The Trump administration believes it has found a workaround to keep the president’s former personal lawyer Alina Habba as New Jersey’s U.S. Attorney and outflank federal judges who sought to replace her.
It’s the latest move by the administration to put an ally of the president in a top law enforcement role and appears to circumvent the traditional role of the Senate in approving key administration officials.
As part of the gambit, a Justice Department official described a process that involves President Donald Trump withdrawing Habba’s nomination to permanently take the post. Then, Attorney General Pam Bondi would appoint Habba as First Assistant U.S. Attorney — typically the second-ranking official in the office. Because the U.S. attorney’s post is vacant, Habba would automatically fill the role on a temporary basis; she can’t simultaneously be the president’s nominee and serve as acting in this way.
The multi-step maneuver came as Habba — who has been leading the New Jersey U.S. attorney’s office on an interim basis since March — was approaching a Friday deadline to depart the post. That deadline triggered a little-used provision of law allowing the federal district court judges in New Jersey to appoint a successor until Trump could get a permanent U.S. attorney confirmed by the Senate.
The judges earlier this week selected Desiree Leigh Grace, a longtime career prosecutor, to succeed Habba, infuriating Justice Department leaders who had hoped to keep Habba — a Trump loyalist — in the position.
In a social media post Thursday evening, Habba said, “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 is perhaps uniquely controversial because of her close ties to the president before taking office and her actions after — she led an aborted prosecution of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, the indictment of Rep. LaMonica McIver and an investigation of Gov. Phil Murphy, all Democrats. Habba had no experience as a prosecutor until Trump installed her as the interim U.S. attorney.
Trump allies in the DOJ have said the judges have gone “rogue” and are seeking to “threaten” Trump’s power to select prosecutors. That power, though, is tempered by requirements that presidential picks must be confirmed by the Senate.
Now, a person close to the department who was granted anonymity to discuss a fluid subject said it’s possible the judges, most of them nominated by Democratic presidents, could face further scrutiny from the Trump administration.
After the judges’ order selecting Grace on Tuesday, Attorney General Pam Bondi fired Grace before she could take the acting U.S. Attorney job. Despite that, Grace still planned to take the job when Habba left, which was expected at the end of this week.
In a LinkedIn post on Wednesday, Grace said she planned to assume the role of interim U.S. Attorney at the request of the judges.
The New Jersey District Court did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Madison Fernandez contributed to this report.
