Trump_reality_TV_meets_Jrsey_law_led6 events in Passaic County with a date

Trump reality TV meets Jersey law, led by Habba

By: Charles Stile
Political Stile
USA Today Network

..... The Trump administration has set up a reality TV show sound-stage in downtown Newark - and without being lured here by the promise of generous tax credits.
..... Alina Habba, the Trump lawyer who was dispatched form D.C. to be the interim U.S. attorney for New Jersey, gave a preview late last week [04/11/2025] of what can be expected in the coming months from the seventh floor of the Peter J. Rodino Federal building on Broad Street.
..... The story are in Episode 1 has the heroic Habba going after the woke liberal governor and his attorney general for codding immigrates and, in the process, subverting the will of Godhead Trump as his carries out his promised purge of migrants.
..... "I want it to be a warning for everybody: that I have instructed my office today [04/11/2025] to open an investigation into Governor Murphy, to open an investigation into Attorney General Platkin, who has also instructed the state police not to assist any of our federal ... agents that are under my direction," Habba huffed and puffed to Fox News' Sean Hannity.
..... Habba has yet to prove her ability as a crime fighter, but she is clearly a student of the reality TV formula of stirring conflict and controversy, and she always places Trump - or his acolytes - at the center of attention.
..... She is of the new breed of Trumpists: brazen, beer-muscled tough talkers who almost relish the chance to shock - with always one eye on social media platforms.
..... think Kristi Noem, the Homeland Security secretary, nicknamed "ICE barbie" for posing in full body armor and clutching a rifle next to ICE agents after a migrant sweep, or Tom "I Don't Care What Judges think" Homan, the so-called border czar, who was the first to threaten to investigate Murphy when the governor, in a moment of crowd-pleasing fabulism, boasted that he and an undocumented person living above his garage. Then there is Vice President JD Vance, who had the temerity to humiliate the president of Ukraine in front of a crush of cameras."

Chatting with Andrew Tate

..... And now we have Habba, who was Trump's lawyer during his criminal sentencing last year, [2025] voicing her own push-the-envelope bravado, joining U.S. marshals on crime-busting sweeps (also wearing a bulletproof vest) with conservative news outlets in two. And in January, [2025] Habba appeared on a podcast with the accused sex trafficker Andrew Tate.
..... "I'm a big fan," she told Tate. She went on to defend Trump, saying "the time is now to stop being wimps. Trump got sentenced in the most tragic stories in American history and the justice system I used to be proud to be a part of."
..... You might have hoped that the next U.S. attorney for New Jersey would use the post to crack down on corruption, especially now amid a degraded media and a gutted public records law that gives the corrupt a license to steal. But it appears that the government's most powerful law enforcement officer is here to carry out Trump's agenda, channel his grievances and lay the groundwork for GOP gains in New Jersey.
..... "We could turn New Jersey red," she insisted in a conversation with a talk show host after being named to the post. "I think New Jersey is absolutely close to getting there, so hopefully while I'm there I can help that cause. And you know, I'm not a political person in that role, but I can tell you hat the one thing I just want to do is make [New Jersey] safer."
..... The shadow of politics has always hung over the U.S. Attorney's Office. Christ Christie paved his way to the Statehouse by targeting (mostly) corrupt Democratic politicians, and in the process, he dismantled the Democratic Party machine that supported his eventual gubernatorial opponent, incumbent Governor Jon Corzine. he was laying the groundwork for his own ambition. But despite her claim of not being a political person, her comments brought her right up to the brink of begin GOP-Trump political operative.

Immigrant Trust Directive

..... Habba got all waxed up about New Jersey's Immigrant Trust Directive, issued in 2018, which prevent, state and local law enforcement officials from assisting federal officials in their arrest of immigrates on administrative warrants, which are typically for low-level offenses like failing to appear in court or staying in the country with an expired visa.
..... Despite her declaration, the directive does not stop local and sat4e police form helping the federal officials in tracking down suspects of far more serious crime and subject to a court order.
..... But the whole point was to prevent state and local cops form diverting their time and energy acting as defacto sheriff's deputies hunting small fry for the government while their time is better fighting crime in the communities that pay them.
..... And former Attorney General Gurbir Grewal, the author of the immigrate memo, saw it in practical terms: Undocumented immigrates would be more willing to come forward to report crimes if they felt confident that the local police won't report them to ICE. In turn, that made the broader community safer.
..... That kind of distinction is usually something that would prompt a careful balancing by a prosecutor. But if yo believe, as Trump does, that all undocumented migrants are criminals, then why bother with distinctions?
..... That whole firestorm got started when State Police Superintendent colonial Patrick Callahan sent out a memo to troopers reminding them of the 2018 immigrate directive. Then the political chain reaction - Habba flips out, taking aim at the "sanctuary state" policies, vowing to investigate, followed by reactions from Murphy and Platkin, who restored, "I don't typically launch investigations on cable news networks," when asked at a press conference outing the arrest involving a North Jersey gambling ring.
..... Whether intentionally or not, Jack Ciattarelli, the Republican who feels the need to swim in the toxic MAGA waters in order to win the GOP nomination for governor in June, [2025] pounced on Murphy's "We're not in the immigration business" remark.
..... "Stop preventing law enforcement from cooperation with ICE," he posted on X, the social media platform. "Sanctuary State policies like the one you implemented is why we have an illegal immigration crisis. It all ends on Day One when I'm governor."
..... The whole episode had a dramatic, reality TV show story are to it, with a useful social media outcome for a GOP candidate for governor, one who paid homage to Trump in a recent visit to his Bedminster golf club. Drama with conflict and controversy in the Trump 2.0.
..... Habba has twice hinted that Paterson and its mayor, Andre Sayegh, are also in her sights. Paterson is in Passaic County, which Trump stunned the political establishment by winning last November. [2024] It's also represented by a first-term congresswoman, Representative Nellie Pou, who will likely seek reelection next year. [2026] A land of political opportunity.
..... Episode 2 coming soon.

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