(CN) - Alina Habba is out as the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey after federal judges in the district declined to extend her appointment as interim U.S. attorney, a move bemoaned by Trump administration officials Tuesday. 

President Donald Trump appointed Habba, his personal attorney and legal spokesperson, to the post in March. Interim U.S. attorneys can only serve for 120 days unless they are confirmed by the Senate or extended by the judges in the district they serve. Habba's 120-day deadline would have expired this week. 

But rather than choosing to make Habba's appointment permanent, the court bypassed her to tap First Assistant Desiree Leigh Grace for the role.

"This appointment is effective July 22, 2025, or 'upon the expiration of 120 days after appointment by the attorney general' of the interim U.S. Attorney Alina Habba, whichever is later," the court wrote Tuesday in a brief order, signed by Chief U.S. District Judge Renee Marie Bumb, a George W. Bush appointee. 

Grace's appointment appears to be short-lived, however. Top Department of Justice officials, outraged over the refusal to extend Habba's tenure and baselessly claiming foul play, announced they'd already fired her.

Attorney General Pam Bondi lambasted the ruling on X, writing that Habba was doing "a great job in making NJ safe again."

"Nonetheless, politically minded judges refused to allow her to continue in her position, replacing Alina with the first assistant," Bondi wrote. "Accordingly, the first assistant United States attorney in New Jersey has just been removed."

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who was also a personal attorney of Trump's until his appointment as the Justice Department's No. 2, issued a similar statement on X.

"The district judges in NJ just proved this was never about law - it was about politics," Blanche wrote. "They forced out President Trump's pick, @USAttyHabba, then installed her deputy, colluding with the NJ senators along the way. It won't work. Pursuant to the president's authority, we have removed that deputy, effective immediately. This backroom vote will not override the authority of the chief executive."

Indeed, a majority of judges in New Jersey's federal district court were appointed by Democrats - 18 of the 25 in total.

Habba is now Trump's second pick for a U.S. attorney who has failed to garner the required support to stay in the role permanently. In May, the Senate Judiciary Committee declined to confirm Ed Martin, Trump's controversial nominee for the District of Columbia.

Trump's appointment of Habba generated controversy in its own right. She has reportedly been under an ethics investigation for more than a year on claims she coerced an employee at Trump's Bedminster golf club - who tried to sue the club for sexual harassment by her manager - into signing an illegal nondisclosure agreement in 2021.

She later went on to represent Trump in his defamation cases against writer E. Jean Carroll, a pair of trials in which Trump was found civilly liable for rape. The president now owes more than $80 million as a result.

Habba also played a key role on Trump's legal team for his civil fraud case in Manhattan, another case he lost. A judge ordered Trump to pay roughly half a billion dollars after finding that he falsely inflated the value of his assets to swindle banks into giving him favorable loans. 

In that trial, Habba and Trump's other attorneys drew gag orders for repeatedly attacking the judge's law clerk in open court.

As New Jersey's top prosecutor, Habba raised eyebrows with an effort to prosecute Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who was arrested in May on charges of trespassing at a federal immigration holding facility.

A magistrate judge chastised Habba for targeting Baraka and quickly dropped the charges. Baraka is now suing for malicious prosecution.

The daughter of Iraqi immigrants, Habba entered the MAGA circle in 2019 after joining Trump's Bedminster golf club, less than a 10-minute drive from her namesake law firm in New Jersey, where she eventually became friendly with Trump.

Since then, Habba has been a fierce Trump ally both in and out of court. She joined Trump's latest successful presidential campaign as a senior adviser and spoke at the final night of the 2024 Republican National Convention.

Source: Courthouse News Service