by
Mike
Stobe/Getty
Images)
The
president’s
personal
lawyer
Alina
Habba
is
once
again
the
acting
US
Attorney
for
New
Jersey.
It
appears
that
news
of
her
departure
was
greatly
exaggerated…
or
at
least
premature.
Habba
had
no
prosecutorial
experience
before
Trump
tapped
her
in
March
to
lead
the
US
Attorney’s
Office
in
her
home
state.
Her
greatest
claim
to
fame
was
losing
her
boss
$88
million
in
damages
in
the
E.
Jean
Carroll
defamation
cases
and
$364
million
in
civil
fraud
penalties.
Her
greatest
claim
to
infamy
was
the
$15,000
settlement
she
foisted
on
a
waitress
at
Trump’s
Bedminster
club
to
surrender
her
sexual
harassment
and
assault
claims
—
a
contract
which
flagrantly
violated
New
Jersey’s
Civil
Rights
Law.
Although
the
million
dollars
in
sanctions
for
filing
a
frivolous
RICO
suit
against
Hillary
Clinton
and
James
Comey
is
a
close
second.
But
no
matter!
She’s
loyal
enough
to
say
absolutely
any
batshit
thing
on
TV,
and
so
she’s
staying
put.
Until
last
week,
the
president
appears
not
to
have
cared
much
about
whether
Habba
remained
on
the
job.
He
nominated
her
for
a
120-day
interim
appointment
in
March,
and
couldn’t
be
bothered
to
put
her
name
forward
for
a
permanent
position
until
July
—
not
nearly
enough
time
for
her
to
get
confirmed
without
an
intensive
White
House
pressure
campaign
that
never
materialized.
But
his
desultory
efforts
kicked
into
high
gear
after
judges
on
the
US
District
Court
for
New
Jersey
dared
to
nominate
someone
else
for
the
position
under
28
USC
§
546
which
allows
the
court
to
fill
any
vacancy.
Attorney
General
Pam
Bondi
and
Deputy
AG
Todd
Blanche,
both
former
personal
attorneys
for
Trump,
were
incensed
on
behalf
of
their
compatriot.
The
allegation
was
preposterous
on
its
face.
The
judges
had
no
obligation
to
select
Habba.
They
were
perfectly
entitled
to
choose
any
lawyer
in
America.
In
the
event,
they
tapped
Habba’s
own
deputy,
Desiree
Grace,
a
nine-year
veteran
of
DOJ
who
is
a
Republican
to
boot.
And
Habba’s
short
tenure
has
hardly
been
a
tour
of
glory.
After
launching
a
failed
prosecution
of
Newark
Mayor
Ras
Baraka,
she
indicted
Representative
LaMonica
McIver
on
the
flimsiest
of
justifications.
She’s
even
making
threatening
noises
about
Governor
Phil
Murphy
and
the
state’s
Attorney
General
Matthew
Platkin.
When
she
said
on
a
podcast
that
she
hoped
to
“turn
New
Jersey
red,”
she
wasn’t
kidding.
Which
is
perhaps
why
morale
has
cratered
under
her
leadership,
with
16
current
and
former
staffers
running
to
the
New
York
Times
to
say
things
had
gone
to
shit
under
Habba’s
leadership.
All
of
which
are
pretty
good
reasons
to
put
a
career
official
in
there
to
right
the
ship
until
Trump
can
get
around
to
getting
someone
confirmed!
But
this
minor
act
of
judicial
independence
was
too
much
for
the
Trump
administration,
and
so
they
decided
to
put
Habba
in
the
office
by
hook
or
by
crook.
First
they
fired
Grace,
a
move
which
would
have
no
effect
on
the
judicial
appointment,
but
did
serve
to
punish
her
for
saying
she’d
accept
the
position.
Then
they
named
Habba
as
her
own
deputy,
as
they
just
did
in
the
Northern
District
of
New
York
with
John
Sarcone
III,
another
US
Attorney
they
couldn’t
be
bothered
to
confirm.
Then
they
pulled
her
pending
nomination
in
the
Senate,
to
get
around
the
Federal
Vacancies
Reform
Act’s
prohibition
on
a
nominee
serving
in
an
“acting”
role.
And
then
they
let
Habba,
the
first
assistant,
assume
the
post
of
acting
US
Attorney
when
the
position
became
“vacant”
by
the
expiration
of
her
own
interim
appointment
that
expired
yesterday.
Habba
handled
the
situation
with
her
usual
indignant
self-righteousness.
How
very
dare
anyone
question
the
right
of
a
person
with
no
qualifications
and
no
senate
confirmation
to
hold
office
indefinitely!
She
has
the
anointment
of
the
king
upon
her
forehead,
and
isn’t
that
ample
authority?
Tune
in
next
week
when
we
get
to
play
this
same
stupid
game
in
the
Central
District
of
California
with
Acting
US
Attorney
Bill
Essayli.
Liz
Dye lives
in
Baltimore
where
she
produces
the
Law
and
Chaos substack and podcast.