Alina Habba, an aide to Donald Trump, said Monday that she will step down as U.S. representative for New Jersey after an earlier court ruling upheld her disqualification from the post.
Habba once served as the current US president’s personal lawyer and was Trump’s pick as the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey.
But just over a week ago, a three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s finding that the Trump administration broke the law by using a series of maneuvers to install Habba as U.S. attorney for New Jersey after the 41-year-old failed to win Senate confirmation.
The decision led to Habba’s resignation on Monday.
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Judges are now ‘weapons for the politicized left’
In a lengthy statement posted on X, Habba detailed her reasons for stepping down.
“For the past five years, I’ve fought for justice on behalf of the American people, and under our great Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, we’ve made New Jersey safer. Camden experienced its first murder-free summer in 50 years. We’ve driven crime, driven violent offenders off the streets, caught terrorists from the administration, and written off the city’s Habba predators.”
The 41-year-old attorney went on to say that while she was focused on getting real results, New Jersey judges “have taken advantage of the flawed tradition of the blue slip and become a weapon for the politicized left.”
“For months, these judges have stopped conducting trials and sentencing, leaving violent criminals on the streets. They have joined New Jersey senators who care more about fighting President Trump than the well-being of the citizens they serve,” Habba explained.
Trump’s former lawyer went on to say that she was resigning and stepping down “to protect the stability and integrity of the office that I love.”
“But don’t confuse compliance with capitulation. This decision does not weaken the Department of Justice and it does not weaken me,” she declared, adding, “I will continue to serve the Department of Justice as the Attorney General’s Senior Counsel for U.S. Attorneys.”
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Habba’s history of service to Trump
Habba, a New Jersey-born lawyer, served as Trump’s legal spokesman and as a senior adviser to his super PAC MAGA, Inc. from 2021 to 2025.
Shortly after being hired by Trump’s legal team in 2021, Habba filed a $100 million lawsuit against The New York Times, three of its reporters and the niece of the current US president, Mary L Trump.
The 41-year-old attorney was also among the attorneys who represented Trump and his co-defendants in the lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James. The suit accused the current US president and the Trump Organization of misrepresenting the value of their assets for economic gain and awarded Trump and his company defendants nearly $500 million in fraud, which they appeal.
She also defended Trump in a second defamation lawsuit filed by author E Jean Carroll, who claimed she was sexually abused by Trump in the 1990s. While Trump denied the allegations, Carroll sued for defamation, and both lawsuits resulted in her being awarded $88.3 million in damages. However, both are under appeal.
Habba was also famously involved in a lawsuit brought by Trump against Hillary Clinton, the Democratic National Committee and others, alleging a conspiracy to rig the 2016 US presidential election.
