A career prosecutor is set to lead the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey after successful consultations between federal judges and the Trump administration that were preceded by months of legal fights and significant turnover.
Robert Frazer, who has served in the New Jersey U.S. attorney’s office for more than two decades and was most recently its senior trial counsel, will become the top federal prosecutor in the state.
The chief judge for the district signed a one-sentence order Monday appointing Frazer.
The same day, a letter signed by an assistant U.S. attorney in the office said Frazer’s appointment “followed consultations between the District Court and the Department of Justice’s senior leadership.”
A spokesperson for the Justice Department welcomed Frazer's appointment.
“The Department of Justice thanks the district court for working with the Department to appoint Robert Frazer to serve as US Attorney so that once again criminal prosecutions can resume without needless challenge or delay on behalf of the people of New Jersey,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
The appointment follows nearly a year of upheaval after President Donald Trump named one of his former personal attorneys, Alina Habba, as the district’s interim U.S. attorney in March 2025.
Trump then nominated her to fill the role permanently, but the Senate did not act on her nomination. After 120 days passed and her interim position expired, district judges in New Jersey appointed Desiree Leigh Grace, Habba’s first assistant and a registered Republican, to her post.
Attorney General Pam Bondi immediately fired Grace, calling the judges’ appointment “politically minded.” She then made a series of maneuvers to re-appoint Habba, a move that U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann found unlawful. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Brann’s ruling.
The Justice Department then moved to appoint a trio of prosecutors to lead the office, an unconventional move that came under scrutiny from judges in the district, some of whom delayed sentencings and hearings, citing concerns that they could be invalidated under the leadership structure. Brann ruled that the triumvirate was not leading the office lawfully.
Another judge suggested that Habba was still calling the shots behind the scenes.
Habba, who is now a senior adviser to Bondi, congratulated Frazer on Monday, saying he will be “a great champion of this state and the mission” of the Justice Department.
In her post, Habba also suggested the judges had worked with Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. Blanche reposted Habba’s message.
New Jersey's two senators — Democrats Cory Booker and Andy Kim — put out a joint statement Monday night bashing the administration for the series of events that preceded Frazer's appointment.
"For over a year, the Trump Administration did everything in its power to circumvent the law and sideline the Senate’s constitutional role to advise and consent on U.S. Attorneys," the senators said, while adding that they look forward meeting with Frazer.
"The Office can now at long last move past the chaos and partisanship of the past year and return to its critical mission: combating violent crime, fighting public corruption, dismantling drug trafficking networks, and protecting the rights of all New Jerseyans," the senators said.
The administration’s appointments for interim U.S. attorneys in other districts have been found unlawful at times.
In the Eastern District of Virginia, a federal judge ruled that Lindsey Halligan, who unsuccessfully prosecuted former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, was unlawfully appointed. The Justice Department fired her replacement hours after federal judges appointed him.
The same thing happened in the Northern District of New York, where prosecutor Donald Kinsella was fired immediately after judges appointed him to replace Trump’s interim pick, John Sarcone III.
