Board of federal judges blocks Trump-appointed US attorney for upstate NY office

A board of federal judges rejected interim top prosecutor John Sarcone III’s bid to lead the upstate New York US attorney’s office permanently Monday – despite his claim last week he received the panel’s approval.

The group of US District Court judges announced they declined to appoint him US Attorney for the Northern District of New York after Sarcone was first appointed by the Department of Justice temporarily in March.

The jurists did not explain their reasoning and Sarone’s tenure could end this week.

The setback for the Republican comes after he told a local news station Friday that the panel signed off on his appointment to lead the office. But the board of judges quickly threw cold water on that claim, noting no action was taken yet.

John Sarcone was rebuked by a panel of judges Monday. Dennis A. Clark

A spokesperson for Sarcone, Assistant US Attorney Tamara Thomson, then claimed to Syracuse.com that Associate Deputy General Attorney Aakash Singh signaled the permanent appointment was moving in the right direction.

“We stressed the importance of needing to have this handled ASAP and they acknowledged,” Singh said of the judges, according to a readout of messages Thomson provided the newspaper.

“We are going to continue communicating with them until it’s done, but sounds like there aren’t any issues and that it’s moving according to plan.”

A phone call to the US Attorney for the Northern District of New York was not returned Monday afternoon.

Sarcone could still clinch a temporary reappointment from the Trump administration with a source briefed on the matter telling the Times-Union the Department of Justice is expected to take that action.

Trump has not nominated Sarcone for the position that would require US Senate approval.

An email to the Department of Justice was not immediately returned Monday afternoon.

Trump could reappoint Sarcone to the position. AP

Sarcone accused a knife-wielding migrant of threatening to slit his throat in June, leading to an arrest.

The Albany County District Attorney’s Office ultimately only charged the suspect, Saul Morales-Garcia, with menacing and the 40-year-old El Salvadoran national pleaded guilty to that charge.

Morales-Garcia admitted earlier this month to putting the federal prosecutor “in reasonable fear of death by displaying and pointing a knife at the victim while also charging at the victim,” according to the Times-Union.

He was sentenced to 90 days in jail, the newspaper reported.

Sarcone assumed the office shortly after Biden appointee Carla Freedmam left her position in mid-February.