Battle Over Trump Appointees Leads To New Top Prosecutor In NJ

WASHINGTON — A new United States attorney for New Jersey was named Monday after a longstanding battle over the installment, replacement, and removal of President Donald Trump's appointee Alina Habba.

Longtime prosecutor and current senior trial counsel in the NJ U.S. attorney's office, Robert Frazer, will now take the helm after a one-sentence order was issued by a U.S. District Court judge.

This comes after an agreement between federal judges and the U.S. Department of Justice to name a replacement after three Justice Department officials were sharing the office before being disqualified earlier in March.

A U.S. District Judge ruled their appointments to be illegal power moves by the Trump administration, similar to the gripes with his first choice, a Summit native and his former personal attorney, Alina Habba.

Habba had been the subject of scrutiny for months after taking office in March 2025 after she did so without Senate confirmation.

In July 2025, New Jersey's District Court judges voted not to extend her term, which was limited to 120 days.

What followed was a sparring match between officials in the State of New Jersey and the federal government that saw President Trump remove his initial recommendation for Habba to allow her to stay in office longer into July as an "interim."

Attorney General Pam Bondi then fired the prosecutor appointed by the State and reappointed Habba to the role.

It wasn't until Dec. 1, 2025, when a group of judges in Philadelphia ultimately sided with a lower court's ruling and disqualified her from serving as the state's leading prosecutor.

Habba congratulated Frazer in a social media message on Monday, writing, "New Jersey deserves a great chief federal law enforcement official who is in line with President Trump's agenda of making this country safe and NJ great! I know Rob well and he will be a great champion of this state and mission of the @TheJusticeDept."

Habba currently serves as a senior advisor within the Justice Department.

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