{"id":45129,"date":"2025-07-22T20:39:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T01:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=45129"},"modified":"2025-07-23T00:41:46","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T05:41:46","slug":"doj-habba-successor-removed-after-nj-court-ousting-from-top-prosecutor-role","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=45129","title":{"rendered":"DOJ: Habba successor \u2018removed\u2019 after NJ court ousting from top prosecutor role"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Top Justice Department officials on Tuesday announced that a deputy to Alina Habba, President Trump\u2019s pick for New Jersey\u2019s top federal prosecutor, has been \u201cremoved\u201d after federal judges declined to extend<\/u><\/a> Habba\u2019s interim role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attorney General Pam Bondi\u2002<\/u><\/a>said that Desiree Leigh Grace, Habba\u2019s first assistant who was tapped by the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey to lead the office upon the expiration of Habba\u2019s 120-day temporary term, has been \u201cremoved.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bondi said that Habba has done a \u201cgreat job in making NJ safe again,\u201d but \u201cpolitically minded judges refused to allow her to continue in her position,\u201d instead selecting Grace to take over the office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAccordingly, the First Assistant United States Attorney in New Jersey has just been removed,\u201d Bondi said. \u201cThis Department of Justice does not tolerate rogue judges \u2014 especially when they threaten the President\u2019s core Article II powers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was not immediately clear whether \u201cremoved\u201d meant Grace had been removed from the role of first assistant or removed from the office altogether. The Hill requested comment from the Justice Department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s also not apparent whether Grace\u2019s removal would prevent her from assuming the role of New Jersey\u2019s U.S. attorney. The court named her<\/u><\/a> in a standing order as Habba\u2019s successor, though it\u2019s unclear whether the judges could enforce the appointment \u2014 or if anyone but Trump himself can fire her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the court\u2019s decision \u201cproved this was never about law \u2014 it was about politics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey forced out President Trump\u2019s pick, @USAttyHabba, then installed her deputy, colluding with the NJ Senators along the way. It won\u2019t work,\u201d Blanche wrote on the social platform X<\/u><\/a>, referring to Democratic New Jersey Sens. Cory Booker\u2002<\/u><\/a>and Andy Kim,<\/u><\/a> who have opposed her nomination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPursuant to the President\u2019s authority, we have removed that deputy, effective immediately,\u201d he added. \u201cThis backroom vote will not override the authority of the Chief Executive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Habba took over as New Jersey\u2019s top federal prosecutor in March, after working in the White House as a counselor to the president and, before that, as Trump\u2019s legal spokesperson and a senior adviser to his campaign. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her profile rocketed amid her legal defense of Trump in high-profile civil cases, including her representing him in his business fraud case and the defamation and sexual assault lawsuits brought by advice columnist E. Jean Carroll. It cemented her profile as a staunch defender of the president in the courtroom and the press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She quickly came under scrutiny as U.S. attorney, namely for her arrests and charges against Newark Mayor Ras Baraka (D) and Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.) stemming from an incident at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A trespassing charge against Baraka was dropped, but McIver is still fighting three counts of assaulting, resisting, impeding and interfering with a federal officer, to which she pleaded not guilty. Baraka has sued Habba for damages<\/u><\/a> over his arrest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

thehill<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Top Justice Department officials on Tuesday announced that a deputy to Alina Habba, President Trump\u2019s pick for New Jersey\u2019s top federal prosecutor, has been \u201cremoved\u201d after federal judges declined to extend Habba\u2019s interim role. Attorney General Pam Bondi\u2002said that Desiree Leigh Grace, Habba\u2019s first assistant who was tapped by the U.S. District Court for the District of New […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":45130,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[4954,2029,34074,34075],"class_list":["post-45129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-dismissed","tag-doj","tag-habba","tag-nj-court"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45129"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45131,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45129\/revisions\/45131"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/45130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}