Trump Officially Taps Habba for Top New Jersey Prosecutor (2)

President Donald Trump plans to nominate his former personal lawyer Alina Habba to serve full-time as the top prosecutor in New Jersey, teeing up a likely confirmation battle in the Senate.

Habba, whose intended nomination was announced by the White House on Tuesday, will be a tough sell for the state’s two Democratic senators, whose approval is needed for US attorney nominees to move forward under Senate custom.

During her tenure as interim leader at the US attorney’s office for the District of New Jersey, her office notably brought criminal charges against Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.) over her conduct at a protest outside of an immigration detention facility. Her office also charged Newark Mayor Ras Baraka for trespassing at that protest, but those charges were later dropped.

Habba previously defended Trump in his personal capacity against New York state fraud charges and against defamation claims brought by author E. Jean Carroll.

Her term as the office’s interim leader is set to expire later this month. If she isn’t confirmed in time, Trump would need to tap a new temporary chief, or the New Jersey federal trial court would select one.

Her upcoming nomination was included in a list of intended nominees for key roles, including more than a dozen candidates for US attorney seats in Indiana, Ohio, South Carolina, Mississippi, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, and Louisiana.

They include Republican state legislator Christopher Gilbert, nominated to be US attorney for the Western District of Virginia, and Moore Capito, the son of Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), picked to be the US attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia.

In a social media post, Capito praised the White House’s picks for two US attorney seats in West Virginia and said she looks forward to “supporting their quick confirmations,” without mentioning a familiar connection.

Thomas Wheeler, tapped to be US attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, led the Justice Department’s civil rights unit during the first Trump administration, and in January, he was announced as a top attorney for the Department of Education, which the administration is seeking to dismantle.