Trump names Alina Habba as NJ top federal prosecutor

NEW JERSEY - President Donald Trump announced Monday that he has appointed his personal lawyer, Alina Habba, as interim U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey. Habba, who currently serves as Trump’s White House counsel, will replace acting U.S. Attorney John Giordano. 

Trump also shared that Giordano will be nominated as the new U.S. Ambassador to Namibia. Both appointments were made public via Trump’s social media.

"Additionally, John Giordano, who has done a terrific job as the interim U.S. Attorney in New Jersey, will now be nominated as the new Ambassador to Namibia!" Trump said. 

The backstory:

A partner in a small New Jersey law firm near Trump’s Bedminster golf course, Habba served as a senior adviser for Trump’s political action committee, defended him in court in several civil lawsuits and acted as a spokesperson last year as he volleyed between courtrooms and the campaign trail. She lists no prosecutorial experience in an online biography.

Habba was one of Trump’s most visible defense attorneys, appearing on cable TV news as his "legal spokesperson." She represented Trump in 2024 in the defamation case involving E. Jean Carroll.

But Habba has had limited federal court experience, practicing mainly in state-level courts. During the Carroll trial, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan chided Habba for botching procedure, misstating the law asking about off-limits topics and objecting after he ruled.

Habba and Trump were fined nearly $1 million in 2023 for filing what a Florida judge called a bogus lawsuit against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Dig deeper:

Habba said she looked forwards to working with Attorney General Pam Bondi to pursue the president’s agenda of "putting America first," and going after the people "we should be going after."

"As you know, I stood by President Trump, his family, the organization, and many other clients in that state where I am born and raised, and [where] I'm raising my babies now," Habba told reporters at the White House on Monday. "But there is corruption," she said. "There is injustice, and there is a heavy amount of crime right in Cory Booker's backyard. And right under Governor Murphy. And that will stop."