Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Trump Lawyer Is Toast at Her Final Meeting of Career?!! Ask ChatGPT

Episode Date: July 19, 2025

17 US Federal Judges in NJ are poised to meet this week and vote to rebuke Trump by refusing to extend the 120-day interim tenure of his pick for US Attorney Alina Habba. But does that mean that Habba is toast for a permanent appointment through the Senate? Would Trump try to breach Senate protocol and shove her candidacy through without the support of NJ Senators Booker or Kim? Popok breaks it all down in his latest hot take. BZIGO: Don’t wait until the next bite—protect your home with Bzigo. Go to https://bzigo.com/discount/LEGALAF to save 10% off. Remember to subscribe to ALL the MeidasTouch Network Podcasts: MeidasTouch: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/meidastouch-podcast Legal AF: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/legal-af MissTrial: https://meidasnews.com/tag/miss-trial The PoliticsGirl Podcast: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-politicsgirl-podcast The Influence Continuum: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-influence-continuum-with-dr-steven-hassan Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/mea-culpa-with-michael-cohen The Weekend Show: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-weekend-show Burn the Boats: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/burn-the-boats Majority 54: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/majority-54 Political Beatdown: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/political-beatdown On Democracy with FP Wellman: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/on-democracy-with-fpwellman Uncovered: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/maga-uncovered Coalition of the Sane: https://meidasnews.com/tag/coalition-of-the-sane Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Bet MGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Alina Haba's in the news again for all the wrong reasons. 17 judges of the District Court of New Jersey are meeting today to decide what to do with her interim US Attorney Candidacy. See, she was appointed on an interim basis by Donald Trump to be the US Attorney for all of New Jersey, the Chief Federal Officer there. But she had 120 days in which to get confirmed by

the Senate and she's getting blocked and blocked well by the two Democratic senators from New Jersey Cory Booker and Senator Kim and they're gonna blue-slip her They're not gonna give her the blue slip that she needs to get out of committee and they've told that to the Trump side Her seeing the writing on the wall She's apparently gotten her staff together and has said she doesn't have the votes with the federal district judge to extend her tenure. Does that mean we've seen the last of Alina Habba as the U.S. attorney in New Jersey?

I'll cover it all from Midas Touch. I'm Michael Popak and this is Legal AF. Let's get into it. How did we get here? We got a rule, a rule that of course was made to be broken by Donald Trump. There's a statute that applies here, 28 USC 546. And it effectively says that the US Attorney General,

in this case, Pam Bondi, when there's a vacancy, like there was in New Jersey, appoints someone to that position. She just can't appoint somebody to that position that can't get confirmed or won't be or hasn't been confirmed by the Senate. In other words, if Habba went through the full process and got rejected by the Senate,

she couldn't then be the interim. But she then can appoint somebody. That person serves at the pleasure of the attorney general until they get confirmed by the Senate or 120 days, whichever happens first. 120 days is going to be on Tuesday. So they're running out of time. They had a similar problem with Ed Martin in District of Columbia, except they out-foxed, if you will,

the DC Circuit Court judges, because instead of allowing the judges there to appoint someone, because that's the next step in the 28 USC Section 546 process, the judges pick for the interim basis until somebody is confirmed. Trump just stuck another person in there, Janine Pirro, gave himself another kind of a reset.

There was nothing in the statute or in the case law that says he's allowed to do that, but that's what he did. So keep your eye on the ball here. I love the fact that the 17 active duty judges for the district of New Jersey, my home state, 15 of which are Democrats, five appointed by Obama, 10 appointed by Biden, and two appointed by Bush are gonna meet.

They could do nothing, and they could just let Trump fix the problem by sticking another appointee in there, I doubt they'd do nothing and they could just let Trump fix the problem by sticking another appointee in there. I doubt they'd do that. They could take some comfort about how the Northern District of New York just recently rejected a Trump appointment and refused to extend that person's term. That John Sarkony, they could say,

well, we could do the Sarkony thing and not extend her. They have two candidates that they'd like to stick in there instead of her, right? They've got a first assistant US attorney, Desiree Rice, they'd like to stick in there, and Noel Hillman who used to be a judge. They're likely to do that. What could Donald Trump do with Alina Haba?

That's the question. Just because she doesn't get extended, her term doesn't get extended by the New Jersey District judges, doesn't mean she can't be put through a process through the Senate. Now, my, the horse race I'm watching, is whether they're successful in getting Emil Boves, another criminal defense lawyer

for Donald Trump, shoved through as an appellate judge in the Third Circuit. Because if they're successful in doing that, we just saw the Democrats in the Senate Judiciary Committee walk out and he barely got the votes to get out of committee and go to the House floor, and I'm sorry, the Senate floor, where there's gonna be another firefight on the Senate floor about Emil Bovec, who's obscenely unqualified for his job,

both in demeanor, in an intellect, and in ethics. But if they get him through, Trump will be emboldened, I believe, and they will try to shove Alina Ahobe through. Now the block is Cory Booker and Kim. I'm gonna try to get Senator Booker back to talk to us here on Legal AF about this process. But they have to give a blue slip, one or both of the senators for a state.

Now this is courtesy, this is Senate rules. Question is, is John Thune, who is the Senate majority leader, going to rip up the book of protocol for Senate norms? He's done it so far and allow over a blue slip objection, allow Alina Haba to have her candidacy move forward if Trump decides to do that. Now he's, Trump's going to have her candidacy move forward, if Trump decides to do that. Now he's, Trump's gonna have to make a political calculation about whether he's got the votes to get her in there. Summer is officially here, which means mosquito season is in full swing.

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where she could do even more damage. You know, this is what happened with Ed Martin. We were all rubbing our hands in glee that we successfully got Ed Martin knocked out of being the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, which is a good thing. But then Trump just made him the chair of the committee on weaponization of the Department of Justice.

He's just running around like a minister without portfolio, bringing in all sorts of kooky crazies from the Jan Six conspiracy world, including Jan Sixers themselves to serve on that committee. You know, so not, you know, Senate confirmation for a position doesn't mean including Jan Sixters themselves to serve on that committee. So not, Senate confirmation for a position doesn't mean that Trump couldn't find another position that could do as much or more damage that doesn't require Senate confirmation.

So I wanted to get beneath the headline here. That's what we like to do on Legal AF. Another headline was like, Haba bids farewell to her staff, says she doesn't have the votes but loves the job. Something like that, I saw the headlines. But then when you look beneath it, it doesn't mean that Trump now emboldened

with so many Senate and House wins, isn't gonna try. And the more you challenge Trump to violate the rules, they'll say, what's the rule? What's the norm? It's a Senate protocol? Screw that. I mean, you could just hear it.

I'm gonna get Alina that job. All right. But I do like the resistance of the New Jersey district court judges who look like have signaled they are not going to extend for 120 days. And I don't think, just to round out this hot take, I don't think they're going to give Donald Trump

a couple of day gap to appoint another person, reset the clock like he just did in DC with Janine Pirro and get another 120 days to try to work it out with Alina Jhabba. I think they're gonna stick somebody in there in between, this first assistant US attorney, career prosecutor, or this former federal judge, Noel Hillman, who wants the job.

And they'll stay until there's a permanent person filled. Question is, is that person gonna be named Alina Jhabba or not? Under normal circumstances, I would say no, because of the blue slip block by Booker or by Kim. But we don't live in normal circumstances, we have to be prepared. I think it's interesting that the district court judges

are, look like they're gonna settle on a Republican to fill that spot under a Republican president as opposed to a Democrat, even though they're mainly Democrats. I mean, Trump's going to have a hard time complaining about that. Like, oh, you know, the Obama, Biden, Democrats, activist judges again. What, pick two Republicans? I mean, most of his, all of his complaining is not based on any type of reality or fact, but we've always known that. So I'll continue to follow it all right here.

I'm back, as you can see from the backdrop, I'm back from overseas, I'm back behind the microphone, I'm back with you. I certainly miss doing this on a regular basis. I try to keep up with it as best I could while maintaining my family vacation, but it is easier now that I'm back full time with you. So Legal AF the podcast,

Wednesdays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. Eastern time, here on MidasTouch, we got a Legal AF YouTube channel. Wow, it's gangbusters, it's going through the roof. It's all because of you. We're well over 700,000 subscribers in less than nine months, and went over our 200 million views. What a milestone.

I never could have imagined it when we formed the channel back in September. It's a big compliment to you and we are humbled by it. And of course, I've got the sub stack for Legal AF with all the postings in there about law and legal filings. And then I got my new podcast Tuesday nights on Midas Touch called The Intersection, 8 p.m. Eastern time right here on the Midas Touch Network. So until my next report, I'm Michael Fovak.

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