Trump administration clears way to keep Alina Habba as New Jersey's top
federal prosecutor
[July 26, 2025]
By MIKE CATALINI
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — President Donald Trump has moved to keep his former
defense attorney Alina Habba on the job as the top federal prosecutor in
New Jersey, even though a panel of judges refused to extend her tenure.
Habba's term was set to expire this week, and federal judges in New
Jersey had moved to appoint someone else to the position. But the
Republican president on Thursday withdrew Habba's nomination to hold the
role permanently, setting in motion a series of steps that allow her to
transition from being an interim U.S. attorney to an acting U.S.
attorney and remain in the job for the next 210 days.
“Donald J. Trump is the 47th President. Pam Bondi is the Attorney
General. And I am now the Acting United States Attorney for the District
of New Jersey,” Habba posted on X. “I don’t cower to pressure. I don’t
answer to politics. This is a fight for justice. And I’m all in.”
The Trump administration’s decision resolves what had threatened to
become a high-profile clash over who would serve as New Jersey's top
prosecutor, a post with sweeping authority over public corruption,
violent crime and organized crime cases. The move allows Habba, one of
the most visible and controversial U.S. attorneys in the country, to
remain in charge and cements the administration’s preference for
loyalists in key Justice Department positions.
Habba, who became interim U.S. attorney for the state in March, appeared
to lose the position on Tuesday when judges in the district declined to
keep her in the post while she awaited confirmation by the U.S. Senate.
Instead, the judges appointed one of Habba's subordinates, Desiree Leigh
Grace, to take her place.
But hours later, Bondi removed Grace, accusing the judges who replaced
Habba of being “rogue” and “politically minded.”
In a post on LinkedIn, Grace addressed her appointment by the district's
judges, saying it would “forever be the greatest honor that they
selected me on merit.”
Habba, whose term as interim U.S. attorney was set to end Friday, was
designated as acting United States attorney, a Justice Department
official said. Federal law would have precluded her from serving as
acting U.S. attorney while her nomination for the role was pending in
the Senate.
During her four months as interim U.S. attorney, Habba’s office tangled
with two prominent New Jersey Democrats — Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and
U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver — over their actions during a chaotic visit to
a privately operated immigration detention center in the state’s largest
city.
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Alina Habba speaks after being sworn in as interim US Attorney
General for New Jersey, in the Oval Office of the White House in
Washington, on March 28, 2025. (Pool File via AP)
Baraka was arrested on a trespass charge stemming from his attempt
to join a congressional visit of the facility. Baraka denied any
wrongdoing, and Habba eventually dropped that charge. U.S.
Magistrate Judge Andre Espinosa rebuked Habba’s office over the
arrest and short-lived prosecution, calling it a “worrisome
misstep.” Baraka is now suing Habba over what he says was a
“malicious prosecution.”
Habba then brought assault charges against McIver, whose district
includes Newark, over physical contact she made with law enforcement
officials as Baraka was being arrested.
The prosecution, which is pending, is a rare federal criminal case
against a sitting member of Congress for allegations other than
fraud or corruption. McIver denies that anything she did amounted to
assault.
Besides the prosecution of McIver, Habba had announced she launched
an investigation into New Jersey’s Democratic governor, Phil Murphy,
and attorney general, Matt Platkin, over the state’s directive
barring local law enforcement from cooperating with federal agents
conducting immigration enforcement.
In social media posts, Habba highlighted her office’s prosecution of
drug traffickers, including against 30 members of a fentanyl and
crack cocaine ring in Newark.
Trump had formally nominated Habba as his pick for U.S. attorney on
July 1, but the state’s two Democratic U.S. senators, Cory Booker
and Andy Kim, signaled their opposition to her appointment. Under a
long-standing Senate practice known as senatorial courtesy, a
nomination can stall out without backing from home state senators, a
phenomenon facing a handful of other Trump picks for U.S. attorney.
___
Associated Press journalist Carolyn Thompson in Buffalo, N.Y.,
contributed to this report.
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