MAGA ACTIVIST WILL LEAD TRUMP LEGAL REVENGE DRIVE IN NEW JERSEY

Kim, Sherrill, Baraka denounce Alina Habba, but she’s “a significant talent,” says Governor Murphy

Alina Habba – the fashion marketer-turned lawyer and MAGA activist – is probably one of the very last people in the United States who ought to have been named to serve as U.S. Attorney (USA) for the District of New Jersey.

Previous occupants of the post were more than competent and focused on the rule of law, including Paul Fishman, Chris Christie, and Michael Chertoff. From 1789 to 1791, the job was held by Richard Stockton, who was appointed by George Washington.

It’s a critical post, in which Habba will now serve as the chief federal prosecutor for the entire state of New Jersey. It will allow her to join President Trump’s campaign of weaponizing the Justice Department against his perceived political enemies: attacking and sanctioning billion-dollar law firms, stripping security clearances and even Secret Service protection from people he doesn’t like, ousting federal prosecutors from low-level lawyers to assistant U.S. Attorneys, putting cronies in all the top jobs at DOJ in Washington, and calling for the impeachment of judges.

“We can turn New Jersey red. I really do believe that,” she said, after being appointed. “Hopefully, while I’m there, I can help that cause.”

Needless to say, turning New Jersey red – or blue – is not the job of the USA.

But Habba, who served as Trump’s personal lawyer and has been an unrestrained MAGA cheerleader – she was “senior adviser” to MAGA Inc., Trump’s super PAC, from 2021 to 2025 – will now lead the revenge campaign in New Jersey.

You’d think that every Democratic politician in New Jersey would be screaming bloody murder. (The job isn’t even officially hers yet, since to avoid a Senate confirmation hearing, Trump has designated her as “acting” USA.) But you’d be wrong. Among gubernatorial candidates, Ras Baraka and Representative Mikie Sherrill have spoken out forcefully; the other candidates, not so much. Andy Kim has weighed in, with some fervor; Cory Booker, nothing. And Governor Murphy?

“I wish her well. She seems like a very significant talent,” said Murphy, in an interview with News12. said. “I’m sure when she gets into the seat, she’ll look at the facts, and she’ll focus her energies where they need to be focused.”

Or not. Kim slammed Habba’s appointment as “an unacceptable choice.”

“I was a federal prosecutor in the New Jersey U.S. Attorney’s office, and I can think of few people who are less fit to serve as the U.S. Attorney than Alina Habba,” wrote Sherrill on X. “Her allegiance is to Donald Trump – not the rule of law or the Constitution.” She added: “Meet Trump’s pick, who could use her new post to harass abortion providers, let polluters poison our air and water unchecked, and let Trump’s corruption go unchecked.”

And Baraka – whose city, Newark, was attacked by name by Habba in her swearing-in speech -- issued a video wryly inviting Habba to visit the city. “I’d be happy to give you a tour of Newark,” he said. “No MS-13 here.”

Habba, of course, has never prosecuted a single case. As a lawyer, she’s handled a few cases other than defending Trump in court. Among the cases she’s handled, she represented a former member of the Real Housewives of New Jersey and a promoter of vitamin supplements who complained when journalists reported on his connections to rightwing extremists in Portugal. Her Wikipedia page lists a host of questionable things on her record, including how her efforts in court on behalf of Trump – in the Summer Zervos sexual assault case and a lawsuit against The New York Times, for instance – were summarily tossed out of court. She’s been scolded by a judge for not understanding “Evidence 101” and threatened with sanctions by another. “What [Habba’s filing] lacks in substance and legal support it seeks to substitute with length, hyperbole, and the settling of scores and grievances,” said that judge.

In an appearance on Fox News, after her swearing-in, she said that judges ruling against Trump’s reckless deportation scheme are overreaching, and displaying an utter lack of understanding of the role of the justice system in America. “These judges have no business coming in and trying to stop the Trump administration from pursuing their agenda, which was the America First agenda, which was to keep us safe,” she said. “Illegals need to get out … and they’re wasting taxpayer dollars trying to hold him up in court.”

Habba, who married to a New York parking-lot magnate, met Trump in 2019 at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, according to a 2022 profile in Axios. That profile makes mention of one ridiculous lawsuit Habba threatened to file on behalf of Trump in 2021, demanding that the board of The Pulitzer Prizes rescind its decision to award prizes to the Times and the Washington Post for their groundbreaking coverage of the Trump-Russia story. The Pulitzer board ignored the whole thing, and it went nowhere.