Rep. LaMonica McIver pleads not guilty as watchdog group files complaint against Alina Habba
'Your honor, I plead not guilty,' she said.
Outside the courtroom, McIver and her attorney, Paul Fishman, said they plan to challenge the charges, which come with a maximum sentence of 17 years in prison, on legal and factual grounds.
'At the end of the day, this is all about political intimidation,' McIver told a crowd of supporters that had gathered outside the federal courthouse in Newark.
McIver is accused in a three-count indictment of slamming a federal agent with her forearm, 'forcibly' grabbing him and using her forearms to strike another agent. Allegations of physical violence by a sitting member of Congress are rare, with a handful of incidents including the pre-Civil War caning of a senator by a member of the House.
McIver's allies, including two other Democrats who were with her during the incident, have decried the charges as political and have said she was roughed up by federal agents. Her allies are also trying to turn the tables on the federal prosecutor bringing the case, the interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, Alina Habba.
The Campaign for Accountability, a liberal watchdog group, filed a complaint this week against Habba with the New Jersey Office of Attorney Ethics.
The complaint alleges Habba has acted improperly since becoming a prosecutor and cites her actions in the McIver case, along with comments about turning 'New Jersey red' and announcing investigations into its Democratic governor and attorney general over immigration.
A spokesperson for Habba did not respond to a request for comment.
'In an atmosphere where other oversight bodies are caving to political influence, the bar's duty to independently enforce these rules is ever more important,' the group's executive director, Michelle Kuppersmith, said.
Habba, who represented Donald Trump in court between his presidencies, is already facing a lawsuit brought against her by Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who was arrested for trespassing at the detention facility before the charges were dropped and a judge questioned Habba's judgment.
When she first announced charges against McIver, Habba said she had 'made efforts to address these issues without bringing criminal charges and have given Rep. McIver every opportunity to come to a resolution, but she has unfortunately declined.' The watchdog group's complaint alleges it was improper to say the charges were contingent on McIver taking actions ordered and approved by Habba.
Campaign for Accountability filed a similar complaint in New York against another federal prosecutor, Emil Bove, after he moved to drop charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. The New York attorney grievance committee declined to act and instead transferred the complaint to the Department of Justice.
The charges against McIver are an extraordinary stress-test for the separation of powers at a time in which Trump is seeking to maximize executive branch dominance. In recent weeks, New York City mayoral candidate Brad Lander was handcuffed and arrested by federal agents while escorting migrants from immigration hearings and Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) was forcibly removed from a Department of Homeland Security press conference.
Neither Lander nor Padilla have been charged with anything. The two Democrats who were with McIver outside the immigration facility — Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman and Rob Menendez — have also not been charged.
The three New Jersey Democrats have said they were at the immigration detention facility exercising their oversight duties and were roughed up by federal agents. Since their oversight visit, several detainees escaped and there were reports of poor conditions inside the facility, which the private company that runs the facility has denied.
McIver appeared virtually at a previous hearing in May, after charges were filed but before a grand jury returned an indictment. She was allowed to appear remotely from Washington because Congress was in session. Since then, the indictment has put her case in front of Judge Semper.
Semper set a schedule for legal arguments that could tee up a trial in early November. There are, however, potentially complex constitutional issues, because McIver claims she was fulfilling her duties as a member of Congress when the incident occurred and there are certain immunities granted to federal lawmakers.
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