The cops are on the hunt for a suspect who confronted Acting U.S. Attorney Alina Habba in her office and destroyed her belongings.
Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote in an X post Thursday afternoon, “Last night, an individual attempted to confront one of our U.S. Attorneys — my dear friend @USAttyHabba — destroyed property in her office, and then fled the scene. Thankfully, Alina is ok.”
Habba, once President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, now represents the District of New Jersey. She rose to prominence during Trump’s New York civil fraud trial and his defamation case in which he was found liable for sexually abusing writer E Jean Carroll.
In late July, when Habba’s term was set to expire, New Jersey’s federal trial judges named their own nominee to replace the lawyer, but then Bondi stepped in and removed the nominee from office. Bondi had accused “politically minded judges” of refusing to allow Habba to continue her job. Habba was then permitted to remain New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor for another 210 days.
“Any violence or threats of violence against any federal officer will not be tolerated. Period. This is unfortunately becoming a trend as radicals continue to attack law enforcement agents around the country,” Bondi wrote on X Thursday.
The New York Times reported, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter, that a man tried to get into Habba’s office in Newark with a bat, but security guards wouldn’t let him through at first.
He was later allowed to enter the building without the bat, and once on the floor of Habba’s office, he started shouting incoherently and smashing belongings, according to the sources. It’s unclear what the man said during his alleged tirade.
The FBI told the NYT that the agency knew what the man looked like. But the identity of the suspect or the motive remains unknown at this time.
“We will find this person, and the individual will be brought to justice,” Bondi said in a follow-up post. “Our federal prosecutors, agents, and law-enforcement partners put their lives on the line every day to protect the American people, and this Department will use every legal tool available to ensure their safety and hold violent offenders fully accountable.”
The Independent has reached out to the FBI and Justice Department for comment.
Habba said in her own social media post that she will “not be intimidated by radical lunatics for doing my job.”
The incident adds to the growing political violence seen in recent years, including the two assassination attempts on Trump during the 2024 election cycle and the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk two months ago.
Democrats have also been targeted. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s residence was subject to an arson attack in April, and Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul, was attacked with a hammer in the couple’s San Francisco home in October 2022.
