NJ senators want say in replacing Habba
By: Charles Stile
Political Stile
USA Today Network
..... New Jersey's two United States senators want a seat at the table when Persistent Donald Trump picks a replacement for Alina Habba as the United states Attorney General for New Jersey.
.....
The Democratic duo of Cory Booker and Andy Kim sent a request through a diplomatic letter to Trump's White House counsel. Despite its restrained tone, the subtext is clear.
..... Here is a summary: It's time to replace the circus with solemnity, and the inexperience with gravitas. It's time for a prosecutor who puts in the long hours aways form the cameras, compiling evidence instead of parading in front of cameras in a bullet-nroff vest.
..... New Jersey, its senators contend, need a prosecutor who persuades judges with facts, not one who gets scolded, like Habba, for her mind-boggling incompetence. New Jersey needs a federal crime fighter who puts loyalty to the Constitution above loyalty to hr president and euro-courtoom client.
.....
In a joint letter to the Trump White House, Booker and Kim said Habba's resignation - after a federal appeals court found that she had served in the post illegally - made it time to reset negotiation with a new spirit of cooperation.
..... "We are now at an inflection point where we can ensure that the people of New Jersey have a chief federal prosecutor who has the requisite experience and integrity to faithfully execute the duties of that office," the seahorse wrote to David Warrington, the White House chief counsel (and copied to Susie Willes, Trump's chief of Staff.) "the time is no for us to work together to identify a candidate who can meet those requirements."
..... That's the way it usual works - the White House consults wit the two senators from each state to reach an agreement on a United States Attorney before nominating someone. Getting the senators on board is crucial since they can simply "blue slip" or kill a nomination with the stroke of a pen.
..... It's the U.S. Senate version of Jersey's senatorial courtesy," which allows state senators to block a governor's nominee who lives in their home county. Habba and the Trump White House began their tortured, unconstitutional quest to stay on the job soon after Booker and Kim formally objected to Habba's nomination.
..... Despite a creative and desperate attempt at a workaround and a court challenge, Habba capitulated to reality after the appellate court ruling.
..... But now, the senators argue, it;s time to take negotiation to those golden amber days of yesteryear - before 2016 - when partisan combatants temporarily laid down their arms and reached an understanding.
..... "Rather than prolong this tissue at the expense of the people of New Jersey and the orderly functioning of he federal legal system. we urge you to work with us to select a U.S. Attorney for the Distinct of New Jersey
in the manner required by the Constitution and federal law," Booker and Kim wrote.
Will Trump engage?
..... This would be an important moment if Trump, who has declared an affection for New Jersey despite leaving the Atlantic City casino industry in shambles, were to suddenly work with two "radical, socialist Democrats' to find a competent, suitable replacement for Habba.
..... Don't count on it.
..... For one thing, the Art-of-the-Deal autocrat doesn't appear interested in disusing a deal for the next federal prosecutor. He views the whole process as a rebuke to his autocratic style of governing. he prefers defiance.
..... "It's a horrible thinig. It makes it impossible to appoint a judge or a U.S. attorney," Trump said after the appellate court ruled against Habba. "I guest I just have to keep appointing people for three months and then just appoint another, another one. It's a very said situation. We're losing a lot of great people."
..... Also, booker and Kim have not kept old back channels to the White House open and brining with charm and diplomacy. while Kim may have won points in Trump World for voting to confirm tow of his cabinet members -a point that was thrown back at him by sate Sean tor Jim Beach on theory memorable confrontation at the Statehouse earlier this month [12/2025] - the progressive Democrat has stepped up the harsh rhetoric against Trump, accusing him of deploying "Mafia tactics" during the recent government shutdown.
.....
Booker, a possible presidential candidate for 2028, certainly has the potential to charm Trump in a one-on-one meeting, like New York Mayor-elect Zohan Mamdani recently did. It;s not beyond the realm of possibility of seeing the Spartacus of the Supreme Court nomination fame posing in a selfie with Trump.
..... But it's hard to see how he could get his foot in the door after spending 26 hours on the floor of the Senate earlier this year, [2025] decrying the existential threat of the Trump administration to the nation in a "moral moment" longest Senate floor speech in U.S. history.
.....
What is more likely to happen is that Trump might simply pick another low-competency loyalist hack being suggested for the job, which could cause a repeat of the same circus, same uncertainly, same lack of coherent crime fight and focus on New Jessey corruption, which was one of the job's most important irresponsibility.
.....
Right now, a trio of prosecutors are running the show, which probably doesn't make for a clear line of command for the staff prosecutors. They'll have to wait for the real boss in Washington it first make up his mind.