Trump taps White House counsel Alina Habba for top role at DOJ

President Donald Trump announced Monday that he has installed his personal lawyer, Alina Habba, to serve as interim U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey – the latest in a long list of former attorneys for Trump whom he has tapped for senior roles at the Department of Justice.

Trump said on Truth Social Monday that he has tapped Habba, his current White House counsel, to replace outgoing acting U.S. attorney, John Giordano, whom he said would be serving as the U.S. ambassador to Namibia. 

Both promotions were announced by Trump Monday on social media. 

In the post, Trump praised Habba as someone who “will lead with the same diligence and conviction that has defined her career,” and said she will “fight tirelessly to secure a Legal System that is both ‘Fair and Just’ for the wonderful people of New Jersey.”

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“Additionally, John Giordano, who has done a terrific job as the interim U.S. Attorney in New Jersey, will now be nominated as the new Ambassador to Namibia!” Trump said, before congratulating them both.

Giordano, for his part, was installed as acting U.S. attorney for the district less than a month ago by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi. 

Habba said Monday that she is looking forward to the new role at the Justice Department, including the opportunity to crack down on corruption and move on Trump’s other top law enforcement priorities during his second term in office.

“As you know, I stood by President Trump, his family, the organization, and many other clients in that state where I am born and raised, and [where] I’m raising my babies now,” Habba told reporters at the White House on Monday.

“But there is corruption,” she said. “There is injustice, and there is a heavy amount of crime right in Cory Booker’s backyard. And right under Governor Murphy. And that will stop.”

Habba said she looks forward to working with Bondi and others at the Justice Department to make that “we further the president’s agenda; including putting America first, cleaning up mess and going after the people that we should be going after, not the people that are falsely accused that will stop in the great state of New Jersey—starting now.” 

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Trump’s decision to tap Habba, a longtime ally who previously served as a legal spokesperson for both Trump and his presidential super PAC, MAGA, Inc., comes as the president has moved to install or promote a long list of loyalists to senior law enforcement positions in his second White House term.

Three of the top prosecutors Trump has promoted to head up the Justice Department – U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, and Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General of the United States Emil Bove – have each represented the president in a personal capacity prior to his re-election in 2024, prompting criticism from some Democrats over the potential politicization of the department.