In March, Trump installed Matthew Giordano as U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, then removed him three weeks later and installed Alina Habba, a personal lawyer with no prosecutorial experience. Trump nominated Habba for a full term but the Senate never acted and Habba appears not to have completed nomination paperwork. Federal judges appointed Habba's deputy Desiree Grace to the vacant office when Habba's term expired. Attorney General Pam Bondi fired Grace, named Habba her deputy, allowed Habba to succeed herself, and appointed Habba special counsel. Multiple criminal defendants sued, alleging Habba lacked legal authority; Judge Matthew Brann agreed.
In March, Trump installed Matthew Giordano, an experienced prosecutor and campaign donor, as US Attorney for the District of New Jersey. Three weeks later, he shoved Giordano aside, mumbling that he was honoring him with an appointment as ambassador to Namibia. Instead Trump installed his personal lawyer Alina Habba, a loyalist with zero prosecutorial experience. Trump nominated Habba for a full term, but the Senate never took up her appointment - and indeed she appears never to have even bothered to fill out the paperwork.
On the eve of (what we all assumed was) the expiration of her term, federal judges in New Jersey exercised their statutory right to appoint someone to the vacant office, tapping Habba's deputy Desiree Grace. This so enraged Attorney General Pam Bondi that she attempted to jujitsu her protégé back into place by firing Grace, appointing Habba as her own deputy and then allowing her to succeed herself in office. For good measure, Bondi appointed Habba as a special counsel, too.
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