Tag Archives: alina habba

NBC News: Former Trump lawyer Alina [“Bimbo #4”] Habba’s appointment as U.S. attorney for New Jersey was ‘unlawful,’ judge rules

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The federal judge found that Habba “unlawfully held the role” of the state’s top prosecutor for more than a month.

A federal judge on Thursday found that acting U.S. Attorney Alina Habba’s appointment was “unlawful” and her actions since July as the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey may be declared void.

“The Executive branch has perpetuated Alina Habba’s appointment to act as the United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey through a novel series of legal and personnel moves,” U.S. District Judge Matthew W. Brann wrote in a 77-page ruling.

“Faced with the question of whether Ms. Habba is lawfully performing the functions and duties of the office of the United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey, I conclude that she is not,” Brann added.

Because the former Trump lawyer is “not currently qualified to exercise the functions and duties of the office in an acting capacity, she must be disqualified from participating in any ongoing cases,” the judge wrote.

Brann said his order is on hold pending appellate proceedings, meaning it will not take immediate effect to allow the Trump administration time to appeal the decision.

In his ruling, Brann cited numerous issues with how Habba was appointed. She was initially named interim U.S. attorney by President Donald Trump on March 24, replacing another person who’d been named interim U.S. attorney three weeks earlier.

Habba was sworn in on March 28, but interim appointments are capped at 120 days. Trump nominated her to be the permanent U.S. attorney on June 30, but the “Senate did not act,” Brann noted.

On July 22, the judges of the District Court of New Jersey invoked their statutory power to appoint a new U.S. attorney — Habba’s deputy.

“Trump Administration officials were not pleased with that appointment,” Brann noted, and “conceived a multi-step maneuver” to keep Habba on the job.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi fired Habba’s successor and appointed Habba as “Special Attorney to the Attorney General” and then named her to the opened deputy spot, which allowed her to become acting U.S. Attorney.

Brann found the moves were improper, and a way to sidestep the Senate’s role in the process. He also found that Habba hadn’t legally been appointed deputy, and that her appointment as interim U.S. attorney expired earlier than the government maintains it did.

The challenge to Habba’s appointment came from two criminal defendants, and the judge found she was disqualified from having any involvement with their cases.

Abbe Lowell and Gerald Krovatin, the attorneys for one of the men, said in a statement that Habba’s “appointment ignored the rules that give legitimacy to the U.S. Attorney’s office. We appreciate the thoroughness of the court’s opinion, and its decision underscores that this Administration cannot circumvent the congressionally mandated process for confirming U.S. Attorney appointments.”

The Justice Department and New Jersey U.S. Attorney’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Brann, a Republican who was nominated to the bench by President Barack Obama, is chief judge for the Middle District of Pennsylvania and was specially designated to hear the case.

The ruling comes on a day when Habba scored a huge legal victory dating back to her time representing Trump — an appeals court dismissed the New York attorney general’s $500 million fraud judgment against the president.

Habba, who’d been one of the attorneys on the case, posted about the ruling on X earlier in the day, calling the fraud action against him “politically motivated” and “legally baseless.”

“President Trump won — and justice won with him,” she wrote.

Former Trump lawyer Alina Habba’s appointment as U.S. attorney for New Jersey was ‘unlawful,’ judge rules
The federal judge found that Habba “unlawfully held the role” of the state’s top prosecutor for more than a month.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/alina-habba-former-trump-lawyer-new-jersey-us-attorney-unlawful-rcna226417

Raw Story: ‘Please reconsider’: GOP senators plead with Trump to stand down from latest fight

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President Donald Trump’s ploy to bully Senate Republicans into dropping a longstanding rule about presidential nominations appears to have crashed and burned, Politico reported on Tuesday — with lawmakers holding their ground against him in a way they generally dare not do.

The drama began in July, when Trump lashed out at 91-year-old Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-IA), calling him “weak and ineffective” and demanding he axe “blue slips,” the tradition that committees must have the approval of a nominee’s home state senators to advance a nominee.

Republicans already weakened blue slip rules for circuit court nominees in 2017, which is how Trump’s former personal lawyer Emil Bove got a circuit court appointment earlier this year despite objections from both of New Jersey’s senators. But they have been adamantly against eliminating them for district court judges or executive nominations.

Grassley pushed back, taking umbrage at Trump’s “personal insults” against him, and the broader Senate GOP caucus followed suit. According to Politico, there’s no sign of the GOP backing down — they may tinker with nomination rules to speed up confirmations on the Senate floor, but they won’t eliminate blue slips or weaken the committee vetting process.

Unlike in many other cases of resistance against Trump, where GOP lawmakers have given quotes anonymously, some senators are being quite open in rebuffing the president, with Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) telling Politico, “As a practical matter, the Senate’s not going to give up the blue slip. So my appeal to the president is: please reconsider. Why do we want to have this fight for nothing?”

There’s a key reason GOP senators don’t want to undermine their rules for Trump’s benefit here, strategists told Politico: they know it would backfire on them.

Mike Fragoso, a former adviser to Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), “argued that even Republicans wary of crossing the president now have taken advantage of the blue slip policy when Democrats held power. He added that there are relatively few bench seats in solidly Democratic states that Trump could even fill now without consent from Democrats,” noted the report. This means Trump would get very few judges nominated by totally eliminating blue slips, but a future Democratic president could flood red states with district court judges of their own.

Beyond judges, however, Trump is being stymied by blue slips when it comes to appointing federal prosecutors.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has blocked Jay Clayton’s confirmation to be U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, while New Jersey’s senators have blocked another personal Trump lawyer, Alina Habba, for the prosecutor office there, prompting a standoff where Trump’s Justice Department has skirted rules and reversed decisions of local judges to install her on an acting basis.

‘Please reconsider’: GOP senators plead with Trump to stand down from latest fight

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-grassley-2673900010

Politico: ‘We are arresting the mayor right now, per the deputy attorney general’

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An account of bodycam footage, submitted in a recent court filling, provides new detail about a confrontation outside a New Jersey immigration facility.

The federal officer who arrested the mayor of New Jersey’s largest city outside an immigration detention center in May suggested that he was making the arrest at the direction of the Justice Department’s No. 2 official, Todd Blanche, according to law enforcement body camera footage described in a new court filing.

The filing, from Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.), sheds new light on the chaotic scene on May 9 when Democratic lawmakers and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, attempting to conduct an oversight visit, clashed with immigration agents. Baraka was arrested for trespassing, but that charge was dropped. McIver was later charged with assaulting federal agents; she is seeking to get the case dismissed.

According to McIver’s attorneys, a Department of Homeland Security special agent was on the phone as the events unfolded that day. Citing bodycam footage they obtained in the case, the attorneys wrote that the special agent, after hanging up the call, turned to a group of fellow agents and announced: “We are arresting the mayor right now, per the deputy attorney general of the United States. Anyone that gets in our way, I need you guys to give me a perimeter so I can cuff him.”

POLITICO has not reviewed the bodycam video. Although the footage was submitted as an exhibit in the case, it was not yet publicly available. A spokesperson for the Justice Department did not respond to requests for comment, and a response from the Department of Homeland Security did not address whether Blanche had ordered the agents to make the arrest.

The special agent’s apparent suggestion that he was acting at Blanche’s direction is the latest sign that top Justice Department officials are harnessing the power of law enforcement against Democrats and other perceived enemies of President Donald Trump. Trump’s DOJ has opened investigations into various figures Trump disdains, including Jack Smith, James Comey, former Homeland Security aides who criticized him and many others.

Federal law enforcement officials have also detained New York City Comptroller Brad Lander and handcuffed California Sen. Alex Padilla.

For months, Democrats have wondered if agents at the Newark immigration detention center had been instructed by a superior to arrest Baraka. Witness accounts and other video footage taken that day showed the mayor had been allowed inside a gated area by a guard, stood there peacefully for the better part of an hour and left the gated area when federal agents threatened him with arrest. That day, Rep. Rob Menendez (D-N.J.) told POLITICO that he’d witnessed an agent inside the gated area talking on the phone with someone who told the agent to arrest Baraka, who by the time of the call was outside the gate. McIver gave a similar account in a press conference at the time.

The description of the bodycam footage submitted in court last week by McIver’s attorneys bolsters that account. Quoting from the footage, her attorneys wrote that the special agent on the phone said of Baraka during the call: “Even though he stepped out, I am going to put him in cuffs.”

Then the agent made the comment about arresting the mayor “per the deputy attorney general.” Moments later, law enforcement officials came out of the gate and arrested Baraka, setting off a scrum involving the mayor and members of Congress. McIver is accused in a three-count indictment of slamming the special agent with her forearm, “forcibly” grabbing him and using her forearms to strike another agent. She has pleaded not guilty.

Less than two weeks later, federal prosecutors dropped a trespassing charge against Baraka. But a federal judge chided the effort to charge him in the first place. Magistrate Judge André M. Espinosa called it an “embarrassing retraction” that “suggests a failure to adequately investigate, to carefully gather facts and to thoughtfully consider the implications of your actions before wielding your immense power.”

Baraka is the progressive mayor of New Jersey’s largest city and at the time of his arrest was seeking the Democratic nomination for governor, an election he has since lost. Separately, he is suing the Trump administration for “malicious prosecution” in a lawsuit that names acting U.S. Attorney Alina Habba and Ricky Patel, a special agent in charge for Homeland Security Investigations’ Newark Division.

According to a comparison of court documents filed in the Baraka and McIver cases, Patel is the special agent overheard on the bodycam footage referring to the deputy attorney general.

McIver tries to harness Trump immunity ruling

The new revelations about the episode came in legal briefs asking to have McIver’s own case thrown out.

As part of that effort, McIver asked the judge overseeing the case, U.S. District Judge Jamel Semper, to rule that lawmakers have the same kind of immunity from prosecutions that the Supreme Court gave Trump.

Her attorneys said McIver’s visit to the detention facility, known as Delaney Hall, was a legislative act she cannot be prosecuted for. They cited the Supreme Court ruling last summer that gave Trump immunity from criminal prosecution for some actions he took during his first presidential term while fighting to subvert the 2020 election.

McIver’s attorneys also argued that she is facing intimidation and that Habba’s office, which is prosecuting the case, is undermining the Constitution’s “Speech or Debate” Clause. That clause grants members of Congress a form of immunity that is mostly impenetrable in investigations relating to the official duties of lawmakers, their aides or other congressional officials.

The Department of Homeland Security said the argument is laughable.

“Suggesting that physically assaulting a federal law enforcement officer is ‘legitimate legislative activity’ covered by legislative immunity makes a joke of all three branches of government at once,” the Homeland Security Department’s assistant secretary, Tricia McLaughlin, said in a statement.

If lawmakers don’t continue to receive such protections, McIver’s legal team warns of dire consequences for the country.

“If these charges are allowed to move forward, they will send a chilling message to Congress on the risk it takes when it scrutinizes the Administration’s activities,” McIver’s defense team wrote. “The Speech or Debate Clause was designed to prevent that kind of message and intimidation.”

Former Sen. Bob Menendez — Rob Menendez’s father — has tried to use the speech or debate clause to shield himself from corruption charges. He is now serving an 11-year prison sentence and appealing the conviction. McIver’s attorneys cited a 3rd Circuit ruling against Menendez in 2016 — who was then facing different corruption charges that were later dropped — as making clear that members of Congress do have immunity for legislative actions but that the allegations against him were for things beyond the scope of that immunity. McIver’s team argued the Menendez case “could not be more different” from hers.

In another legal filing made last week, McIver also sought to dismiss the charges against her based on unconstitutional “selective” and “vindictive” prosecution, noting that the Justice Department walked away from prosecutions of hundreds of defendants from Jan. 6, 2021, despite clear video of many attacking police officers.

‘We are arresting the mayor right now, per the deputy attorney general’
An account of bodycam footage, submitted in a recent court filling, provides new detail about a confrontation outside a New Jersey immigration facility.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/18/newark-mayor-arrest-bodycam-footage-todd-blanche-00513734

Law & Crime: ‘It violates my order’: Federal judge calls out DOJ for making ‘completely novel’ pro-Alina [“Bimbo #4”] Habba argument he specifically didn’t want to hear yet

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Though he refused to dismiss a drug-trafficking indictment, a federal judge said he wants to hear more about whether U.S. Attorney General Pam [“Bimbo #3”] Bondi unlawfully reappointed acting U.S. Attorney Alina [“Bimbo #4”] Habba to her role, opening the door to scrutiny of the Trump administration’s method of apparently sidestepping a court and the U.S. Senate’s blocking of certain nominations.

Chief U.S. District Judge for the Middle District of Pennsylvania Matthew Brann, sitting by designation in the criminal cases of Julien Giraud Jr. and Julien Giraud III after the New Jersey district court declined to appoint [“Bimbo #4”] Habba itself upon the expiration of her 120-day acting limit, decided Friday that the Girauds were “not entitled to dismissal.” At the same time, the defendants made a persuasive enough case for “additional argument regarding the legality of Ms. [“Bimbo #4″] Habba’s appointment” and the authority of the assistant U.S. attorneys under her command or supervision.

“I begin with dismissal of the indictment, which I conclude is not available, and then turn to injunctions against Ms. [“Bimbo #4″] Habba and anyone acting under her authority, which I conclude would be appropriate if the Girauds prevail on the merits,” the judge wrote.

Regarding dismissal, Brann determined that the Girauds could not credibly argue their indictment, obtained through the Senate-confirmed then-U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger, is “somehow retroactively taint[ed]” by Habba’s appointment, whether or not that was lawful.

But the Girauds can still make their best pitch for blocking Habba, and her assistants, from prosecuting them going forward.

“The Girauds argue in the alternative that Ms. [“Bimbo #4″] Habba should be enjoined from prosecuting their case, and that any AUSAs acting under her supervision be similarly barred. As discussed in the previous section, the Court generally agrees that this remedy would be the appropriate response to the constitutional and statutory violations the Girauds claim,” the judge wrote. “This relief raises two questions: (1) can the Court bar Ms. [“Bimbo #4”] Habba from participating in the Girauds’ prosecution, and (2) does a bar on Ms. [“Bimbo #4″] Habba’s participation extend to AUSAs?”

“As to the first question, I conclude that the answer is yes,” Brann added.

The answer to the second question, about [“Bimbo #4”] Habba’s AUSAs, was more nuanced. Brann indicated he would not go so far as to block the whole office from prosecuting, but that he could when these prosecutors “do so under Ms. [“Bimbo #4″] Habba’s authority” — again, if her reappointment was illegal.

“To be clear, the Court is not suggesting that it might impose the ‘officewide disqualification’ the Government fears,” the judge said. “Instead, the Court agrees that a valid remedy for the violations the Girauds’ assert, if I find that they occurred, may be to bar AUSAs from engaging in prosecutions when they do so under Ms. [“Bimbo #4″] Habba’s authority.”

The line prosecutors or a higher-up DOJ official could still legally come to court under AG [“Bimbo #3”] Bondi’s authority, with [“Bimbo #4”] Habba in effect recusing herself and not putting her name and title on any filings, Brann said.

“The Court sees no reason why AUSAs acting directly under the delegated authority of Ms. [“Bimbo #3″] Bondi, or possibly another Department of Justice official with sufficient authority to extend Ms. Bondi’s powers to AUSAs in New Jersey, would need to be disqualified,” he explained. “Moreover, so long as it is clear that they are acting under Ms. [“Bimbo #3”] Bondi’s—and not Ms. [“Bimbo #4″] Habba’s—authority (essentially a temporary recusal until this matter is resolved), there would appear to be no issue with all of District of New Jersey’s AUSAs moving prosecutions forward now.”

Along the way, even as the judge blasted as “misplaced” the Girauds’ challenge of Habba’s authority for relying on U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon’s Appointments Clause-based dismissal of special counsel Jack Smith’s Mar-a-Lago prosecution of Trump, Brann also had some stern words for the DOJ.

The judge noted that he had ordered both the defendants and the DOJ to submit briefs under the assumption that [“Bimbo #4”] Habba was unlawfully appointed, yet the DOJ included an argument that said [“Bimbo #4”] Habba was lawfully appointed one way or another.

Recall that in order to keep [“Bimbo #4”] Habba as acting U.S. attorney Trump pulled her nomination. [“Bimbo #4”] Habba resigned before her acting 120-day stint technically expired and before her first assistant Desiree Leigh Grace’s appointment by court as U.S. attorney became effective.

[“Bimbo #3”] Bondi promptly fired Grace and then reinstalled Habba, citing the Federal Vacancies Reform Act when naming Habba first assistant in the U.S. attorney’s office. At the same time, just in case anyone questioned that legal authority, Habba was named a “Special Attorney to the United States Attorney General” under a federal statute governing the commission of special attorneys, giving her the power to act as a U.S. attorney through another means.

Brann said the DOJ violated his order by citing the latter authority in support of [“Bimbo #4”] Habba, putting the proverbial “cart before the horse.”

“The Government’s argument to the contrary puts the cart before the horse. It argues that no remedy is available to the Girauds by simply rejecting the premise—which I ordered them to assume—that Ms. [“Bimbo #4″] Habba has been illegally appointed, instead contending that she is legally exercising the powers of the United States Attorney through a delegation of the Attorney General’s power to conduct and supervise ‘all litigation to which the United States . . . is a party’ as a ‘Special Attorney’ or in her role as the First Assistant United States Attorney,” he wrote.

“But that is explicitly a merits argument: the Girauds are only entitled to no remedy if the Court finds that Ms. [“Bimbo #4”] Habba’s appointment as a Special Attorney is valid or that Ms. [“Bimbo #3″] Bondi can delegate a First Assistant a level of authority commensurate with the United States Attorney’s,” Brann continued. “Because it violates my Order, I do not consider the argument at this stage.”

The judge added that the DOJ’s maneuvering has “extreme implications that it openly embraces,” making a full briefing and oral argument on the “completely novel question” appropriate.

“[B]y using the Special Attorney designation and delegation, Ms. [“Bimbo #4″] Habba may exercise all of the powers of the United States Attorney without being subject to any of the statutory limitations on that office,” Brann wrote, summarizing the DOJ’s argument. “Whether the Attorney General may statutorily or constitutionally delegate all of the powers of a specific office created by separate statute and constrained by its own statutory limitations in order to evade those limitations is a completely novel question, and one that inherently implicates the Appointments Clause and thus the merits of the Girauds’ motion. I defer resolving it until it has been fully briefed.”

Federal judge dings DOJ for making pro-Alina Habba argument he specifically didn’t want to hear
Though he refused to dismiss an indictment, a judge said he wants to hear more about whether Pam Bondi unlawfully reappointed acting U.S. Attorney Alina Habba.
‘It violates my order’: Federal judge calls out DOJ for making ‘completely novel’ pro-Alina Habba argument he specifically didn’t want to hear yet

Raw Story: ‘You don’t have immunity’: Stephen Miller and ICE agents put on notice by legal expert

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U.S. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller walks away after speaking to reporters at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 30, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard

Government employees who have been doing Donald Trump’s dirty work during his second term should take note that the president recently admitted they may not have immunity for their actions.

And that includes White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and ICE agents who have been assaulting and snatching immigrants off U.S. streets whether they are in the country legally or not.

That was a warning given by conservative attorney George Conway on MSNBC on Saturday morning where he talked about, among other topics, Trump’s appointees going up to the line and sometimes over thereby breaking the law.

Speaking with the hosts of “The Weekend,” Conway stated, “There’s no check against him anymore, there’s no checks. He actually, by the way, he was a lot more coherent a few years ago than yesterday, but let’s set that aside.”

“His mental acuity,” co-host Eugene Daniels interjected.

“Yeah, no,” Conway replied. “Everything is –– he’s a narcissist. He’s the most profoundly narcissistic individual we’ve ever seen in American politics. It’s all me, me, me, me, me, there is no other to him. The government belongs to him, he talks about his generals. It was always going to be his Justice Department and he was always going to view the Justice Department and the attorney general and everybody who works for the attorney general to the lowest US assistant, US attorney in the smallest district in the country.”

“And let me just say, I mean, it’s working for all these people who want these nice jobs, right, that they’re not qualified for, like Alina Habba and the guy in the Northern District of New York,” he added.

“But you know, Trump said something before the break in his incoherent way that, actually, the people who work for him now should remember,” he pointed out. “He [Trump] said that the people who work for Obama, they’re not protected by the immunity decision. Well, all you people who are getting those jobs right now working for Donald Trump, whether you be the lowliest ICE agent or Stephen Miller himself? You better watch it because you don’t have immunity.”

That earned him a “Wow!” from Jonathan Capehart.

‘You don’t have immunity’: Stephen Miller and ICE agents put on notice by legal expert

https://www.rawstory.com/stephen-miller-2673765097

Newsweek: Alina [Bimbo #4] Habba defies judges’ ouster: ‘Broken’

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Alina [Bimbo #4] Habba, former personal defense lawyer to President Donald Trump, is pushing back forcefully against efforts to remove her from her post as U.S. Attorney for New Jersey—vowing to fight what she describes as a politically motivated campaign to oust her.

“To put it in really simple terms, it’s a complicated mechanism—what’s happening—and it’s, frankly, I think, a broken one,” she said during an interview with political commentator Benny Johnson.

Why It Matters

It comes after a panel of federal judges in New Jersey declined to extend [Bimbo #4] Habba’s term as the state’s interim top prosecutor.

Trump tapped [Bimbo #4] Habba to serve as interim U.S. attorney in late March and nominated her on July 1 to be the U.S. attorney in a permanent capacity, which would have removed her interim status by the end of this week.

But a DOJ spokesperson told The New York Times on Thursday that the president has withdrawn her nomination, which will allow her to continue serving in a temporary capacity.

What To Know

During the interview, [Bimbo #4] Habba said the Senate’s blue slip courtesy—a nonbinding tradition—is being used to block presidential appointments of U.S. attorneys, which she says effectively amounts to stalling or undermining the president’s authority.

The blue slip tradition is a Senate custom that gives home-state senators significant influence over federal judicial and U.S. attorney nominations in their state. It allows a senator to approve or block a nominee by returning or withholding a blue-colored form, known as the “blue slip,” to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

In [Bimbo #4] Habba’s case, both of New Jersey’s Democratic senators, Cory Booker and Andy Kim, withheld their blue slips, signaling formal opposition and preventing her nomination from moving forward through the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Booker and Kim allege that she has pursued politically motivated prosecutions against Democratic lawmakers to serve Trump’s agenda.

During [Bimbo #4] Habba’s tenure as interim U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, Mayor Ras Baraka of Newark was charged with trespassing following a congressional visit to an immigration detention facility. The case was dropped days later, and a federal judge condemned the arrest as a “worrisome misstep,” warning it should not be used as a political tool.

Meanwhile, Representative LaMonica McIver was charged with assaulting federal agents during the same protest. McIver and critics called the prosecution politically motivated, especially given her congressional oversight role. Legal experts observed the case appeared “spectacularly inappropriate,” claiming [Bimbo #4] Habba bypassed required DOJ supervisory approval for charges against elected officials.

[Bimbo #4] Habba also launched investigations into Democratic Governor Phil Murphy and Attorney General Matt Platkin, focused on New Jersey’s decision to limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement—a move viewed by critics as aligned with Trump’s political priorities.

But [Bimbo #4] Habba said the decision to remove her from her post was an attempt to thwart President Trump’s powers.

“What we’re seeing is a systemic problem, where they are using the blue slip courtesy—it’s not a law—as a mechanism to block the appointment of U.S. attorneys by the president, per the Department of Justice,” Habba said.

“That puts those U.S. attorneys in a position where they’re kind of stuck. You’re in this freeze, and you can’t get out. Then they’ll run the clock on you, and basically, what ends up happening is they’re attempting to thwart the president’s powers.

“What we saw in my situation, the Senate minority leader sent direct instructions on Twitter telling the judges to vote and block me. Once it’s out of Senate ownership, the judges can vote to keep you. I stepped down as interim and am now the acting attorney.. You have 120 days in the interim, I stepped down the day before.”

Trump has the power to remove U.S. attorneys who have been appointed by judges.

A panel of federal judges in New Jersey ruled on Tuesday to replace [Bimbo #4] Habba with her handpicked top deputy in the U.S. attorney’s office, Desiree Leigh Grace, after her 120 day term was up.

Soon after the court’s decision, the Justice Department, led by Attorney General Pam Bondi, fired Grace and accused the judges of political bias meant to curb the president’s authority.

In response, Trump’s team withdrew [Bimbo #4] Habba’s nomination for the permanent role—allowing her to resign as interim U.S. Attorney, then be appointed First Assistant U.S. Attorney, and automatically ascend to the role of acting U.S. Attorney under relevant vacancy laws, extending her tenure for another 210 days.

What People Are Saying

Harrison Fields, a White House spokesperson, previously told Newsweek in a statement: “President Trump has full confidence in Alina [Bimbo #4] Habba, whose work as acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey has made the Garden State and the nation safer. The Trump Administration looks forward to her final confirmation in the U.S. Senate and will work tirelessly to ensure the people of New Jersey are well represented.”

What Happens Next

[Bimbo #4] Habba will remain in her role as interim U.S. attorney in New Jersey for at least the next 210 days.

Alina Habba is Trump’s suck-up pit bull, an incompetent corrupt political hack who has no business serving as U.S. Attorney.

Alina Habba defies judges’ ouster: ‘Broken’
It comes after a panel of federal judges in New Jersey declined to extend Habba’s term as the state’s interim top prosecutor.

https://www.newsweek.com/alina-habba-new-jersey-us-attorney-2104538

MSNBC: How a routine drug case could decide Alina [Bimbo #4] Habba’s fate as U.S. attorney

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A New Jersey defendant argues that [Bimbo #4] Habba can’t lawfully prosecute the case because she isn’t legally the U.S. attorney for New Jersey.

When Julien Giraud Jr. was federally indicted on drug and gun charges last year in New Jersey, he had little reason to think his case would double as a challenge to the lawfulness of Alina [Bimbo #4] Habba’s position as U.S. attorney. But that challenge is now playing out, as the defendant argues that the Trump ally isn’t lawfully serving in her position and therefore the office she purports to lead lacks the authority to prosecute him.

Whether or not she is lawfully in the role of U.S. attorney could have vast implications beyond this one case.

The challenge involves rather technical issues about federal law over vacancies and how they can be filled, so take a deep breath before taking in the following background.

[Bimbo #4] Habba had been temporarily serving as U.S. attorney since March, but her temporary period expired this month without her being confirmed by the Senate to serve full time. New Jersey’s federal judges used their legal authority to appoint a different prosecutor from the office, Desiree Leigh Grace, as the new interim U.S. attorney. But the Trump administration moved to fire Grace. President Donald Trump also withdrew his nomination of [Bimbo #4] Habba, she technically resigned, and the administration then reinstalled her through another mechanism to keep her in the job as acting U.S. attorney.

Got all that? I told you it was technical.

So what’s Giraud’s argument? In a motion filed Sunday ahead of his trial set for next week, his lawyer Thomas Mirigliano wrote that Habba’s reappointment violated federal law because the fact that Trump submitted [Bimbo #4] Habba’s nomination to the Senate prevents her from serving in an acting capacity, regardless of whether Trump subsequently withdrew her nomination or not. He argued that being prosecuted by an unauthorized U.S. attorney undermines his due process rights, so he asked U.S. District Judge Edward Kiel, the New Jersey judge handling his case, to dismiss the indictment or at least to block [Bimbo #4] Habba or any prosecutor acting under her authority from prosecuting him.

The New York Times reported that federal court proceedings throughout New Jersey “were abruptly canceled on Monday because of uncertainty over” Habba’s authority, citing Giraud’s case and others. [Bimbo #4] Habba is one of several lawyers who represented Trump in his personal capacity and have gone on to high-ranking Justice Department posts during his second term.

After Giraud filed his motion, the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit, which covers New Jersey and nearby states, tapped Pennsylvania’s chief federal trial judge for the state’s middle district, Matthew Brann, to preside over the matter. The chief circuit judge made the move under a law that says chief circuit judges “may, in the public interest, designate and assign temporarily any district judge of the circuit to hold a district court in any district within the circuit.”

The 3rd Circuit, incidentally, is the appeals court to which another Trump personal lawyer-turned-Trump DOJ lawyer, Emil Bove, is awaiting Senate confirmation. Several whistleblowers have come forward against him to raise concerns about his conduct at DOJ and his truthfulness to lawmakers at his confirmation hearing last month.

Opposing Giraud’s motion on Tuesday, the DOJ maintained that [Bimbo #4] Habba is lawfully in her role and that even if she weren’t, “there would be no basis for dismissing this indictment or prohibiting everyone in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey (USAO-NJ) from participating in this prosecution.” The DOJ asked that the motion be denied and the case be transferred back to Kiel in New Jersey.

Brann ordered a status conference with the parties to take place Tuesday afternoon at 3:00 p.m., so the direction in which the matter is headed could become clearer later Tuesday. Whatever happens at the trial court level might not be the last word on this consequential and thorny issue, so this could be just the start of drawn-out litigation.

How a routine drug case could decide Alina Habba’s fate as U.S. attorney
A New Jersey defendant argues that Habba can’t lawfully prosecute the case because she isn’t legally the U.S. attorney for New Jersey.

https://www.msnbc.com/deadline-white-house/deadline-legal-blog/alina-habba-us-attorney-julien-giraud-lawsuit-rcna221696

Raw Story: Judge gives Alina [Bimbo #4] Habba lesson in law during blistering rebuke

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This is sizzling — read it all!

President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Alina [Bimbo #4] Habba, was admonished in a New Jersey court when Judge André Espinosa of U.S. District Court found her arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka inappropriate.

Raw Story reported in May that the dressing down of the interim U.S. attorney for New Jersey by the judge was so significant that the mayor was caught on a hot mic commenting: “Jesus, he tore these people a new a–hole. Good grief.”

Baraka was arrested on trespassing charges on May 9 after attempting to enter an ICE facility in Newark with members of Congress. The charges were dropped days later, but [Bimbo #4] Habba still went to court.

But more details about the dressing down were released Monday.

National security expert Marcy Wheeler posted the full transcript, as provided by the court reporter, in a post on X on Monday.

[Bimbo #4] Habba’s last day in her interim post is Tuesday, unless a panel of judges steps in to extend her job. So far, the appointment has been stalled in the Senate.

“I don’t want to belabor the proceeding today,” the judge began, noting that they were there after [Bimbo #4] Habba’s office claimed to be prosecuting the mayor, only to drop the charges before discussing the case in court.

The judge then eviscerated [Bimbo #4] Habba’s office.

“Please consider sharing with your colleagues this modest reminder of your unique duty as federal prosecutors. Your Office serves the 9.5 million people who live in the District of New Jersey, and your colleagues are charged with working to protect those people and the 13 interests of the Constitution under which we all live and that you and every one of your colleagues swore to uphold when you joined that Office,” the judge said.

“This is an immense responsibility with which comes an imperative for meticulous diligence and unwavering integrity.”

He cited a 1940 address by the Attorney General Robert H. Jackson, who warned against the temptation to prosecute for every possible offense. He told prosecutors, “the citizen’s safety lies in the prosecutor who tempers zeal with human kindness, who seeks truth and not victims, who serves the law and not factional purposes.”

Espinosa said it’s clear Jackson understood the duty of the prosecutor was for the people, not for a political party or others.

“Justice Jackson warned against using the immense power of the government to pursue weak cases or to make examples without sufficient cause,” the judge continued. “Your discretion, therefore, is not merely a legal tool but a moral compass guiding the exercise of immense power. It demands a judicious restraint, a deep respect for individual liberty, and an unwavering commitment to the principle that justice is never served by arbitrary or ill-conceived actions.”

In this case, in particular, the judge stated that the arrest was “hasty” and “followed by the swift dismissal a mere 13 days later.”

He blasted [Bimbo #4] Habba, claiming that arresting a public figure isn’t to trigger an investigation. It’s the other way around; the investigation should lead to an arrest. It has been key for the office “particularly over the last two decades,” Judge Espinosa added.

The legacy has been “one of careful deliberative action,” the judge said. It implies that in this case, it was clearly ignored. He said that the office only brings charges after an “exhaustive” search for evidence.

“So let this incident serve as an inflection point and a reminder to uphold your solemn oath to the people of this district and to your client Justice itself and ensure that every charge brought is the product of rigorous investigation and earned confidence in its merit mirroring the exemplary conduct that has long defined your Office,” he said.

Raw Story: Judge gives Alina Habba lesson in law during blistering rebuke

https://www.rawstory.com/alina-habba-2673535158

Western Journal: Dem Gov Who Bragged About Hiding Illegal Alien in Home Gets More Bad News: A Subpoena

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New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is term-limited and will be replaced next January; considering he has an approval rating somewhere between George Santos and Norovirus, my assumption is that he won’t be seeking higher office for at least a little while.

That being said, he might not be out of the news when his successor gets elected this November — all thanks to a stupid admission he made during what The New York Times charitably described as “a freewheeling discussion at a New Jersey college” back in February.

According to a Friday report in the Times, Murphy is being subpoenaed by interim U.S. attorney Alina [Bimbo #4] Habba, the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey, regarding comments he made about hiding a woman who he intimated might have been an illegal immigrant in his attic.

“FBI agents have since sought to interview at least four witnesses in connection with the comments, two of the people said, with one adding that the governor had been subpoenaed but not questioned,” the paper reported.

“Two of the people with knowledge of the investigation involving Mr. Murphy’s comments indicated that it was separate from any Justice Department inquiry related to New Jersey’s so-called sanctuary policy, which has been upheld by a federal appeals court. There has been no public sign of that inquiry moving forward.”

The investigation began after remarks Murphy made at an event hosted by progressive group Blue Wave New Jersey.

“There is someone in our broader universe whose immigration status is not yet at the point that they are trying to get it to,” Murphy said.

“And we said, ‘You know what? Let’s have her live at our house above our garage.’

“And good luck to the feds coming in to try to get her,” he added, defiantly.

At the time, border czar Tom Homan said that Murphy’s remarks were definitely on his radar.

“I think the governor is pretty foolish,” Homan said. “I got note of it, won’t let it go. We’ll look into it.”

“And if he’s knowingly — knowingly — harboring, concealing an illegal alien, that’s a violation of Title 8, United States Code 1324. I would seek prosecution, or the secretary would seek prosecution.”

Meanwhile a representative for the governor told the New York Post that Murphy had been “misinterpreted” and that no undocumented garage-dwellers were at the governor’s house.

“No one’s ever lived in the home” in the way Murphy described, the spokesperson said, adding that the individual he was referring to was legally in the country, as well.

Well, now that he’s potentially under subpoena, we’ll see how much of that is true — although both sides are keeping tight-lipped about where this is going.

“The governor’s office declined to comment on the federal inquiry on Friday. A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office also declined to comment,” the Times reported.

“A person close to Mr. Murphy said the governor was not aware of any pending investigation against him.”

That being said, it could inject Murphy into a gubernatorial race that the Democrats definitely don’t want him involved in. Murphy won a second term by a slimmer-than-expected margin to MAGA favorite Jack Ciattarelli, a former member of the New Jersey General Assembly who’s running for the GOP again.

The Democrats, meanwhile, went safe with moderate-ish U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill, a veteran and watered-down wannabe Hillary type. (No bathroom servers, though — yet.)

The poll numbers, however, have already been closer than Dems would like when you consider that they’ve been running away from Murphy and wokeness.

If both of those were to rear their ugly heads in the heat of the campaign season, it’d be a heck of a shame — one Republicans and immigration hawks would welcome, both as an opportunity and as an example of where thoughtless progressive allyship will get you.

Dem Gov Who Bragged About Hiding Illegal Alien in Home Gets More Bad News: A Subpoena
Gov. Phil Murphy is being subpoenaed by interim U.S. attorney Alina Habba for comments he made about hiding an illegal alien in his home.
Dem Gov Who Bragged About Hiding Illegal Alien in Home Gets More Bad News

New York Times: U.S. Subpoenas Governor Who Said He Would House Migrant at His Home

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Federal prosecutors in New Jersey are investigating remarks that Gov. Philip D. Murphy, a Democrat, made in February.

Alina [Bimbo #4] Habba, who has used her job as New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor to aggressively target Democrats, is pursuing an investigation into remarks made by Gov. Philip D. Murphy about housing a migrant, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.

Mr. Murphy said in February that he was prepared to house a woman whose immigration status was unclear at his family’s home in Middletown. F.B.I. agents have since sought to interview at least four witnesses in connection with the comments, two of the people said, with one adding that the governor had been subpoenaed but not questioned.

Ms. [Bimbo #4] Habba, the interim U.S. attorney in New Jersey, is a former personal lawyer for President Trump. She previously announced that she was directing prosecutors in her office to investigate the governor and New Jersey’s attorney general, Matthew J. Platkin, in connection with the state’s immigration policies.

Two of the people with knowledge of the investigation involving Mr. Murphy’s comments indicated that it was separate from any Justice Department inquiry related to New Jersey’s so-called sanctuary policy, which has been upheld by a federal appeals court. There has been no public sign of that inquiry moving forward.

Mr. Murphy is one of at least four Democratic officials to become entangled in investigations pursued by Ms. [Bimbo #4] Habba since she was named to the position in late March.

Mr. Murphy made the remarks during a freewheeling discussion at a New Jersey college, telling an audience there that there was a person in his social orbit “whose immigration status is not yet at the point that they are trying to get it to.”

“And we said, ‘You know what? Let’s have her live at our house above our garage,’” he said. “And good luck to the feds coming in to try to get her.”

The comments set off an immediate outcry. Mr. Trump’s so-called border czar, Thomas Homan, pledged at the time that the administration would not let them go.

“We’ll look into it,” he said.

An aide to Mr. Murphy later clarified that the woman was in the United States legally and had never lived on Mr. Murphy’s property.

The governor’s office declined to comment on the federal inquiry on Friday. A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office also declined to comment.

A person close to Mr. Murphy said the governor was not aware of any pending investigation against him.

Mr. Trump recently nominated Ms. [Bimbo #4] Habba to remain in the job permanently when her time as interim U.S. attorney ends later this month. She would need to be confirmed by the Senate, and New Jersey’s two Democratic senators have been critical of her performance. In a joint statement, the senators, Cory Booker and Andy Kim, said she had “degraded the office and pursued frivolous and politically motivated prosecutions.”

It was unclear whether they would seek to block her nomination.

Ms. [Bimbo #4] Habba had no history as a prosecutor before getting the job, and she has used the traditionally nonpartisan position to pursue several high-profile investigations into Democrats. She is one of several of Mr. Trump’s former defense lawyers to serve in top Justice Department positions, and given her role as the face of federal law enforcement in New Jersey, her actions have drawn particularly fierce scrutiny.

Less than two months into her tenure, Ms. [Bimbo #4] Habba charged Ras Baraka, the mayor of Newark, and Representative LaMonica McIver, after the two Democratic officials clashed with federal immigration agents outside a detention center near Newark Liberty International Airport. Ms. [Bimbo #4] Habba moved to drop the trespassing charge her office had filed against Mr. Baraka, who is now suing her for malicious prosecution.

The day she was named interim U.S. attorney, Ms. [Bimbo #4] Habba spoke critically of Mr. Murphy while at the White House. She said that there was corruption, injustice and significant crime “right under Governor Murphy, and that will stop.”

More recently, Ms. [Bimbo #4] Habba has adopted a friendlier stance.

On Wednesday, she appeared with the governor at MetLife stadium for a FIFA Club World Cup soccer match, a precursor to the World Cup matches scheduled to take place in New Jersey next summer. The two posed for pictures that Ms. Habba posted on social media.

“Together — across parties, across sectors — we must be committed to keeping our state safe,” she wrote.

Can’t this overpaid bitch and pathetic excuse for a U.S. District Attorney find something useful to do with her time and our taxpayer dollars?

U.S. Subpoenas Governor Who Said He Would House Migrant at His Home

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/11/nyregion/philip-murphy-new-jersey-alina-habba-investigation.html?unlocked_article_code=1.V08.M1jp.A-0-2kESmLD7&smid=url-share