(CN) - In a political maneuver that circumvented federal judges, President Donald Trump on Thursday kept his personal attorney and close ally Alina Habba at the head of the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey.

Trump appointed Habba to the interim U.S. attorney post in March, but this week judges in the District of New Jersey declined to extend her appointment to Trump administration officials' chagrin. The president then withdrew Habba's nomination for the permanent post - after U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi fired Desiree Leigh Grace, whom district judges had chosen to run the office instead - keeping his own pick as acting U.S. attorney.

Habba announced the news in a post on X Thursday evening.

"I don't cower to pressure. I don't answer to politics. This is a fight for justice. And I'm all in," she wrote.

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, and Habba's tenure was set to end Friday.

Attorney General Pam Bondi complained on social media Tuesday after federal judges decided to replace Habba with Grace, the office's first assistant, in an order signed by Chief U.S. District Judge Renee Marie Bumb, a George W. Bush appointee. 

Bondi signaled in a post on X that Grace's appointment would be short-lived, baselessly claiming foul play.

"[Habba] has been 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. Accordingly, the First Assistant United States Attorney in New Jersey has just been removed. This Department of Justice does not tolerate rogue judges - especially when they threaten the President's core Article II powers," Bondi wrote.

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, [Habba], 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 Trump's second U.S. attorney pick who failed to garner enough support to stay in the role permanently. In May, the Senate Judiciary Committee declined to confirm Ed Martin for the District of Columbia.

Habba represented Trump at the second of two defamation trials brought by writer E. Jean Carroll, in which Trump was found liable for rape. Jurors awarded Carroll more than $80 million.

She 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 the mayor and quickly dropped the charges against him. Baraka is 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. She reportedly has been under an ethics investigation for more than a year on claims that she coerced an employee who tried to sue the club for sexual harassment by her manager into signing an illegal nondisclosure agreement.

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