AGINO Pam Blondi

[GoCubsGo]

Trump’s gambit to keep Alina Habba in charge in New Jersey: Withdraw her nomination

The Trump administration believes it has found a workaround to keep the president’s former personal lawyer Alina Habba as New Jersey’s U.S. Attorney and outflank federal judges who sought to replace her.

It’s the latest move by the administration to put an ally of the president in a top law enforcement role and appears to circumvent the traditional role of the Senate in approving key administration officials.

As part of the gambit, a Justice Department official described a process that involves President Donald Trump withdrawing Habba’s nomination to permanently take the post. Then, Attorney General Pam Bondi would appoint Habba as First Assistant U.S. Attorney — typically the second-ranking official in the office. Because the U.S. attorney’s post is vacant, Habba would automatically fill the role on a temporary basis; she can’t simultaneously be the president’s nominee and serve as acting in this way....

These people are children. You get a Senate confirmation or you nominate someone new. That's how America works.

... The judges earlier this week selected Desiree Leigh Grace, a longtime career prosecutor, to succeed Habba, infuriating Justice Department leaders who had hoped to keep Habba — a Trump loyalist — in the position.

Not anymore honey.

[Vrede too]

Not anymore honey.

https://x.com/kyledcheney/status/1995495470425366903

Thanks!

Alina Habba suffers two embarrassing setbacks in as many weeks

Alina Habba’s tenure as an interim U.S. attorney was, by any fair measure, a multifaceted disaster. It also wasn’t altogether legal.

As my MS NOW colleague Jordan Rubin explained, a federal appellate panel ruled Monday that a district court was correct to disqualify Habba as the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey, “dealing the Trump administration its latest loss on an issue that’s pending in U.S. attorney’s offices around the country.”

HabbaDabbaDon't

It was the second piece of discouraging news Donald Trump’s former lawyer received in just five days. Politico reported last week:

A federal appeals court has upheld a penalty of nearly $1 million against President Donald Trump and attorney Alina Habba, concluding they committed ‘sanctionable conduct’ by filing a frivolous lawsuit against Hillary Clinton and former FBI Director James Comey. ‘Many of Trump’s and Habba’s legal arguments were indeed frivolous,’ 11th Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge William Pryor Jr. wrote for a unanimous, three-judge panel, including Trump appointee Andrew Brasher and Biden appointee Embry Kidd.

Judge William Pryor Jr. was appointed by George W. Bush.

For those who might need a refresher, in March 2022, Habba helped file a truly bizarre lawsuit that targeted Hillary Clinton and several other Democrats, which was absurd even by Team Trump’s standards. As a Washington Post analysis explained after the case was filed, “From the very beginning of Donald Trump’s lawsuit against Hillary Clinton and a smattering of nearly 50 others, it becomes abundantly clear what this is about — and it’s not about winning a legal judgment. … This is a press release.”

The Post’s report added that the Republican litigation “contains a veritable smorgasbord of debunked and conspiratorial assertions,” as well as “false claims, errors and dubious inferences.”

The case proved so ridiculous that a judge imposed harsh sanctions on Habba for bringing “political grievances masquerading as legal claims” to court.

“This case should never have been brought,” the judge added. “Its inadequacy as a legal claim was evident from the start. No reasonable lawyer would have filed it.”

Habba filed it anyway, which is why she was punished with sanctions. She appealed the penalty, only to have a three-judge panel — featuring two jurists appointed by Republican presidents — confirm that she deserved the punishment.

In the recent past, such developments would’ve left Habba’s legal reputation in tatters. In 2025, her relationship with the White House will likely remain unchanged, and Habba will remain a fixture on conservative media, as if she were still a credible attorney in good standing.