New Jersey Turns to Aggressive Tactic Against Trump Loyalist Alina Habba — Challenging Her Law License — as She Prosecutes Democratic Congresswoman for Assault

The investigation by the New Jersey Supreme Court’s Office of Attorney Ethics into the interim acting United States attorney for the Garden State, Alina Habba, underscores the escalating tension between some sectors of the legal profession and President Trump. Ms. Habba served as Mr. Trump’s personal attorney and then as a counselor to the 47th president before being appointed by Mr. Trump to the prosecutorial post. Now, NOTUS reports that she has been under scrutiny for more than a year for professional misconduct — an investigation that could result in her losing her bar license. New Jersey is a Democratic stronghold. The news that Ms. Habba is now under investigation has come to light after she criminally charged two prominent Democratic politicians — Mayor Baraka of Newark and Congresswoman LaMonica McIver — following a protest at an immigration facility in New Jersey. The trespassing charges against Mr. Baraka have been dropped, but those against Ms. McIver have not. The scrutiny stems from Ms. Habba’s representation of a 21-year-old waitress, Alice Bianco, at Trump’s Bedminster golf club in a sexual harassment suit. Documents suggest that Ms. Habba assumed representation of Ms. Bianco only to encourage her to accept a settlement of just $15,000 and sign a non-disclosure agreement — even as Ms. Habba represented Mr. Trump in his suit against a contestant on “Celebrity Apprentice,” Summer Zervos.When Ms. Bianco discovered that she owed taxes on the $15,000, Ms. Habba sent her a text message saying, “I can’t technically give u legal advice. That’s the problem.” Ms. Bianco hired a second lawyer who helped her secure a settlement of $82,500. Ms. Habba has settled with Ms. Bianco over the nature of her representation. New Jersey has outlawed non-disclosure agreements in harassment and discrimination settlements. After Ms. Habba’s nomination she speculated, “We could turn New Jersey red. I really do believe that.” Ms. Habba, in those dropped charges, accused Mr. Baraka of criminal trespassing. The presiding judge, André Espinosa, told her office, “Your role is not to secure convictions at all costs, nor to satisfy public clamor, nor to advance political agendas.”Ms. McIver still faces an assault charge for her behavior at that same immigration facility. If convicted, she could face 17 years in prison. She has pleaded not guilty. Mr. Baraka said of the Trump administration, “They’re using the court and the law as an appendage of their ideology to begin to hammer us into submission. But they can’t hammer the congresswoman.”Ms. Habba’s boss, Attorney General Bondi, has faced her own onslaught from the legal establishment — in her case from some of her fellow lawyers in the Florida’s Bar Association. That group has three times declined petitions to formally investigate Ms. Bondi for ethics violations. The Sunshine State Bar has taken the position that it “does not investigate or prosecute sitting officers appointed under the U.S. Constitution while they are in office.”Ms. Bondi’s critics allege that she has committed “serious professional misconduct” and that her leadership of the Department of Justice “threatens the rule of law and the administration of justice.” The Florida lawyers accuse her of working to “compel Department of Justice lawyers to violate their ethical obligations” as she aims “to zealously pursue the President’s political objectives.”Other legal advisers to Mr. Trump have seen their ability to practice law revoked. Mayor Giuliani, who spearheaded Mr. Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election — and was once the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York — last summer had his license to practice law in the Empire State revoked. He also faces criminal charges in Georgia and Arizona. He has pleaded not guilty in both of those cases.A New York appellate court ruled that Mr. Giuliani created “distrust of the elective system of our country in the minds of the citizens” and worked “to destroy their confidence in the legitimacy of our government.” He has also been permanently barred from practicing law in the District of Columbia.Disbarment is a punishment that Mr. Giuliani shares with another erstwhile adviser to Mr. Trump, the legal scholar John Eastman. His law license has been stripped in California for propagating what a court called a “false narrative” that “resulted in the undermining of our country’s electoral process, reduced faith in election professionals, and lessened respect for the courts of this land.”Mr. Eastman was crucial in advising Mr. Trump to name so-called alternate electors pledged to him rather than President Biden in the aftermath of the 2020 vote. Like Mr. Giuliani, he has been criminally charged with racketeering and other crimes by the disqualified district attorney of Georgia’s Fulton County, Fani Willis.Ms. Habba’s interim appointment expires on July 22, which could explain why criticism of her conduct, which began before her appointment, is now ratcheting up.

New Jersey Turns to Aggressive Tactic Against Trump Loyalist Alina Habba — Challenging Her Law License — as She Prosecutes Democratic Congresswoman for Assault

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