration, including by investigating and bringing charges against Democratic elected officials.
In May, a magistrate judge in New Jersey admonished her office’s prosecutors during a hearing in which the prosecutors dropped trespassing charges against Ras Baraka, the mayor of Newark.
Ms. Habba, who was also appointed in March and had no prior prosecutorial experience, previously ran a small civil litigation firm. She met Mr. Trump through his Bedminster, N.J., golf club, and started working for him in 2021.
Like Mr. Sarcone, Ms. Habba faces a deadline to be named permanent U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, and may face challenges to a court appointment. On Thursday, she acknowledged as much in an all-hands meeting at her office, thanking prosecutors for their work should she not be voted in.
In Brooklyn, President Trump has appointed Mr. Nocella, a former Long Island family court judge and a product of Long Island Republican politics. Mr. Nocella is the only one of the four who had any experience as a federal prosecutor before being appointed, having served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of New York in the early 1990s.
That office, which has been a leader in cases prosecuting the leaders of drug cartels, transnational repression by the Chinese government and public corruption, has experienced less turmoil than its counterparts in Manhattan, Albany and Newark.
A spokesman for the Eastern District declined to comment. The U.S. attorney’s office in New Jersey did not respond to a request for comment.
The deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, a former federal prosecutor in Manhattan, has emphasized the particular importance of the Brooklyn office to Mr. Trump — in part because it includes Kennedy Airport, a nexus for international criminal cases, according to two people with knowledge of his thinking. Mr. Blanche has also emphasized the importance of relying on the expertise and experience of veteran prosecutors in the office to help execute the president’s law-and-order agenda, the people said.
But the Brooklyn office also hasn’t been entirely insulated. In March, before Mr. Nocella was appointed, some members of the office were stunned when they learned that Carlos Watson, the convicted fraudster, had been granted clemency by President Trump, according to two people with knowledge of the situation.
“The message seems to be that unitary executive gets to do what it wants, and damn those who interfere,” Mr. Richman said.
Santul Nerkar is a Times reporter covering federal courts in Brooklyn.
Jonah E. Bromwich covers criminal justice in the New York region for The Times. He is focused on political influence and its effect on the rule of law in the area's federal and state courts.
A version of this article appears in print on July 19, 2025, Section A, Page 13 of the New York edition with the headline: Trump-Driven Chaos Rains on the Offices Of Four U.S. Attorneys.
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PressReader.com
https://www.pressreader.com › usa › albany-times-union › 20250305 › 281599541255629
Ex-trump lawyer to lead Northern District - PressReader
Mar 5, 2025John A. Sarcone III, 62, who was part of President Donald Trump's legal team during the 2016 campaign, will head the 32county district that includes the state Capitol. The office has 49 assistant U.S. attorneys, four special assistants, 41 staff members and nine other contract staff
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LI 8 26 https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-sarcone/
...
Experience
First Assistant United States Attorney
Unites States Department of Justice · Full-time
Feb 2026 - Present · 7 mos
Northern District of New York · On-site
Leading one of the most active and spirited US Attorneys office in the Nation with 32 counties and border with Canada to the North.
Collaborative Leadership, Continuous Improvement and +15 skills
ATTORNEY & COUNSELR AT LAW - 20 YEARS EXP. IN NY & FEDERAL COURTS
Self-employed · Self-employed
Jan 2021 - Jan 2026 · 5 yrs 1 mo
New York City Metropolitan Area
◆ 𝗦𝗖𝗢𝗣𝗘: Having led one of the most critical regions of the U.S. General Services Administration as its Chief Executive and one of the largest real estate portfolios in the nation comprising both owned and leased facilities in New York State, North New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands in addition to the most successful acquisition arm for the federal government, I am poised to move on to a similar role in the private sector, which also utilizes my 20+ years of experience as a general attorney with major litigation experience.
Analytical Skills, Problem Solving and +8 skills
REGIONAL ADMINISTRATOR, NE & CARIBBEAN REGION 2
United States General Services Administration
2018 – 2021
New York City
◆ 𝗦𝗖𝗢𝗣𝗘: Acted as CEO, leading operations, people, and performance for one of the largest US regions, which includes NY, NJ, Puerto Rico, and US Virgin Islands. Guided a 16-member team of regional executives in strategic real estate, facilities, procurement, fleet, and IT initiatives to federal agencies and US courts. Led as CEO for multibillion-dollar commercial real estate portfolio and financial oversight of $2B+ of annual procurement.
◆ 𝗢𝗥𝗚𝗔𝗡𝗜𝗭𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗔𝗟 𝗜𝗠𝗣𝗔𝗖𝗧:
➢ Achieved explosive growth in small business utilization to 64.51%, blasting past goal by an astounding 222%.
➢ Led highly successful negotiations, preventing ~$82M in taxpayer expense, by securing a 20-year lease for SEC office space.
➢ Critical player in COVID response plan, acquiring hospital resources, preventing costly delays to construction projects, and partnering with leadership to keep buildings open and safe for essential personnel.
➢ Repaired region’s reputation as a strategic partner to its stakeholders and a customer-centric organization that focuses on delivering on commitments.
➢ Captured $500K in demand response revenue by championing energy/sustainability initiatives and curbing power consumption.
Analytical Skills, Problem Solving and +8 skills
MANAGING PARTNER
The Sarcone Law Fir / Dillon & Sarcone LLP
1998 – 2018
◆ 𝗦𝗖𝗢𝗣𝗘: Built and founded this general practice law firm, providing expertise to small business and family-owned corporations, construction arbitration and litigation, insurance defense, and federal/state court commercial litigation primarily. Handled large-scale real estate transactions, complex state-federal litigations and appeals, toxic tort plaintiff and defense and handled municipal zoning and planning issues for developers and advised municipalities. Labor counsel to unions and municipalities.
◆ 𝗢𝗥𝗚𝗔𝗡𝗜𝗭𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗔𝗟 𝗜𝗠𝗣𝗔𝗖𝗧:
➢ Secured 10-figure settlement from ExxonMobile/Sunoco for an underwater contamination claim.
➢ Protected defendant against $13M judgment for Avon Group LLC for client in mortgage default.
➢ Represented United Federation of Special Police Officers, Inc., one of the nation’s largest unions.
Analytical Skills, Problem Solving and +8 skills
GENERAL COUNSEL
United Federation of Special Police Officers, Inc.
2014 – 2017
Analytical Skills, Problem Solving and +8 skills
Eastchester, New York, United States
Analytical Skills, Problem Solving and +8 skills
ATTORNEY FOR THE TOWN OF CORNWALL
Cornwall, New York, United States
Analytical Skills, Problem Solving and +8 skills
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AN 8 26
On Friday, a federal court dealt a huge blow to President Donald Trump’s efforts to weaponize the Department of Justice, ruling that a U.S. attorney who obtained grand jury subpoenas targeting New York Attorney General Letitia James had been illegally appointed. According to the 2nd Circuit Court’s opinion, “This case concerns whether John A. Sarcone III validly served as, and lawfully exercised the duties of, the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York.” In the court’s assessment, “We hold that he did not.”
The case dates back to August 2025, when Trump loyalist Sarcone issued subpoenas to James’ office in an attempt to undermine civil lawsuits the latter filed against Trump, his family business, and the National Rifle Association. Both Trump and the NRA were found liable, but claimed they were being targeted politically. Sarcone’s subpoenas were part of an effort to bring charges against James, whom he accused of violating Trump and the NRA’s civil rights. His inquest ultimately failed to bring charges.
James filed suit questioning the validity of the subpoenas, which a lower court quashed, at the same time disqualifying Sarcone from future involvement with the investigation. The DOJ then appealed to a higher court, which sided 2-1 with the original determination.
According to the new opinion, “We hold that Sarcone was not serving as Acting U.S. Attorney when he obtained the subpoenas” and that “the general delegation to Sarcone of all the duties of the U.S. Attorney’s office was an unlawful” use of authority. He therefore lacked the power to obtain subpoenas, so the court affirmed their quashing. What’s more, the court noted that the government’s appeal never offered an argument as to why the lower court erred in disqualifying Sarcone from future investigations, so that order was upheld as well.
The majority judges were appointed by Presidents Bill Clinton and Joe Biden, while a third dissenting judge had been appointed by Trump.
The subpoenas have been part of Trump’s wide-ranging lawfare effort against James, who had indicted the president for fraud after it was found he had inflated the value of his properties. Trump was initially fined over $450 million, but the financial penalty was later thrown out on appeal. Since then, however, Trump has been vocal about his desire for revenge, declaring on the 2024 campaign trail that James should "be arrested and punished accordingly.” Once he returned to office, his DOJ indicted James under allegations of mortgage fraud. These charges were thrown out when a court found that the U.S. attorney leading the case had been – like Sarcone – illegally appointed.
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pko
Sarcone, who is leading the U.S. attorney's office in the northern district of New York, speaks at a press conference in Albany. | AP Photo/Michael Hill
By Erica Orden
05/11/2026
A committee of New York state’s appellate court system found last month that John Sarcone, the embattled federal prosecutor leading the U.S. attorney’s office for the Northern District of New York, committed professional misconduct, according to a Washington-based watchdog organization.
The nature of the misconduct and of the sanctions were unclear.
“The Committee determined there was a sufficient basis for a finding of professional misconduct and took appropriate action,” a letter from Elena Jaffe Tastensen, the chair of the Third Judicial Department’s attorney grievance committee, said. “With this action the matter is concluded.”
A request for comment left with Sarcone’s office wasn’t immediately returned.
Though the letter didn’t disclose the conduct in question, a complaint by the watchdog organization, Campaign for Accountability, filed last August, listed several incidents that have dogged Sarcone.
One, from last June, concerns an altercation Sarcone had with a knife-wielding man outside a hotel in Albany that resulted in Sarcone filing official papers with the local sheriff’s office saying the man threatened his life and motioned “as if he was going to attempt to cut my throat.” According to the complaint, the Albany County district attorney found the surveillance video didn’t support Sarcone’s claims, dropping an attempted murder charge and reducing a weapons violation to a misdemeanor.
The complaint also noted Sarcone’s statements and actions related to his residency after the address he listed on the deposition concerning the altercation was exposed by a local newspaper as a boarded-up building. The watchdog also notified the committee that following a dustup over his residency, Sarcone retaliated against the newspaper, the Albany Times-Union, by removing it from his office’s press distribution list.
A spokesperson for the Justice Department said “John Sarcone was a victim of a violent crime by a criminal alien, and this baseless complaint is nothing more than a politicized attack on a United States Attorney.”
Sarcone’s tenure at the U.S. attorney’s office hasn’t been short on drama. He was one of a spate of U.S. attorneys installed by the Trump administration and then disqualified by federal judges who found the administration had used illegal mechanisms to put loyalists in place while circumventing Senate confirmation and judicial appointment processes.
Upon his disqualification, U.S. District Judge Lorna Schofield, appointed by President Barack Obama, also tossed a pair of subpoenas Sarcone had issued to longtime Trump foe New York Attorney General Letitia James related to two politically charged cases: her office’s civil fraud lawsuit against Trump, his two eldest sons, his business associates and his family business; and her office’s civil lawsuit against the National Rifle Association.
The Justice Department is appealing Schofield’s decision.
Despite being disqualified as U.S. attorney, Sarcone has continued to lead the office from its second-in-command post as first assistant U.S. attorney.
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8 26 no tALK FLAGS
United States Attorney for the Northern District of New York - Wikipedia
e original District of New York, established in 1789, was divided in 1814 into the Southern and the Northern District. In 1900, the Western District, comprising 17 counties, was separated from the Northern District.[1]
Second Trump administration
In the second Trump administration, John A. Sarcone III was sworn in for a 120-day term on March 17, 2025, by Attorney General Pamela Bondi per 28 U.S.C. § 546. As that term was about to expire, on July 14, 2025, Bondi appointed Sarcone as "special attorney to the attorney general" and then as first assistant United States attorney for the Northern District of New York.[2]
Per the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998, he then was designated as the acting U.S. attorney for a period of 210 days, though the letter from the Executive Office for United States Attorneys claimed the term was indefinite. Sarcone has not been nominated by the President as U.S. attorney, and said he expected his designation to be temporary as he expected to be appointed as a judge downstate.[3]
The Board of Judges of the District Court had the power to appoint Sarcone or another person as U.S. Attorney until someone was appointed by the President after nomination and Senate confirmation, but the Board of Judges declined to exercise that appointment power, described in a New York Times article as a "rare move".[4][5][6][7] Special attorneys have normally been named to lead a particular prosecution, and have seemingly never been used for someone acting as a U.S. attorney, with University of Richmond School of Law professor Carl Tobias saying he'd "never heard of that being done" and "It seems like they're making this up as they go along."[8]
On February 12, 2026, the Northern District of New York appointed Donald T. Kinsella as U.S. attorney.[9] The same day, the Department of Justice dismissed Kinsella as U.S. attorney.[10]
...
United States attorney for the Northern District of New York is the chief federal law enforcement officer in 32 counties in the northern part of the State of New York. The position is currently vacant.
The United States District Court for the Northern District of New York has jurisdiction over all cases prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney. Its jurisdiction comprises the counties of Albany, Broome, Cayuga, Chenango, Clinton, Columbia, Cortland, Delaware, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Greene, Hamilton, Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Madison, Montgomery, Oneida, Onondaga, Oswego, Otsego, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Schoharie, St. Lawrence, Tioga, Tompkins, Ulster, Warren, and Washington.
The court has offices in Albany, Binghamton, Plattsburgh, Syracuse and Utica. The court also holds court at facilities in Watertown.
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United Federation of Police Officers.
John A. Sarcone, III, Esq.
General Counsel
John A. Sarcone, III, Esq. is a 1995 Graduate of the Pace University School of Law (Honors), with a Certificate in International Trade and Commercial Transactions and International Law. He is admitted to practice in the State of New York, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New
Experience:
20 Years
Email:
info@ufpo.us
Phone:
202-559-9031
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The law office of Davis & Ferber, bring extensive legal experience to United Federation of Police Officers (UFPO) in the states of New York and New Jersey. Partner David A. Davis, who heads the UFPO labor relations department in NY & NJ, currently serves as our general counsel in New York. Davis & Ferber have protected the rights of unions in thousands of proceedings, from arbitrations to disciplinary hearings to PERB, NLRB and RLA proceedings.
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Lenow & McCarthy is a labor law firm dedicated to representing United Federation of Police Officers (UFPO) and its members in all aspects of the labor relations law throughout Massachusetts and in other New England states. Lenow & McCarthy have handled hundreds of grievances, discipline cases, arbitrations and prohibited
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duck 8 26
U.S. Department of Justice
https://www.justice.gov › usao-ndny › staff-profile › us-attorney
John A. Sarcone III - United States Department of Justice
Feb 10, 2026John A. Sarcone III is the First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York. As First Assistant U.S. Attorney, Mr. Sarcone is the chief federal law enforcement officer responsible for all federal criminal prosecutions and civil litigation involving the United States in the Northern District of New York, an area covering 32 ...
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › United_States_Attorney_for_the_Northern_District_of_New_York
United States Attorney for the Northern District of New York
In the second Trump administration, John A. Sarcone III was sworn in for a 120-day term on March 17, 2025, by Attorney General Pamela Bondi per 28 U.S.C. § 546. As that term was about to expire, on July 14, 2025, Bondi appointed Sarcone as "special attorney to the attorney general" and then as first assistant United States attorney for the Northern District of New York. [2] Per the Federal ...
U.S. Department of Justice
https://www.justice.gov › usao-ndny
Northern District of New York | Northern District of New York
Federal Officials Announce Major Arrests in International Drug Smuggling Case ALBANY, NEW YORK - First Assistant United States Attorney John A. Sarcone III, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives New York Special Agent in Charge Bryan DiGirolamo...
- The Federalist
- https://thefederalist.com › tag › john-a-sarcone-iii
John A. Sarcone III Archives - The Federalist
- Jun 19, 20252 If You Want To Be A Grandparent One Day, Raise Your Kids To Get Married And Want Babies ASAP
- POLITICO
- https://www.politico.com › news › 2026 › 05 › 11 › john-sarcone-misconduct-complaint-00914644
Top federal prosecutor in New York committed misconduct ... - POLITICO
- May 11, 2026The move comes after Campaign for Accountability raised concerns about John Sarcone, the top prosecutor in the U.S. attorney's office for the Northern District of New York.
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