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#usattorney

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If you thought that Attorney General Pam Bondi's role as Trump's personal heatsink in the now-mushrooming Jeff Epstein pedophile sex ring scandal the President is embroiled in would spare us her presence on the news, I regret to inform you that you were wrong. Everyone's favorite underqualified, over-caffeinated lawyer-like-substance has again turned up in the news cycle as part of the latest escalation in the Trumpenreich's open war on the American judiciary. This time, Bondi has retaliated to a US court's refusal to permanently install equally-sycophantic (towards Trump) minion Alina Habba as New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor, by immediately dismissing the court's replacement choice, career prosecutor Desiree Leigh Grace: Abba's second in command at the time.

theguardian.com/us-news/2025/j

Judges end Trump pick Alina Habba’s tenure as New Jersey’s top prosecutor

"According to an order from New Jersey’s district court, a panel of judges declined to permanently appoint Habba to be the state’s US attorney, signaling a rebuke against the Trump administration.

Habba inflamed Democratic hostilities when she brought charges, later dropped, against the mayor of Newark, Ras Baraka, and the state representative LaMonica McIver after they visited a privately operated immigration detention center in Newark.

The federal judges did not offer any explanation for their decision. But the order, signed by Renée Marie Bumb, the chief federal judge for the district of New Jersey, appointed Desiree Leigh Grace, a career prosecutor whom Habba had named as her first assistant US attorney, as her replacement.

The justice department accused the panel of judges of political motives for declining Habba’s nomination, and, hours later, the attorney general, Pam Bondi, said Grace also had been removed.

“This Department of Justice does not tolerate rogue judges – especially when they threaten the President’s core Article II powers,” Bondi wrote in a post on X, referring to Trump’s authority under the US constitution."

The political angle to this story is pretty straightforward, but it does a lot to illuminate the way Trump and his fascist minions operate to consolidate power in the executive branch. Trump used his power as President to temporarily appoint the woefully underqualified Habba, a personal ally and former lawyer of his, to be the US Attorney for New Jersey. In return she politicized the office towards fascist objectives, including ideological policing, targeting opposition party officials for harassment and prosecution, and working to "turn the state red" from inside a supposedly non-partisan institution that is instead behaving as Trump's legal goon squad. When Der Leader tried to make the situation permanent, the court rightfully declined and tried to appoint a real lawyer; which enraged Downmarket Mussolini enough that he just sent Pam Bondi out to fire that replacement.

To tell you the truth, I'm not really sure what happens next; as far as I can tell, the Court isn't required to accept Trump's attempt to subvert the nomination process and, Bondi can fire whoever she wants to on behalf of Trump. I can only assume the regime intends to argue that means they can appoint anyone they want for 120 days again, and then re-appoint Habba. Will that fly in court? Your guess is as good as mine, particularly given the open level of motivated reasoning a 6-3 fascist Roberts Court is now engaging in.

Perhaps the more important question here is, why is Trump so desperate to keep Habba in the New Jersey US Attorney's chair? I suspect the answer to that question can be found in one of the reasons a court just rejected her permanent installment - specifically Habba's establishment of an “Election Integrity Task Force." What the fuck does being a US Attorney have to do with mucking around in New Jersey's elections? Absolutely nothing, and that's why Trump needs a sycophantic nazi muppet like Habba to keep the job and make rigging elections on his behalf one of her day to day problems. Grace might (or might not) hate migrants and liberals as much as Bondi does, but she's far too familiar with what a prosecutor actually does for a living to be Trump's fixer for New Jersey in the upcoming election cycle.

I think if you take a step back and look at the entirety of the Trump regime's recent activities in and around elections, an obvious picture of how the GOP intends to rig the upcoming election cycle becomes clear. This effort involves using loyalists in the Justice Department to prosecute officials who won't let Trump rig the vote and generate the appearance of a crisis level threat to democracy, while simultaneously purging voter rolls of people unlikely to keep supporting Trump's fascist agenda, by any and all means possible. This isn't the kind of thing you do with lawyers, but rather ideologues like Habba and Bondi.

The Guardian · Judges end Trump pick Alina Habba’s tenure as New Jersey’s top prosecutorBy Edward Helmore
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#AlinaHabba, Trump’s former personal lawyer, had no experience as a #prosecutor or in #criminal #law before #Trump appointed her to the temporary post.

Earlier this month, Trump nominated Habba to remain #USattorney permanently, but her confirmation faced headwinds in the US #Senate after #NewJersey’s 2 Democratic senators said she had pursued “frivolous & politically motivated prosecutions” & “did not meet the standard” to become a US attorney.

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A similar showdown took place last week in a federal prosecutors’ office in #Albany, #NY. There, after #judges refused to extend the temporary term of John A. Sarcone III, another embattled top prosecutor appointed by #Trump, the #DOJ named him “special attorney” to #PamBondi, the
attorney general.

The appointment gave Sarcone the powers of a #USattorney & is “indefinite,” acc/to a letter from the DOJ’s HR division that was obtained by NYT.

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About an hour before #PamBondi’s social media post, Harrison Fields, a #WhiteHouse spox, said that #Trump had “full confidence in #AlinaHabba, whose work as acting #USattorney for the District of #NewJersey has made the Garden State & the nation safer.”

He added that the admin was looking forward to Habba’s confirmation in the #Senate. He did not respond to follow-up questions about why he expected Habba to be confirmed, given that NJ senators signaled they may block her confirmation.

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The #judges’ decision, made after a private vote on Monday, had raised the possibility that the #NewJersey #USattorney would be an outlier in a #DOJ in which #Trump has insisted on loyalty. Ms. Grace, were she to become the US attorney, would still have to answer to top Justice ofcls in Washington — but the response from those officials on Tuesday seemed to indicate that even the prospect of leadership from someone who was not hand-selected by Trump was unacceptable.

Continued thread

“This Department of Justice does not tolerate rogue judges — especially when they threaten the President’s core Article II powers,” #PamBondi wrote.

The rapid sequence of events raises the prospect of yet another confrontation between the #Trump admin & the federal #judiciary. Ms. Grace’s apparent removal from the office may not nullify the #judges’ decision to appoint her as the #NewJersey #USattorney, but is it unclear whether the judges will be able to enforce their appointment.

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A panel of federal #judges in #NewJersey on Tues blocked #AlinaHabba from staying in the job as the state’s interim #USattorney and instead invoked a rarely used power to select a candidate of their own to take over as the state’s top federal prosecutor.

The judges announced that they appointed Desiree Leigh Grace, a seasoned prosecutor…. The appointment is effective as of Tues, acc/to an order signed by the district’s chief judge, Renée Marie Bumb.

Excellent.

Bypassing #Trump lawyer Habba, #Judges in #NewJersey Name New Top Federal Prosecutor

#AlinaHabba’s term as interim #USattorney was set to expire on Tuesday. #NJ’s two Democratic senators had accused her of pursuing “frivolous & politically motivated prosecutions.”

#law
nytimes.com/2025/07/22/nyregio

The New York Times · Bypassing Habba, Judges in New Jersey Name New Top Federal ProsecutorBy Tracey Tully
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#EmilBove also faced sharp questions about his ordering the dismissal of #EricAdams’ corruption case, which led to the resignation of a top prosecutor in New York & several other #DOJ officials. #DanielleSassoon, then-interim #USattorney for the #SDNY, cited her objections to what she called a political “#QuidProQuo” with Adams’ legal team for the mayor to enforce #Trump’s #immigration policies only if he was freed from the looming prosecution.

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#NationalGuard troops will arrive in #LosAngeles County within the next 24 hrs, the #Trump admin’s top law enforcement official in SoCal said, to *quell* #protests over #immigration enforcement that are “out of control.”

Bilal A. “Bill” Essayli, the interim #USattorney for the Central District of #California, said in an interview on Saturday night that the 2,000 troops were needed to keep the peace in the sprawling region.

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“The apparent rush in this case, culminating today in the embarrassing retraction of charges, suggests a failure to adequately investigate. Your office must operate with a higher standard than that,”Espinosa said.

Interim #USattorney #AlinaHabba has offered no explanation for her decision to drop the misdemeanor trespassing charge her office filed against Mayor #RasBaraka following his controversial arrest this month outside #DelaneyHall #immigration detention facility in #Newark.

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“An arrest of a public figure is not a preliminary investigative tool. It is a severe action,” US Magistrate Judge Andre M. Espinosa told Assistant #USAttorney Stephen Demanovich during a virtual court hearing. “It should only be undertaken after a thorough, dispassionate investigation of credible evidence.

Continued thread

…Paul J. Fishman, a lawyer for Rep. McIver, who previously served as #USattorney for the District of #NJ called the decision to charge the congresswoman “spectacularly inappropriate.”

“As a member of #Congress, she has the right & responsibility to see how #ICE is treating detainees. Rather than facilitating that inspection, ICE agents chose to escalate what should have been a peaceful situation into chaos.”

Last night, in the lawsuit brought by #FBI agents who worked on #Jan6 investigations, seeking to prevent their names from being disclosed for fear of #retribution & physical #threats from #MAGA #extremists, the plaintiffs alerted Judge Cobb of the press conference by disgraced fmr acting #DC #USattorney, current #DOJ Weaponization "captain" & under #DCbar #ethics probe #EdMartin who pledged: "We will name them."

documentcloud.org/documents/25

www.documentcloud.org51-Notice re Ed Martin