Trump Picks Alina Habba to Still Run NJ US Attorney’s Office (2)

President Donald Trump selected Alina Habba to continue running the US Attorney’s Office in New Jersey on a temporary basis, the latest twist in a succession drama after federal judges had picked her top assistant to take her place.

Trump chose Habba, his former personal attorney, amid an eventful week in which her 120-day interim post was set to expire and the judges tapped veteran prosecutor Desiree Grace to take her place. But Attorney General Pam Bondi then fired Grace and assailed the “politically minded judges” who stood in her way.

“I am now the Acting United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey,” Habba said Thursday in a social media post. “I don’t cower to pressure. I don’t answer to politics. This is a fight for justice. And I’m all in.”

Alina Habba

Photographer: Bonnie Cash/UPI/Bloomberg

Habba’s tenure has been marked by controversy. When she assumed the job, she said she wanted to help Republicans in New Jersey. Critics said the statement was inappropriately partisan for the state’s top federal law enforcement official.

Read More: Trump’s DOJ Sidesteps Norms to Boost Ally as US Attorney

She said she would investigate Governor Phil Murphy, she charged Newark Mayor Ras Baraka with trespassing and dropped the case amid fierce criticism, and she indicted Congresswoman LaMonica McIver over a confrontation with immigration officials. All are Democrats.

“President Trump continues to have full confidence in Alina Habba to serve the people of New Jersey,” said White House spokesman Harrison Fields.

When the judges chose Grace, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said district judges tried to “force” Habba out of her job, adding: “Their rush reveals what this was always about: a left-wing agenda, not the rule of law,” Blanche said.

Trump couldn’t appoint Habba to another 120-day term as an interim. As a workaround, he could use another law, the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, to install her for 210 days and withdraw her stalled nomination before the US Senate for a four-year term, according to legal experts.

The White House didn’t respond to questions Thursday night about the length of Habba’s term or whether her nomination is still pending before the Senate. Habba didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Habba sent a note to colleagues at the US Attorney’s Office in New Jersey saying that said there had been “enough noise” around the situation and encouraged them to maintain their focus, according to the contents of the communication shared with Bloomberg News.

On Wednesday night, Grace said in a social media post that she’s “prepared to follow” the judge’s order and “begin to serve in accordance with the law.” But Habba’s new appointment appears to preclude that as an option.

New Jersey’s two Democratic US senators, Cory Booker and Andy Kim, had previously said in a joint statement that Habba “degraded the office” and “does not meet the standard to serve.”

After her new appointment, they said the Trump administration had installed Habba by “bypassing the court’s lawful authority and ignoring the required advice and consent of Congress,” according to a statement. “The court lawfully appointed Desiree Grace as U.S. Attorney, and we fully support its rightful exercise of authority.”

(Updates with Habba note to colleagues in tenth paragraph.)

--With assistance from Ben Bain.

To contact the reporter on this story:
David Voreacos in New York at dvoreacos@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou at megkolfopoul@bloomberg.net

Peter Blumberg, Steve Stroth

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