Habba set to remain top federal prosecutor in New Jersey despite ouster by judges
President Trump's pick for New Jersey's top federal prosecutor, Alina Habba, on Thursday said she would continue on in the position despite a judicial decision declining to extend her interim status and instead opting to replace her.
She doubled down in her first remarks since the decision, declaring that she is now the state's acting U.S. attorney.
"Donald J. Trump is the 47th President. Pam Bondi is the Attorney General. And I am now the Acting United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey," Habba said in a statement posted to the social platform X. "I don’t cower to pressure. I don’t answer to politics. This is a fight for justice. And I’m all in."
A Justice Department official said that Trump withdrew her nomination to be the state's U.S. attorney and she was appointed first assistant U.S. attorney, meaning she becomes acting U.S. attorney because the position is now vacant.
The announcement comes hours after Desiree Grace, the attorney tapped by the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey judges to succeed Habba, said she was prepared to assume the role, elevating the standoff to new heights.
It began Tuesday when the court issued a terse standing order declining to retain Habba at the end of her 120-day trial period. They appointed Grace, who was Habba's first assistant, to serve in the role indefinitely after a private vote Monday.
Habba's short tenure has at times been contentious, especially after two Democratic public officials faced criminal charges over an incident at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility under her leadership.
Attorney General Pam Bondi fired Grace in response to the judges' decision. Grace wrote on LinkedIn earlier Thursday that she's honored by her appointment "on merit" and is ready to take on the role "in accordance with the law.”
“I’ve served under both Republican and Democratic administrations,” Grace wrote. “I’ve been promoted four times in the last five years by both — including four months ago by this administration. Politics never impacted my work at the Department. Priorities change, of course, and resources are shifted, but the work and the mission were steady.”
The dual announcements seemed to have left in flux the leadership of the U.S. attorney's office in New Jersey. However, because Habba is now acting U.S. attorney, Grace likely cannot assume the post.
Last week, the Trump administration similarly circumvented a judicial decision not to retain another of the president's picks. Judges on the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of New York refused to extend the interim term of John Sarcone III, Trump’s pick there for the district’s chief federal prosecutor.
But to get around that decision, Sarcone was appointed as a “special attorney” to Bondi, which gave him the powers of a U.S. attorney indefinitely.