Donald Trump chooses his ex-defense lawyer, Alina Habba, to serve as the chief federal prosecutor in New Jersey

TRENTON, New Jersey — President Donald Trump on Monday appointed his former defense attorney and current White House counselor Alina Habba as the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey.

Turning 41 on Tuesday, Habba steps into the interim role previously held by John Giordano, who Trump has nominated to be the U.S. ambassador to Namibia in southwestern Africa.

Habba, a partner at a small New Jersey law firm near Trump’s Bedminster golf course, has been a senior adviser for Trump’s political action committee, represented him in various civil lawsuits, and served as a spokesperson during last year’s legal battles and campaign activities.

Habba said she looked forwards to working with Attorney General Pam Bondi to pursue the president’s agenda of “putting America first,” and going after the people “we should be going after.” She criticized Democrats Sen. Cory Booker and Gov. Phil Murphy for their stewardship of the state.

“If you look at what happened in crime, what’s going on in Newark, what’s going on in Camden, this has been a neglected state. It is one of the most populated states for its size and it needs to stop. We’re gonna do a bang up job,” Habba said Monday.

Spokespeople for Booker and Murphy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Camden officials said earlier this year that violent crime rates reached a 55-year low, crediting the county police department. Officials in Newark, the state’s largest city, said late last year that homicide rates had fallen but other crime levels had increased in 2024.

Habba was one of Trump’s most visible defense attorneys, appearing on cable TV news as his “legal spokesperson.” She represented Trump in 2024 in the defamation case involving E. Jean Carroll.

But Habba has had limited federal court experience, practicing mainly in state-level courts. During the Carroll trial, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan chided Habba for botching procedure, misstating the law asking about off-limits topics and objecting after he ruled.

Giordano was sworn in as New Jersey’s interim U.S. attorney earlier this month. He previously served as a counselor to the assistant attorney general for the Environment and Natural Resources Division. Giordano also served as a federal prosecutor in Virginia.