President Trump pulled his nomination of Alina Habba to serve as New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor, which enables her to remain in the role in an acting capacity.

The move follows New Jersey’s federal trial judges naming a replacement for Habba after her 120-day term as interim U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey expired.

Alina Habba’s Term As Interim U.S. Attorney In New Jersey Expires, Judge Names Replacement

Desiree Leigh Grace, whom Habba named as her first assistant in the U.S. attorney’s office, was named as Habba's replacement.

However, Attorney General Pam Bondi thwarted the attempt to replace Habba by removing Habba's replacement from the office.

Pam Bondi Thwarts Liberal Judges Attempt to REPLACE Alina Habba With One Of Their Own

"@USAttyHabba has been doing a great job in making NJ safe again. Nonetheless, politically minded judges refused to allow her to continue in her position, replacing Alina with the First Assistant," Bondi said.

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"Accordingly, the First Assistant United States Attorney in New Jersey has just been removed. This Department of Justice does not tolerate rogue judges — especially when they threaten the President’s core Article II powers," she added.

The Independent reported on the latest developments:

That prosecutor, Desiree Leigh Grace, who has spent a decade fighting crime at the U.S. Attorney’s office in Newark, said she is still prepared to take the job and will show up for work “in accordance with the law.” A spokesperson for the Justice Department told The Independent that “Grace is no longer an employee of the department.”

The situation has left the office’s leadership in a state of limbo with potentially serious consequences for its caseload after Habba launched several investigations and indictments against Trump’s political enemies.

It’s unclear what will happen next.

To stay on permanently, Habba needs to be confirmed by the Senate, but it’s unlikely her name will come up for a vote any time soon. New Jersey’s Democratic senators have effectively killed off chances of a confirmation vote, let alone a hearing.

"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. I don’t cower to pressure. I don’t answer to politics. This is a fight for justice. And I’m all in," Habba said Thursday.

CBS News noted:

Habba was a member of Mr. Trump's defense team in several civil cases brought against him in New York, and she joined the White House as a counselor to the president after Mr. Trump won a second term. The president announced in March that he had tapped Habba to serve as the interim U.S. attorney in her home state of New Jersey. Federal law limited her time as interim U.S. attorney to 120 days.

Habba deserves the job, according to Armen Morian, who worked alongside Habba in a 2023 New York civil case in which Mr. Trump, his company and top executives were found liable for fraud.

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"I think she's eminently qualified to be U.S. attorney, and I think she's doing a fine job of it," Morian said.

Morian hit back at Habba's critics who questioned her suitability for the job, having never previously been a prosecutor.

"President Trump is a very unconventional figure, and he forces us, I think, to reconsider a lot of the assumptions we make. Sometimes it's very useful to put somebody into an office who has shown to you that she has sufficient judgment and will do well in the position," Morian said.

But the state's two senators, Booker and Kim, opposed her nomination. Under the Senate Judiciary Committee's "blue slip" policy, a nomination for U.S. attorney or to a federal district court will not move forward unless both home-state senators return positive blue slips.

With the 120-day deadline on Habba's term approaching, a panel of federal judges on the U.S. district court in New Jersey invoked their power under federal law and voted to replace Habba with Grace, her deputy.

 

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