Alina Habba Resigns as New Jersey’s Top Federal Prosecutor

Alina Habba, the former personal lawyer for President Donald Trump whose brief tenure as the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey was mired in political scandal from the start, finally stepped down on Monday — a week after yet another court disqualified her from the supervisory role.

She announced that she’s heading to a top advisory role to the nation’s attorney general, further cementing her role as a MAGA loyalist who will continue her work on government prosecutions.

“My fight will now stretch across the country,” she said in a statement from her personal X account. “Make no mistake, you can take the girl out of New Jersey, but you cannot take New Jersey out of the girl.”

Habba credited her management of the New Jersey office — as well as AG Pam Bondi and Deputy AG Todd Blanche — for Camden’s “first murder-free summer in 50 years.” However, she leaves behind a checkered legacy, having immediately used the office to criminally charge several prominent Democratic politicians who protested against the Trump administration’s use of a local jail as an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement facility.

During her tenure, NOTUS also revealed that she had been under a state ethics investigation for more than a year that threatens her professional credentials as a lawyer licensed in New Jersey.

But her insistence on remaining as New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor — even though the state’s two Democratic senators, Cory Booker and Andy Kim, wouldn’t give her the blue slip allowing the Senate to consider her appointment — tossed the office’s work into a maelstrom.

When Habba’s temporary term as interim U.S. attorney expired over the summer and federal judges selected the career lawyer serving as her first assistant U.S. attorney to lead the office instead, the Trump administration fired that prosecutor and gave Habba the job as second-in-command — effectively elevating her back into the role by refusing to name anyone above her.

A Pennsylvania federal judge concluded that scheme wasn’t legitimate, and last week the Third Circuit Court of Appeals agreed by ruling that Habba’s appointment was unlawful.

Still, NOTUS found that Habba continued to sign off on dozens of criminal indictments after being specifically told she lacked the legal authority to do so, a decision that casts doubt on the legitimacy of those criminal charges and could ripple for years to come.

Habba said in her statement that she would be stepping down to protect “the stability and integrity of the office which I love.”

“But do not mistake compliance for surrender,” she added. “This decision will not weaken the Justice Department and it will not weaken me.”

New Jersey ranks among the largest U.S. Attorneys offices in the country and is known for leading some of the most prominent anti-corruption cases. But her new position as “senior adviser” to Bondi for U.S. attorneys ensures that she remains in the upper echelons of the DOJ, which is operating in closer coordination with the White House than it has since the days of the Nixon-era Watergate scandal.

Habba rose to prominence as Trump was inundated by lawsuits as he clawed his way back to the White House. She began as a regular at Trump’s Bedminster club who, soon after representing a waitress there whose sexual harassment lawsuit ended with a hush-money settlement that violated New Jersey laws, switched sides and began representing Trump in lawsuits.

According to more than a dozen sources who’ve spoken to NOTUS on condition of anonymity for years, she quickly gained a reputation in Trump’s inner circle as a talented orator who is also prone to make mistakes in the courtroom about technical aspects of the law. She went on to become a staple on Fox News as a fierce defender of Trump and later as a senior adviser to his 2024 presidential campaign.

Habba did not respond to a request for comment about what exactly her responsibilities would be in oversight of the nation’s 93 U.S. attorneys in charge of district offices, or whether she’d be relocating to Washington.

To replace her, DOJ officials opted for a curious arrangement that would “divide the responsibilities” of running the New Jersey office to three separate lawyers “to ensure continuity of leadership while the Department considers next steps.” The DOJ said the trio would consist of Philip Lamparello, a New Jersey lawyer in private practice; Jordan Fox; and Ari Fontecchio, who currently lists himself as the chief of the office’s health care fraud unit.

Nancy Erika Smith, a New Jersey lawyer who now represents the former Bedminster waitress once represented by Habba, said she should never have overseen that office.

“She was unqualified from Day One, which is why the judges wouldn’t appoint her. And I look forward to the ethics authorities finally ruling on a 2-year-old complaint,” Smith said.