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Dec 9, 2025
Trump's former lawyer Alina Habba resigns as top federal prosecutor in New Jersey
The Advocate
By JAKE OFFENHARTZ and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Associated Press
President Donald Trump's former personal attorney, Alina Habba, resigned Monday as the top federal prosecutor for New Jersey, leaving the job after an appeals court said she had been serving in the post unlawfully.
In a statement posted on social media, Habba assailed the court's ruling as political, but said she was resigning "to protect the stability and integrity" of her office.
"But do not mistake compliance for surrender," she said, adding that the administration would continue its appeal of the court rulings ousting her from the position. "This decision will not weaken the Justice Department and it will not weaken me."
Habba is one of several acting U.S. attorneys around the country to have their appointments by the Trump administration challenged on the basis that they stayed in the temporary jobs longer than the law allows.
She said she would remain with the Justice Department as a senior adviser to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi. Her former duties will, for now, be split between three Justice Department lawyers.
Habba, 41, was appointed in March to serve a temporary term as acting U.S. attorney for New Jersey, a powerful post charged with enforcing federal criminal and civil law.
Once a partner in a small New Jersey law firm, Habba was among Trump's most visible legal defenders before his return to the White House, representing him in court and frequently appearing on cable TV news on his behalf.
But she had a partisan bent and no experience as a prosecutor. New Jersey's two Democratic senators indicated they would block her confirmation in the U.S. Senate.
She brought a trespassing charge, eventually dropped, against the Democratic mayor of Newark, New Jersey, stemming from his visit to an immigration detention center. Habba later charged Democratic U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver with assaulting a federal agent during the same incident. McIver says she didn't assault anyone. The case is pend
