Trump’s disputed US attorney pick attacks push by ‘rogue judges’ to remove her

by New Jersey Monitor Staff, New Jersey Monitor

Alina Habba, who a federal judge on Thursday said has no lawful authority to be New Jersey’s acting U.S. attorney, hit back at judges who oppose her during an appearance on Fox News.

“We will not fall to rogue judges, we will not fall to people trying to be political when they should just be doing their job, respecting the president. And you can’t get rid of the president,” Habba said, adding,  “I am the pick of the president. I am the pick of Pam Bondi, our attorney general.”

Judge Matthew Brann of the Middle District of Pennsylvania, in a highly anticipated ruling over the legality of Habba’s appointment, said because federal law allows for 120-day terms for acting U.S. attorneys who do not receive confirmation by the U.S. Senate, Habba’s term ended on July 1 and she has been acting “without lawful authority” since then.

Brann’s ruling represents the second time federal judges have rejected Trump’s pick for chief federal prosecutor of New Jersey. When Habba’s term was set to expire in July and she had yet to receive Senate confirmation, New Jersey’s federal judges named her first assistant, Desiree Leigh Grace, as her replacement, angering the Trump administration so much it fired Grace and implemented a series of personnel changes intended to give Habba another 210 days on the job.

Brann called that maneuvering “novel” but unlawful. He stayed his decision for an expected appeal to the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals. Habba predicted the Trump administration would win on appeal.

“You might try and change my title, you might try and fight me, but just like today with New York, we will win, we always do. It just takes time,” Habba said on Fox News Thursday.

A New York state appeals court on Thursday overturned a nearly $500 million civil penalty against President Donald Trump, but left in place a finding of fraud based on records that inflated the value of Trump’s business holdings.