A Republican legal group has filed a complaint in the House Ethics Committee after House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) called for 17 New Jersey district judges to oust Acting U.S. Attorney Alina Habba from her position.
The judges held a rare meeting Monday morning to decide whether to extend the deadline for her position amid the ongoing delay of her confirmation in the U.S. Senate. Without Senate confirmation, Habba’s position expires Tuesday.
A decision on the matter was expected later Monday.
Jeffries’ intervention against Habba stemmed from her decision to charge fellow Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.) for obstructing Homeland Security agents during an altercation at an immigration facility in Newark back in May.
An online video shows McIver screaming at the officers and trying to block the arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka (D) after he allegedly trespassed into the Delaney Hall immigration facility and refused to leave.
“After the Mayor was escorted outside the secured area, law enforcement officers made a second attempt to arrest him,” according to a Justice Department press release.
At this time, someone in the crowd yelled ‘circle the mayor.’ McIver then faced the Mayor and placed her arms around him in an effort to prevent HSI from completing the arrest. During her continued attempts to thwart the arrest, McIver slammed her forearm into the body of one law enforcement officer and also reached out and tried to restrain that officer by forcibly grabbing him. McIver also used each of her forearms to forcibly strike a second officer.
The congresswoman, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, can be seen on video throwing punches and shoving law enforcement officers as they tried to regain control.
Charges were eventually dropped against Newark Mayor Ras Baraka for federal trespassing at the facility.
But the NJ U.S. Attorney’s office announced on May 19 it would bring charges against McIver for her actions against law enforcement.
A federal grand jury on June 10 returned a three-count indictment charging McIver with “forcibly impeding and interfering with federal law enforcement officers.”
McIver claims that she and two other Democrat members of Congress were just conducting a congressional oversight visit.
The congresswoman pleaded not guilty and will have a chance to defend herself in court on Nov. 10, 2025.
She faces up to 17 years in prison for her potentially criminal conduct.
Habba, a former Trump campaign legal spokesperson and White House counselor, said in a statement last month: “While people are free to express their views for or against particular policies, they must not do so in a manner that endangers law enforcement and the communities those officers serve.”
“The so-called U.S. Attorney in NJ maliciously indicted Congresswoman LaMonica McIver for doing her job,” said Jeffries in a post on X. “Habba is a woefully unqualified political hack who must go,” the Democrat continued. “She must be rejected by the Federal District Court Judges who are considering whether to retain her.”
Fifteen of the 17 judges were appointed by either Barack Obama or Joe Biden.
Habba has served in the position in an acting capacity since Attorney General Pam Bondi appointed her in March.
The Article III Project filed a House Ethics complaint against Jeffries over the weekend for “improperly inserting himself into a criminal proceeding,” and trying to “strong arm” federal judges into taking a “purely political” action.
“This is clear corruption by House Democrat Leader Hakeem Jeffries” the group’s founder Mike Davis said.
“A House member – particularly the House Democratic leader – who disagrees with the merits of a pending criminal case abuses his official position when he attempts to strong-arm federal judges to corruptly prejudice the ongoing criminal proceeding by firing the U.S. attorney for the purely political reason of protecting a partisan House colleague,” the complaint states, going on to ask the House Ethics Committee to hold Jeffries “accountable.”
On Steve Bannon’s War Room Monday, Davis noted that the judge’s meeting took place following Jeffries’ post on X calling for her removal.
He warned that if the judges fire Habba, they’ll “face judicial misconduct complaints.”
The U.S. district court judges in New Jersey held a meeting Monday morning to decide whether to allow her to retain her position as her confirmation remains stalled in the U.S. Senate.
Ahead of the meeting, the Trump White House and the Department of Justice reportedly sent a strong signal to the judges that they are standing firmly behind her.
A top Justice Department official has told the chief judge of the U.S. District Court of New Jersey that President Donald Trump has complete confidence in Alina Habbas, the U.S. Attorney, and wants the judges to extend her stay in office when they meet at 10 AM on Monday, the New Jersey Globe has learned.
Habba has “brought steady leadership and sound judgment as Interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey,” said Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche on X, Monday. “She has the full confidence of @POTUS and DOJ. District judges should use their authority to keep her in place,” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said Monday.
