Alina Haba attends the swearing-in ceremony as Interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, USA on March 28, 2025.
Evelyn HochsteinReuter
Alina Haba, who previously served as President Donald Trump’s defense attorney, announced Monday that she is resigning as U.S. attorney for New Jersey after a judge disqualified her from the position.
Haba’s resignation comes a week after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upheld a district court judge’s ruling that she was ineligible for the top prosecutor’s job because of the circumstances under which she was appointed as interim holder of the top prosecutor’s office.
Haba and Attorney General Pam Bondi said Haba will remain at the Justice Department as a senior adviser to the U.S. attorney general.
Bondi also said the Justice Department plans to appeal the Third Circuit’s ruling, and the department is confident it will be overturned.
“As a result of the Third Circuit’s decision, and in order to protect the stability and integrity of the office I love, I have decided to resign from my position as United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey,” Haba said in a statement regarding X.
“But don’t mistake submission for submission. This decision does not weaken the Department of Justice, and it does not weaken me,” Hubba said.
“Don’t get me wrong, you can take a girl out of New Jersey, but you can’t take New Jersey away from a girl.”
“I am disappointed to accept Arena’s resignation,” Bondi told X.
“The court’s decision has suspended trials aimed at bringing violent criminals to justice by politicized judges, making it difficult for him to effectively run his office,” Bondi said in a statement.
“These judges should not be able to object to the president’s selection of lawyers entrusted with carrying out the executive branch’s core responsibility of prosecuting crimes.”
President Trump called Haba’s resignation “unfortunate.”
“She is not disqualified,” Trump said.
“It’s a terrible blue return,” Trump said, referring to the practice in which the Senate Judiciary Committee can effectively veto nominations of U.S. attorneys unless they agree with who the senators nominate for state housing.
President Trump said, “It’s a shame…The Republican Party should be ashamed of itself” for letting this situation go unaddressed.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has appointed three people to oversee the criminal, civil, appellate, and administrative functions of the New Jersey U.S. Attorney’s Office in light of Hubba’s resignation.
Another former Trump lawyer, Lindsey Harrigan, was recently disbarred as the top federal prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia by a judge because of the circumstances of her appointment.
Due to Harrigan’s disqualification, the grand jury indictment he obtained against former FBI Director James Comey and New York State Attorney General Letitia James was dismissed last month.
Bondi appointed Haba as interim U.S. attorney in March after his predecessor resigned.
President Trump subsequently appointed her to the post permanently, but her nomination was never considered by the Senate as required.
The Justice Department conducted a series of byzantine maneuvers to claim Mr. Haba would automatically become acting U.S. attorney, but a federal judge and later the Third Circuit rejected the efforts as not complying with the Federal Vacancies Reform Act.
— Additional reporting by Justin Papp and Garrett Downs
