New federal prosecutor to take the helm in New Jersey after months of upheaval
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.”
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a statement to The New York Times, a Justice Department spokesman thanked the New Jersey judges for working with the Justice Department and appointing Frazer so “criminal prosecutions can resume without needless challenge or delay.”
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.
The administration’s appointments for interim U.S. attorneys in other districts have been found unlawful in some districts beyond New Jersey.
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.
