Who is Alina Habba, Trump’s “unlawfully” appointed U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey?
Today, Dec. 1, 2025, a federal appeals court ruled that Habba had been serving unlawfully as the U.S. attorney in New Jersey as she was never confirmed by the Senate
Alina Habba and Lindsey Halligan have both been found to be unlawfully appointed by a federal judge. Habba had represented Trump in cases prior to his 2024 presidential campaign before being named by Trump in March 2025 to a 120-day interim term as the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey. Despite resistance from State legislators, Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi orquestrated “a shell game to keep her in power,” according to lawyers Abbe D. Lowell and Gerald Krovatinin court papers
Back in September 2021, Alina Habba became lead attorney defending Trump in a defamation case brought by former “Apprentice” contestant Summer Zervos. Just weeks later she filed a $100 million lawsuit against the New York Times and Trump’s niece Mary L Trump on his behalf. Landing Trump as a client was quite the shift for the managing partner of the small law firm Habba Madaio & Associates LLP located near Trump’s Bedminster golf club in New Jersey.
Prior to becoming lead counsel on these high-profile cases, and more since, Habba was suing the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut on behalf of a disgruntled student who wanted a refund for classes going on-line during covid and a New Jersey nursing home for a man over allegedly lax care during the pandemic.
Who is Donald Trump’s attorney Alina Habba?
Alina Habba has been practicing law since 2011. Prior to starting her own firm in 2020 she was a managing partner at a mid-sized firm for seven years. According to her practice’s website she successfully expanded its business throughout the entire Northeast region.
Her brash tactics in the court room and unfaltering support for the president on right-wing cable news media have enamored her to Trump. However, her court room antics and level of professionalism have drawn the ire of other members of his legal team staving off numerous lawsuits and growing legal problems which could spread to her.
Like several lawyers that have worked for the president before her, she could now be facing legal problems of her own. In representing Trump in his legal battle with the New York Attorney General Letitia James over the valuations of his assets she swore that she had thoroughly looked through “all desks, drawers, nightstands, dressers, closets, etc.” at Mar-a-Lago in May 2022, prior to the FBI search of the property.
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