Judge disqualifies federal prosecutor in investigation into New York Attorney General Letitia James

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A judge disqualified a Trump administration federal prosecutor from overseeing investigations into New York Attorney General Letitia James, ruling Thursday that he is not lawfully serving as an acting U.S. attorney.

U.S. District Judge Lorna G. Schofield blocked subpoenas requested by John Sarcone, the acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York. The judge said the Department of Justice did not follow statutory procedure after judges declined to extend Sarcone’s tenure last year.

Schofield joined several other judges across the country who have ruled against top federal prosecutors after maneuvers by the Trump administration to allow them to serve as U.S. attorneys while bypassing the usual process of getting confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

“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. Subpoenas issued under that authority are invalid. The subpoenas are quashed, and Mr. Sarcone is disqualified from further participation in the underlying investigations,” the judge said in her decision.

Schofield said Sarcone is not lawfully serving as acting U.S. attorney and that any “of his past or future acts taken in that capacity are void or voidable as they would rest on authority Mr. Sarcone does not lawfully have.”

James, a Democrat, challenged Sarcone’s authority after he issued subpoenas seeking information about lawsuits she filed against Republican President Donald Trump, claiming he had committed fraud in his business dealings, and separately against the National Rifle Association and some of its former leaders.

She claimed the inquiry into her lawsuits is part of a campaign of baseless investigations and prosecutions of Trump’s perceived enemies.

Justice Department lawyers argued Sarcone was appointed properly and that the subpoenas were valid.

The department said in a email Thursday it "will continue to fight and defend the President and the Attorney General’s authority to appoint their U.S. Attorneys.”

James’ office called Thursday's ruling “an important win for the rule of law.”

“We will continue to defend our office’s successful litigation from this administration’s political attacks,” the office's statement said.

Last month, a panel of judges from the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sitting in Philadelphia sided with a lower-court judge’s ruling disqualifying Alina Habba from serving as New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor.

In November, a federal judge dismissed criminal cases against former FBI Director James Comey and James after concluding that the hastily installed prosecutor who filed the charges, Lindsey Halligan, was unlawfully appointed to the position of interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

A similar dynamic played out in Nevada, where a federal judge disqualified the Trump administration’s pick to be U.S. attorney there. And a federal judge in Los Angeles disqualified the acting U.S. attorney in Southern California from several cases after concluding he stayed in the job longer than allowed.

In New York, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi appointed Sarcone to serve as the interim U.S. attorney in March. When his 120-day term elapsed, judges in the district declined to keep him in the post.

Bondi then appointed Sarcone as a special attorney and designated him first assistant U.S. attorney for the district, moves that federal officials say allow him to serve as an acting U.S. attorney.

The judge, who sits in New York City, took issue with the Justice Department's actions.

“(O)n the same day that the judges declined to extend Mr. Sarcone’s appointment, the Department took coordinated steps — through personnel moves and shifting titles — to install Mr. Sarcone as Acting U.S. Attorney. Federal law does not permit such a workaround,” she wrote.

Sarcone was part of Trump’s legal team during the 2016 presidential campaign and worked for the U.S. General Services Administration during Trump’s first term.

“The people of the Northern District of New York deserve a qualified, independent prosecutor, not a political loyalist,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said in a prepared statement.

Schofield said the federal government could reissue the subpoenas at the direction of a lawfully authorized attorney.

Joshua Naftalis, a Manhattan federal prosecutor for 11 years before entering private practice in 2023, said it's "always a big deal when judges say that the U.S. attorney doesn’t have the authority.” He added that subpoenas aren’t typically issued by a single prosecutor so the ruling might not directly affect other investigations brought through the prosecutor’s office.

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Associated Press writer Larry Neumeister contributed from New York.

FILE - John Sarcone, acting U.S. Attorney for Northern New York, leaves Manhattan federal court, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Michael Sisak, File)

New York Attorney General Letitia James arrives at City Hall for the public inauguration swearing-in ceremony of Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)

LONDON (AP) — David Bowie’s bedroom could soon be London’s newest tourist attraction.

The house where the musician grew from suburban schoolboy to rock ‘n’ roll starman has been bought by a charity that plans to open it to the public.

The Heritage of London Trust said Thursday that the 19th-century railway worker’s cottage in the south London suburb of Bromley will be restored to its 1960s decor and open to the public next year.

Visitors will be able to visit the 9-foot by 10-foot (2.7-meter by 3-meter) bedroom, “where a spark became a flame,” the charity said. The trust hasn't said how much it paid for the house.

Bowie, born David Jones, lived in the house from 1955, when he was 8, until 1967, when he was a 20-year-old working musician hungry for fame.

Geoffrey Marsh, co-curator of the Victoria and Albert Museum’s hit 2013 exhibition “David Bowie Is," said the house is where "Bowie evolved from an ordinary suburban schoolboy to the beginnings of an extraordinary international stardom.

“As he said, ‘I spent so much time in my bedroom, it really was my entire world. I had books up there, my music up there, my record player.'"

From Bromley, Bowie went on a creative journey that took him to Philadelphia, Berlin and New York, through eye-popping style changes and musical genres from folk-rock to glam, soul, electronica and new wave. His songbook includes classics such as “Space Oddity,” “Changes,” “Life on Mars,” “Starman,” “Young Americans” and “Heroes.”

The house project, backed by Bowie’s estate, has received a 500,000 pound ($670,000) charity grant and is seeking donations from the public. The heritage trust aims to open the house in late 2027 for public visits and creative workshops for children.

The announcement came as fans mark a decade since Bowie’s death at age 69 on Jan. 10, 2016, two days after the release of his final album, “Blackstar.”

A decade on, Bowie’s cultural legacy in music, style and design continues to inspire. His 90,000-item archive opened to the public last year at the V&A Museum's David Bowie Centre in east London.

George Underwood, a childhood friend, said that the house was where “we spent so much time together, listening to and playing music.

“I’ve heard a lot of people say David’s music saved them or changed their life,” he said in a statement. “It’s amazing that he could do that and even more amazing that it all started here, from such small beginnings, in this house. We were dreamers, and look what he became.”

FILE - Rock star David Bowie attends a press conference in Los Angeles, C.A. on March 16, 1990. (AP Photo/Marilyn Weiss, File)