New Jersey Federal Judges Vote To Remove a Trump Ally, Alina Habba, From U.S. Attorney Job

In a not-so-surprising outcome, federal district court judges in New Jersey have voted not to extend the temporary gig of a Trump lawyer, Alina Habba, as U.S. attorney in the Garden State.The outcome was a foregone conclusion. Of the 17 sitting U.S. district court judges in the state, 15 were nominated by Democratic presidents — five by President Obama and 10 by President Biden, with just two by a Republican president, George W. Bush. There were 19 votes cast, and the final tally was not released. One news site said Chief Judge Renee Bumb allowed four senior status judges — three nominated by Mr. Bush and one by President Clinton — to participate in the vote.After ousting Ms. Habba, the judges selected Ms. Habba’s first assistant, Desiree Grace, to replace her, the site reports.President Trump on March 24 appointed Ms. Habba to be an interim U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey. Under the rules, she could serve in the post for 120 days before she had to be approved either by the U.S. Senate or a majority of the judges in the district agreeing to make her temporary gig permanent. Her nomination in the Senate has stalled amid stonewalling by Democrats. In a joint statement, Senators Kim and Booker, Democrats who represent New Jersey, said Ms. Habba has “degraded the office and pursued frivolous and politically motivated prosecutions.” Other senators often defer to home state senators on the selection of U.S. attorneys.There is a way for Ms. Habba to remain in the New Jersey office, however, at least for 210 more days. When federal judges in upstate New York tried to remove Mr. Trump’s U.S. attorney, John A. Sarcone III, the Department of Justice appointed him special attorney to the attorney general and first assistant U.S. attorney of the Northern District of New York.Ms. Habba, 41, served as one of Mr. Trump’s personal attorneys before his second term and immediately politicized the position, pledging to “turn New Jersey red,” shortly after she took the post.In April, Ms. Habba ordered a probe of Governor Murphy and the state attorney general, Matthew Platkin, both Democrats. She claimed the pair would not cooperate with Mr. Trump’s immigration crackdown.She also prosecuted two New Jersey Democrats after they in May were involved in a physical altercation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials at a new federal immigration detention center in Newark. The city’s mayor, Ras Baraka, was charged with criminal trespassing, but Ms. Habba dropped the case against him days later. Ms. Habba charged Congresswoman Monica McIver with assault of a federal officer, a felony. Ms. McIver called the charges “purely political” and said they “mischaracterize and distort” her actions and “are meant to criminalize and deter legislative oversight.”The House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, drew criticism for calling on federal district judges to remove Ms. Habba.“The so-called U.S. Attorney in NJ maliciously indicted Congresswoman LaMonica McIver for doing her job,” Mr. Jeffries said in a post on X. “Habba is a woefully unqualified political hack who must go. She must be rejected by the Federal District Court Judges who are considering whether to retain her.” The Article III Project filed a House Ethics complaint against the House’s top Democrat over the weekend for “improperly inserting himself into a criminal proceeding.” “A House member — particularly the House Democratic leader — who disagrees with the merits of a pending criminal case abuses his official position when he attempts to strong-arm federal judges to corruptly prejudice the ongoing criminal proceeding by firing the U.S. attorney for the purely political reason of protecting a partisan House colleague,” the complaint said. “This is clear corruption by House Democrat Leader Hakeem Jeffries.”Before the New Jersey judges met, Deputy U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said Mr. Trump has “full confidence” in Ms. Habba and remains the top choice of the justice department.“In light of the smear campaign, it’s worth repeating: @USAttyHabba has the full confidence of DOJ leadership because she’s doing the job — aggressively, independently, and by the book. The district judges should not be swayed by political noise. Keep her in place,” Mr. Blanche wrote Monday in a post on X.

New Jersey Federal Judges Vote To Remove a Trump Ally, Alina Habba, From U.S. Attorney Job

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