Prosecutor Fired by Trump Officials Defiantly Says She Is Set to Take Job

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Prosecutor Fired by Trump Officials Defiantly Says She Is Set to Take Job

Desiree Grace, in a social media post, said she was prepared to follow a judicial order and take over as U.S. attorney in New Jersey “in accordance with the law.”

By Jonah E. Bromwich and Tracey Tully
July 23, 2025

A veteran New Jersey prosecutor who was appointed as the next U.S. attorney by federal judges in the state said Wednesday that she was prepared to take the job, even though she had been fired the day before by senior Justice Department officials. … The prosecutor, Desiree Leigh Grace, made the statement in a LinkedIn post, calling it an honor to have been selected for the position “on merit” and saying that she was ready to begin to serve “in accordance with the law.”


Desiree L. Grace’s LinkedIn page. via LinkedIn

Ms. Grace’s post extended the remarkable standoff between federal officials in New Jersey and Justice Department officials in Washington over who should lead the U.S. attorney’s office in the state.

The person currently in the role, Alina Habba, was formerly President Trump’s personal lawyer. She is serving in an interim, 120-day capacity that ends this week. In just a few months on the job, Ms. Habba has drawn considerable criticism for high-profile prosecutions of Democratic officials in the state. And while Mr. Trump nominated Ms. Habba for the job permanently, her confirmation faces headwinds in the Senate.

On Tuesday, after the judges announced Ms. Grace’s appointment to replace Ms. Habba, Justice Department officials in Washington reacted by summarily firing Ms. Grace. … The deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, accused the judges of playing politics and said that Ms. Grace had been removed “pursuant to the president’s authority.”

{snip}

Jonah E. Bromwich covers criminal justice in the New York region for The Times. He is focused on political influence and its effect on the rule of law in the area's federal and state courts.

Tracey Tully is a reporter for The Times who covers New Jersey, where she has lived for more than 20 years.

[BOSSHOG]

1. In accordance with the law

Daaamn! What a novel Un conservative idea.

[bucolic_frolic]

2. It's becoming routine, the law versus Trump Administration

but in the end SCOTUS draws the line of demarcation

[Baitball Blogger]

3. No need to follow orders from a pedo president.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

4. The firing of a veteran prosecutor in New Jersey escalates Trump's war with the courts

The firing of a veteran prosecutor in New Jersey escalates Trump’s war with the courts

A battle over judges’ power to fill a federal prosecutor vacancy could create a legitimacy crisis.


Attorney Alina Habba is joined by former President Donald Trump in January 2024.
Alina Habba, former lawyer for President Donald Trump, is at the center of battle to lead New Jersey's U.S. Attorney's Office. | Mary Altaffer/AP

By KYLE CHENEY and RY RIVARD
07/23/2025 02:36 PM EDT

The Trump administration opened a new front in its war with the courts this week — and fired a veteran federal prosecutor in the process — in a dramatic tussle over the New Jersey U.S. Attorney’s Office. … Now it’s not clear who is in charge. … Federal judges exercised a 160-year-old power to select a temporary prosecutor on Tuesday to lead the office, following President Donald Trump’s failure to win quick Senate confirmation for his pick: his former personal lawyer Alina Habba.

Within hours, Attorney General Pam Bondi and her deputy Todd Blanche unloaded on the group of mostly Democratic-appointed judges and their pick, Desiree Leigh Grace, a registered Republican who was, until this week, the top career prosecutor in the office.
The judges, Blanche and Bondi said, have gone “rogue” and are seeking to “threaten” Trump’s power to select prosecutors. That power, though, is tempered by requirements that presidential picks must be confirmed by the Senate.

Presidents can name U.S. attorneys on an interim basis without Senate confirmation. But once that interim period expires, a longstanding federal law authorizes federal district judges to appoint a new prosecutor for the role until the Senate confirms a presidential nominee. … No president has directly tested the authority of judges to make such appointments — perhaps until now. Shortly after the district judges in New Jersey tapped Grace, Bondi fired her from the Department of Justice, where she’d climbed the ladder over the past nine years.

It’s not clear Bondi’s gambit will succeed in blocking Grace’s appointment, but it likely presages a legal tug-of-war over who can lead the federal prosecutors’ office in New Jersey, muddling and possibly jeopardizing criminal cases across the state.

{snip}

[LetMyPeopleVote]

5. Fired NJ prosecutor says she's prepared to take job

This will be fun to watch

Link to tweet

https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5417448-desiree-grace-new-jersey-federal-prosecutor/

A New Jersey prosecutor selected by judges to replace President Trump’s pick for U.S. attorney, Alina Habba, said Wednesday she is prepared to assume the role, despite having been fired by top Justice Department (DOJ) officials a day earlier.

Desiree Grace, the prosecutor, said in a LinkedIn post that she’s honored by her appointment “on merit” and is ready to begin serving “in accordance with the law.”

“I’ve served under both Republican and Democratic administrations,” she wrote in the lengthy post. “I’ve been promoted four times in the last five years by both — including four months ago by this administration. Politics never impacted my work at the Department. Priorities change, of course, and resources are shifted, but the work and the mission were steady.”

Grace’s intention to abide by the judges’ order heightens the standoff with senior Justice Department officials in Washington, who have doubled down in support of Habba continuing to lead the U.S. attorney’s office for New Jersey.

A former personal lawyer to Trump, Habba’s 120-day interim term is set to expire this week. Her trial period has at times been contentious; two Democratic public officials faced criminal charges over an incident at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility under her leadership.