ANKARA

A key US prosecutor in the US state of Virginia has been removed from his post, a senior Justice Department official has announced, just hours after his appointment by a panel of judges.

The move is the latest in a series of battles in which the Trump administration has tried to bypass established procedures for naming prosecutors without congressional approval, as laid out in the US Constitution.

The administration has sought to temporarily name judges without congressional approval, and then reappoint them when their short-term tenure expires. Judges have called the maneuver illegal.

On US social media company X, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche – a former personal attorney for US President Trump – announced on Friday that James Hundley, who was serving on an interim basis as US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia (EDVA), had been removed from his post. He had been appointed by judges earlier in the day.

Blanche quoted a news report telling how Hundley was appointed after Lindsey Halligan, Trump’s last choice for the post, stepped down earlier this year due to a court ruling that found her appointment unlawful.

“Here we go again. EDVA judges do not pick our US Attorney. POTUS (the president) does. James Hundley, you’re fired!” wrote Blanche.

In the post, Halligan had prepared indictments concerning former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, both seen as enemies of Trump, but with little success.

In a separate development, Donald T. Kinsella, who had been assigned by federal judges to replace John A. Sarcone, a prosecutor appointed by Trump as US attorney in the Northern District of New York, was also dismissed by the White House within hours of his appointment.

* Writing by Seyit Kurt