Latest news with #confirmation
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump administration fights to keep ex-Trump lawyer Alina Habba as New Jersey federal prosecutor
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — The Justice Department fought to keep President Donald Trump's former lawyer, Alina Habba, in place as the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey on Tuesday after a panel of judges refused to extend her tenure and appointed someone else to the job. Habba, who had been named the interim U.S. attorney for the state in March, appeared to lose the position earlier Tuesday, when judges in the district declined to keep her in the post while she awaits confirmation by the U.S. Senate. Acting under a law that generally limits the terms of interim U.S. attorneys to 120 days, the judges appointed one of Habba's subordinates, Desiree Leigh Grace, as her successor. But just hours later, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that she had in turn removed Grace, blaming Habba's removal on 'politically minded judges.' 'This Department of Justice does not tolerate rogue judges,' Bondi said on social media. The attorney general's second in command, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, said in a post on social media that he didn't believe Habba's 120-day term expired until 11:59 p.m. Friday. White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said in a statement that Trump has full confidence in Habba and that the administration would work to get her confirmed by the U.S. Senate, despite opposition from New Jersey's two senators, both Democrats, who potentially have the power to block her nomination. The judicial order appointing Grace, signed by Chief Judge Renee Marie Bumb, didn't list any reasons for picking her for the position over Habba. Grace's LinkedIn page shows she's served as a federal prosecutor in New Jersey for the last nearly nine years. Messages seeking comment were left with Habba's office and the Justice Department. Alina Habba's tenure in New Jersey as top prosecutor During her four-month tenure, Habba's office tangled with two prominent New Jersey Democrats — Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver, over their actions during a chaotic visit to a privately operated immigration detention center in the state's largest city. Baraka was arrested on a trespass charge stemming from his attempt to join a congressional visit of the facility. Baraka denied any wrongdoing and Habba eventually dropped that charge. U.S. Magistrate Judge Andre Espinosa rebuked Habba's office over the arrest and short-lived prosecution, calling it a 'worrisome misstep.' Baraka is now suing Habba over what he says was a 'malicious prosecution.' Habba then brought assault charges against McIver, whose district includes Newark, over physical contact she made with law enforcement officials as Baraka was being arrested. The prosecution, which is still pending, is a rare federal criminal case against a sitting member of Congress for allegations other than fraud or corruption. McIver denies that anything she did amounted to assault. Besides the prosecution of McIver, Habba had announced she launched an investigation into New Jersey's Democratic governor, Phil Murphy, and attorney general, Matt Platkin, over the state's directive barring local law enforcement from cooperating with federal agents conducting immigration enforcement. In social media posts, Habba highlighted her office's prosecution of drug traffickers, including against 30 members of a fentanyl and crack cocaine ring in Newark. Habba's nomination has stalled under senatorial courtesy Trump, a Republican, formally nominated Habba as his pick for U.S. attorney on July 1, but the state's two Democratic U.S. senators, Cory Booker and Andy Kim signaled their opposition to her appointment. Under a long-standing Senate practice known as senatorial courtesy, a nomination can stall out without backing from home state senators, a phenomenon facing a handful of other Trump picks for U.S. attorney. Booker and Kim accused Habba of bringing politically motivated prosecutions. What is Habba's background? Once a partner in a small law firm near Trump's New Jersey golf course, Habba served as a senior adviser for Trump's political action committee, defended him in court in several lawsuits and acted as a spokesperson last year as he volleyed between courtrooms and the campaign trail. U.S. attorneys often have experience as prosecutors, including at the state or local level. Many, including the acting U.S. attorneys in Brooklyn and Manhattan, have worked in the offices they now lead. Habba said she wanted to pursue the president's agenda of 'putting America first.' Habba was one of Trump's most visible defense attorneys, appearing on cable TV news as his 'legal spokesperson.' She represented Trump in 2024 in the defamation case involving E. Jean Carroll. But Habba has had limited federal court experience, practicing mainly in state-level courts. During the Carroll trial, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan chided Habba for botching procedure, misstating the law, asking about off-limits topics and objecting after he ruled. ___ Solve the daily Crossword
Arab News
8 hours ago
- Politics
- Arab News
Trump administration fights to keep ex-Trump lawyer Alina Habba as New Jersey federal prosecutor
TRENTON, N.J.: The Justice Department fought to keep President Donald Trump's former lawyer, Alina Habba, in place as the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey on Tuesday after a panel of judges refused to extend her tenure and appointed someone else to the job. Habba, who had been named the interim US attorney for the state in March, appeared to lose the position earlier Tuesday, when judges in the district declined to keep her in the post while she awaits confirmation by the US Senate. Acting under a law that generally limits the terms of interim US attorneys to 120 days, the judges appointed one of Habba's subordinates, Desiree Leigh Grace, as her successor. But just hours later, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that she had in turn removed Grace, blaming Habba's removal on 'politically minded judges.' 'This Department of Justice does not tolerate rogue judges,' Bondi said on social media. The attorney general's second in command, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, said in a post on social media that he didn't believe Habba's 120-day term expired until 11:59 p.m. Friday. White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said in a statement that Trump has full confidence in Habba and that the administration would work to get her confirmed by the US Senate, despite opposition from New Jersey's two senators, both Democrats, who potentially have the power to block her nomination. The judicial order appointing Grace, signed by Chief Judge Renee Marie Bumb, didn't list any reasons for picking her for the position over Habba. Grace's LinkedIn page shows she's served as a federal prosecutor in New Jersey for the last nearly nine years. Messages seeking comment were left with Habba's office and the Justice Department. Alina Habba's tenure in New Jersey as top prosecutor During her four-month tenure, Habba's office tangled with two prominent New Jersey Democrats — Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and US Rep. LaMonica McIver, over their actions during a chaotic visit to a privately operated immigration detention center in the state's largest city. Baraka was arrested on a trespass charge stemming from his attempt to join a congressional visit of the facility. Baraka denied any wrongdoing and Habba eventually dropped that charge. US Magistrate Judge Andre Espinosa rebuked Habba's office over the arrest and short-lived prosecution, calling it a 'worrisome misstep.' Baraka is now suing Habba over what he says was a 'malicious prosecution.' Habba then brought assault charges against McIver, whose district includes Newark, over physical contact she made with law enforcement officials as Baraka was being arrested. The prosecution, which is still pending, is a rare federal criminal case against a sitting member of Congress for allegations other than fraud or corruption. McIver denies that anything she did amounted to assault. Besides the prosecution of McIver, Habba had announced she launched an investigation into New Jersey's Democratic governor, Phil Murphy, and attorney general, Matt Platkin, over the state's directive barring local law enforcement from cooperating with federal agents conducting immigration enforcement. In social media posts, Habba highlighted her office's prosecution of drug traffickers, including against 30 members of a fentanyl and crack cocaine ring in Newark. Habba's nomination has stalled under senatorial courtesy Trump, a Republican, formally nominated Habba as his pick for US attorney on July 1, but the state's two Democratic US senators, Cory Booker and Andy Kim signaled their opposition to her appointment. Under a long-standing Senate practice known as senatorial courtesy, a nomination can stall out without backing from home state senators, a phenomenon facing a handful of other Trump picks for US attorney. Booker and Kim accused Habba of bringing politically motivated prosecutions. What is Habba's background? Once a partner in a small law firm near Trump's New Jersey golf course, Habba served as a senior adviser for Trump's political action committee, defended him in court in several lawsuits and acted as a spokesperson last year as he volleyed between courtrooms and the campaign trail. US attorneys often have experience as prosecutors, including at the state or local level. Many, including the acting US attorneys in Brooklyn and Manhattan, have worked in the offices they now lead. Habba said she wanted to pursue the president's agenda of 'putting America first.' Habba was one of Trump's most visible defense attorneys, appearing on cable TV news as his 'legal spokesperson.' She represented Trump in 2024 in the defamation case involving E. Jean Carroll. But Habba has had limited federal court experience, practicing mainly in state-level courts. During the Carroll trial, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan chided Habba for botching procedure, misstating the law, asking about off-limits topics and objecting after he ruled.
Yahoo
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Sarah Jessica Parker Confirms Longtime Rumor She Dated Former Costar Nicolas Cage
UPDATE 7/14/25 at 8:15 p.m. ET: After Sarah Jessica Parker confirmed the longtime rumor that she and Nicolas Cage once dated, the Face/Off actor responded by claiming that he was ghosted after meeting her mother. "I cared about Sarah, but I don't think I passed the mom test," Cage told E! News in a Monday, July 14, statement. "I recall sitting down with her and her mother for dinner at the Russian Tea Room, and I don't know if it was my blue Vanson Leather motorcycle jacket (which I still have) or my sinusitis, but I didn't hear from her again." Original story below: Sarah Jessica Parker just confirmed a longtime rumor about her love life. Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick's Relationship Timeline: From Broadway to Babies During the Sunday, July 13, episode of Watch What Happens Live, Andy Cohen asked the 60-year-old actress if she previously dated Nicolas Cage. The Sex and the City star was quick to disclose the truth. 'Um, yes I did,' she replied. 'Yes, I did.' Cohen, 57, responded, 'Oh, wow. Oh, we got some talking to do.' Parker and Cage, 61, costarred in Honeymoon in Vegas, which was released in 1992. In the film, Parker plays the love interest of both Cage and the late James Caan. While Parker didn't offer more details about the timeline of her past fling with Cage, it likely occurred before Parker met now-husband Matthew Broderick in November 1991. (Parker previously revealed she and Broderick didn't start dating until 1992.) The conversation about Parker's dating life came up after the actress revealed how she knew Broderick, 63, was The One. 'I just knew he was incredible, just spending a little bit of time with him,' Parker said of her husband. 'I think probably pretty early [I knew].' Parker was also the first one in their relationship who said, 'I love you,' just before she began a new project. 'I remember I had to leave to go on location to shoot a movie and we were on East 10th Street [in New York City] and I was getting in a car to go away for a while,' she said. 'I remember thinking, 'I love him.'' Matthew Broderick Reveals Why He Never Joined Wife Sarah Jessica Parker on 'Sex and the City' After deliberating for about a minute, Parker revealed her feelings. 'Nothing to lose, you know what I mean?' Parker continued, noting that Broderick said it back. Parker and Broderick were married by May 1997. The couple expanded their family with three kids: son James, 22, and twin daughters Tabitha and Marion, 13. 'We've been together for 20 years and you have good days, you have decent days, and you have bad days. That's a marriage,' Parker said in a December 2011 interview with The Telegraph. 'That's a relationship. That's a friendship, even — relationships outside the marriage run the same course.' She added, 'If you're in it for the long haul, and you want meaningful relationships, you are going to go through lots of different periods.'
Fox News
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Mike Waltz gears up for post-Signalgate ‘brutal' grilling from Dems in UN ambassador hearing
Former National Security Advisor Mike Waltz is poised to face members of the Senate on Tuesday to get the ball rolling on his nomination to represent the U.S. at the United Nations. Waltz's appearance before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee comes months after he exited his job at the White House amid controversy surrounding his role in a Signal group chat with other top administration officials. Democrats vowed to grill Waltz during his confirmation process in the aftermath of The Atlantic magazine's reporting about a Signal group chat that his team had set up to discuss strikes against the Houthis in March. Even so, the tough questioning from Democrats on the so-called "Signalgate" issue isn't expected to derail Waltz's confirmation to the post, given that Republicans hold a 53–47 majority in the Senate. "It's all theater — you know he's going to get confirmed," a GOP foreign relations source told Fox News Digital. "If Signalgate's a big thing against him, it wasn't enough to get anyone else fired or impeached or anything like that." Waltz, a former congressman who represented Florida's 6th congressional district, is a retired Army National Guard colonel and former Green Beret. During his time in uniform, he served four deployments to Afghanistan and earned four Bronze Stars — the fourth-highest military combat award, issued for heroic service against an armed enemy. Waltz and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth were both entangled in the Signal chat that Waltz's team created where members of the Trump administration discussed strike plans against the Houthis. Waltz in March said he took "full responsibility" for the Signal group chat, and the Trump administration has maintained that no war plans were shared in the chat. The Atlantic published the full exchange of messages, which included certain attack details such as specific aircraft and times of the strikes from Hegseth. On May 1, President Donald Trump announced Waltz's departure from his role as national security advisor and hours later unveiled the former Florida congressman's nomination to represent the U.S. at the U.N. Democrats called for Hegseth's resignation as a result of the chat and warned that Waltz would face the heat during the confirmation process for U.N. ambassador. Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois said in a May interview with CBS News that Waltz could count on a "brutal, brutal hearing" from senators, and described his nomination as "failing up." "He's not qualified for the job, just by nature of the fact that he participated in this Signal chain," Duckworth, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told CBS News. Duckworth, who served in the Illinois Army National Guard as a Blackhawk helicopter pilot and lost both of her legs during a 2004 deployment to Iraq, told Fox News Digital Monday that Waltz's involvement in the group chat should disqualify him from serving as U.N. ambassador. She also said that every official included in the chat should be fired. "As a retired Soldier, Waltz should have shut the unclassified chain down as soon as he saw Hegseth share such classified information that could've gotten our pilots killed," Duckworth said in a statement. "It's clear Waltz cannot be trusted to make critical and sensitive national security decisions, and I look forward to pressing him on his conduct and holding him accountable." Duckworth had previously pinned most of the blame on Hegseth for Signalgate. Prior to Trump's announcement on Waltz's U.N. ambassador nomination, Duckworth said in a May post on X that of "all the idiots in that chat, Hegseth is the biggest security risk of all — he leaked the info that put our troops in greater danger." In addition to Waltz and Hegseth, administration officials including Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA Director John Ratcliffe were part of the group chat. Additionally, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Sen. Chris Coons, D-Conn., said that Waltz could brace for a meticulous confirmation hearing before the committee's members. "I look forward to a thorough confirmation hearing," Coons said in a post on X in May. A spokesperson for Coons did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. The GOP foreign relations source described the fallout from Signalgate a "huge nothing burger," and pointed out that Democrats' previous efforts to use Signalgate against Waltz and Hegseth have proven unsuccessful. "If this was their deathly bullet, it would have killed Hegseth, and it would have killed Waltz, but they're both left standing," the source told Fox News Digital. A Senate aide told Fox News Digital that while Waltz took the brunt of the blame for Signalgate because his team created the chat, Democrats' expected questioning of the group chat during the hearing is actually about finding a new avenue to go after Trump. "I don't think he's the target. He's just the mechanism to go after the target," the Senate aide said. "At the end of the day, Democrats want to criticize and go after the president, so these guys are just a mechanism to get there." Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers have voiced support for Waltz, with Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch, R-Idaho, calling him a "great choice" for the position in a post on X in May. Additionally, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said at the time that the Senate would "for sure" confirm Waltz. "Some things I know for sure: the sun rises in the East, sets in the West and Mike Waltz will be confirmed as the next UN Ambassador," Graham said in an X post in May. "He is highly qualified, well-positioned, and will be a strong voice for our nation at the UN." Since Waltz's departure as serving as national security advisor, Rubio has stepped in to fill that role. Trump previously nominated Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., to represent the U.S. at the U.N. However, her nomination was pulled in March, and Trump claimed at the time that the House could not give up another Republican seat with its slim 220–212 Republican majority. If confirmed as U.N. ambassador, Waltz would be responsible for representing U.S. interests at the U.N.'s New York headquarters, weighing in on resolutions, treaties and other global matters. Waltz could not be reached for comment by Fox News Digital. The 80th session of the U.N. General Assembly is scheduled for Sept. 9, providing a window of time for Waltz's nomination to make it through the entire confirmation process beforehand. "The hope is to have him in place before the UN General Assembly is in session," the GOP foreign relations source told Fox News Digital.
CTV News
14-07-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
Senate confirms Trump's first judicial nominee of his second term
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate has confirmed U.S. President Donald Trump's first judicial pick of his second term, voting to approve Whitney Hermandorfer as a judge for the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The confirmation of Hermandorfer, who worked for Tennessee's attorney general, comes after the Democratic-led Senate under former President Joe Biden confirmed 235 federal judges and the Republican-led Senate in Trump's first term confirmed 234 federal judges. The two presidents each worked to reshape the judiciary, with Trump taking advantage of a high number of judicial vacancies at the end of former U.S. President Barack Obama's term and Democrats working to beat Trump's number after he had the opportunity to nominate three U.S. Supreme Court justices. So far in his second term, Trump has fewer vacancies to fill. While he inherited more than 100 vacancies from Obama, who was stymied by a Republican Senate in his final two years, Trump now has 49 vacancies to fill out of almost 900 federal judgeships. U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said last week that the Senate would work to quickly confirm Trump's judicial nominees, even though 'we're not facing the number of judicial vacancies this Congress we did during Trump's first term.' Hermandorfer, who was confirmed 46-42 along party lines, has defended many of Trump's policies as director of strategic litigation for Tennessee's attorney general, including his bid to end birthright citizenship. Democrats and liberal judicial advocacy groups criticized her as extreme on that issue and others, also citing her office's defense of the state's strict abortion ban. Before working for the Tennessee Attorney General, she clerked for three Supreme Court justices. But at her confirmation hearing last month, Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware criticized what he called a 'striking brevity' of court experience since Hermandorfer graduated from law school a decade ago. Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Monday that Trump is only focused on 'a nominee's perceived loyalty to him and his agenda — and a willingness to rule in favor of him and his administration.' The Judiciary panel is scheduled to vote on additional judges this week, including top U.S. Justice Department official Emil Bove, a former lawyer for Trump who is nominated for the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Bove's nomination has come under scrutiny after a fired department lawyer claimed in a complaint that Bove used an expletive when he said during a meeting that the Trump administration might need to ignore judicial commands. Bove has pushed back against suggestions from Democrats that the whistleblower's claims make him unfit for the federal bench. Bove has also accused FBI officials of 'insubordination' for refusing to hand over the names of agents who investigated the U.S. Capitol riot and ordered the firings of a group of prosecutors involved in the Jan. 6 criminal cases. Mary Clare Jalonick, The Associated Press
