President Trump is making his personal lawyer, “legal spokesperson,” and presidential counselor, Alina Habba, the interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey.

In a post on Truth Social on Monday morning, Mr. Trump announced the decision, writing, “Alina will lead with the same diligence and conviction that has defined her career, and she will fight tirelessly to secure a Legal System that is both ‘Fair and Just’ for the wonderful people of New Jersey.”

He also said that the acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, John Giordano, who was sworn into the post on March 6 and has “done a terrific job,” will be nominated to be the American ambassador to Namibia. 

Speaking to reporters at the White House on Monday, Ms. Habba said, “There is corruption, there is injustice, and there is a heavy amount of crime right in [Senator] Cory Booker’s backyard, and right under Governor Murphy, and that will stop.”

She said she aims to “further the president’s agenda of putting America first, cleaning up mess, and going after the people that we should be going after, not the people that are falsely accused.”

When asked who she would like to “go after,” she said, “We’ll see when I get in there. We gotta see what’s going on.”

She also criticized Governor Murphy and Senator Booker and said they “failed New Jersey.”

“We’re going to do a bang-up job, I cannot wait, it’s a great honor,” Ms. Habba said. 

Ms. Habba has worked for Mr. Trump as his personal lawyer and defended him in civil lawsuits, such as writer E. Jean Carroll’s defamation lawsuit. She also appeared frequently on cable news programs as his “legal spokesperson.”

While she defended Mr. Trump in his civil cases, her biography lists no prosecutorial experience. Additionally, she was repeatedly scolded by judges in the cases she was involved in. In January 2024, the judge overseeing Ms. Carroll’s defamation case against Mr. Trump warned Ms. Habba she was “on the verge of spending some time in the lockup” after she interrupted him. 

In January 2023, Ms. Habba and Mr. Trump were sanctioned $1 million by a district court judge in Florida for a “completely frivolous” lawsuit against Hillary Clinton. 

Ms. Habba will be stepping into a role that some prominent conservatives have served in, which helped serve as a springboard for their career. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was appointed to that position in 1987 and was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit by President George H.W. Bush in 1990. He was appointed to the Supreme Court by President George W. Bush in 2005.

Meanwhile, Governor Christie was the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey until 2008, and roughly two years after leaving that post, he was sworn in as the governor of New Jersey.

During Ms. Habba’s tenure in the office, she will likely be in charge of the case involving whether a former Columbia University student, Mahmoud Khalil, can be deported from America for his involvement with leading pro-Palestinian demonstrations that the Trump administration says were “aligned to Hamas.”

Mr. Khalil filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, seeking to challenge his detention. The government sought to have the fight over his petition handled in Louisiana, where he is being held. However, a district court judge, Jesse Furman, transferred the case to New Jersey, where the petition was filed.