The prosecutor will lead the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey after a successful negotiation between federal judges and the Trump administration that was preceded by months of legal battles and huge profits.
Robert Frazer, who has served in New Jersey’s U.S. attorney’s office for more than two decades and was most recently its chief trial attorney, will become the state’s chief prosecutor.
The district’s grand jury signed a one-sentence order Monday appointing Frazer.
That same day, a letter signed by an assistant US attorney in the office said Frazer’s appointment “followed consultation between the District Court and senior leadership of the Department of Justice.”
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a statement sent to the New York Times, a spokesperson for the Department of Justice thanked the New Jersey judges for cooperating with the Department of Justice and appointing Frazer so that “criminal prosecutions can resume without challenge or undue delay.”
The appointment follows nearly a year of turmoil after President Donald Trump nominated one of his former attorneys, Alina Habba, as the district’s interim U.S. attorney in March 2025.
Trump was primed to hold the position permanently, but the Senate did not act on his nomination. After 120 days and his interim term expired, a New Jersey district judge appointed Desiree Leigh Grace, Habba’s first aide and a registered Republican, to replace him.
Attorney General Pam Bondi quickly fired Grace, calling the judge’s appointment “politically motivated.” He then made a series of moves to re-nominate Habba, a move that US District Judge Matthew Brann found illegal. The 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Brann’s decision.
The Department of Justice then moved to appoint three prosecutors to head the office, an unusual move viewed by judges in the region, some of whom are delaying convictions and trials, citing complaints that they may not work under the leadership structure. Brann decided that the triumvirate did not legitimately run the office.
Another judge suggested that Habba was still shooting behind the scenes.
Habba, who is now Bondi’s senior adviser, congratulated Frazer on Monday, saying he would be a “great champion of this province and the work” of the Department of Justice.
In his post, Habba also suggested that the judges work with Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. Blanche sent Habba’s message again.
Executive appointments of interim US attorneys in other states have been found illegal in other states beyond New Jersey.
In the Eastern District of Virginia, a federal judge ruled that Lindsey Halligan, who prosecuted former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, was unlawful. The Justice Department fired him hours after federal judges appointed him.
The same thing happened in the Northern District of New York, where prosecutor Donald Kinsella was fired shortly after the judges appointed him to replace Trump, John Sarcone III.
