Alina Habba Rips Two GOP Senators for Keeping Her out of N.J. Prosecutor Job Via ‘Blue Slip’ Rule

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Grassley: “Last night I was surprised to see President Trump on Truth Social go after me and Senate Republicans over what we call ‘the blue slip.’ (...) The people in real America don’t care about what the blue slip is, but, in fact, it impacts, in their states, the district judges who serve their communities and the U.S. attorneys who ensure the law and order is enforced.”
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BARTIROMO: “And that was Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley this week on the Senate tradition of blue slip after President Trump posted earlier remarks about Grassley denouncing attempts to block presidential nominations for ideological and political reasons. On Friday, the president posted on Truth Social comments Grassley made back in 2017 about not allowing home state senators to abuse the blue slip process. It came after a federal judge in Pennsylvania ruled that acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, Alina Habba, is unlawfully serving after President Trump and AG Pam Bondi extended her tenure by naming her acting U.S. Attorney rather than interim to fill the vacancy. Judge Matthew Brann, appointed to the bench by former President Obama in 2012, said Habba has not been rightfully the top federal attorney in New Jersey since July 1st after a pair of criminal defendants challenged her appointment. One of the lawyers involved challenging in the lawsuit, former Hunter Biden attorney Abbe Lowell. Bondi says she will immediately appeal the ruling, adding the DoJ will protect her position from activist judicial attacks. Habba is in this position because she has not had a confirmation hearing with the Senate Judiciary Committee, with Chairman Grassley honoring New Jersey Democrat senators Cory Booker and Andy Kim’s use of that so-called blue slip process. It allows senators to block certain nominees who would oversee their home states. The practice is a Senate tradition. It is not the law. Joining me now in this ‘Sunday Morning Futures’ exclusive is the woman herself, the acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, Alina Habba. Alina, thanks so much for being here today. What are you doing about it?”
HABBA: “We’re fighting as usual. You know how this administration works. I’s the new roadblock, it’s the new lawfare, it’s the same thing they tried with Tish James, and now they’re doing it with U.S. Attorneys and judges, and it’s not just me. It’s around the country, frankly, and this tradition that Senator Grassley is upholding effectively prevents anybody in a blue state from going through into Senate to then be voted on. Senator Booker and Senator Kim had absolutely every right to vote no for me for the U.S. Attorney position. But I have the right as the nominee to get in front of Senate and to be voted on, to be vetted. I never even got there. Of course not. I was, according to them, unqualified. Why? Look at Hakeem Jeffries’ tweet. Because I arrested a congresswoman for a charge of assaulting a police officer. And you know what? I stand by my work as a U.S. Attorney, and I won’t be intimidated by this type of political rhetoric.”
BARTIROMO: “What do you want to say about Senator Tillis? Thom Tillis, a member of the Judiciary Committee, has stated publicly that if Chairman Grassley tried moving a district judge or U.S. Attorney through the Judiciary Committee without a blue slip, he would oppose that nominee, and that means we would not even have the votes to pass a nomination like Habba out of committee because Tillis would vote no along with the Democrats.”
HABBA: “It’s not surprising. You know, they’re trying to look at this as they all need to get along to go along, but they’re not looking at what this does. The president was rightfully voted in by a majority of Americans, and he is entitled to pick his U.S. attorneys, his Department of Justice officials, his judges, so that we can continue the agenda that the American public voted for, which is to get rid of crime. In the state of New Jersey in June alone, we arrested over 300 criminals, illegals, rapists. What is so bad about that work? The truth is, it has nothing to do with the work that we’re doing, it has nothing to do with the crime that we’re stopping. It has to do with trying to prevent President Trump from continuing his agenda, and it has to stop. So I would say to Senator Tillis and Senator Grassley, you are becoming part of the issue. You are becoming part of the antithesis of what we fought for four years, the same reason Tish James just got overturned in the appellate division, because it was a hoax and it was misuse and abuse of power. We cannot allow and promote that kind of behavior. It is not just about me, it is about people across the country, U.S. Attorneys across the country that just want to do right by Americans that voted for President Trump and this administration.”