This decision comes after an appeals court disqualified her from the role.
President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, Alina Habba, resigned Monday as the top federal prosecutor for New Jersey, leaving the job after an appeals court said she had been serving in the post unlawfully.
In a statement posted on social media, Habba assailed the court’s ruling as political, but said she was resigning “to protect the stability and integrity” of her office.
“But do not mistake compliance for surrender,” she said, adding that the administration would continue its appeal of the court rulings ousting her from the position. “This decision will not weaken the Justice Department and it will not weaken me.”
Habba said she would remain with the Justice Department as a senior adviser to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi. Her former duties will, for now, be split between three lawyers in the office.
Habba, 41, was appointed in March to serve a temporary term as acting U.S. attorney for New Jersey, a powerful post charged with enforcing federal criminal and civil law.
Once a partner in a small New Jersey law firm, Habba was among Trump’s most visible legal defenders during the four years he was out of power, representing him in court and frequently appearing on cable TV news as his “legal spokesperson.
