Former Trump lawyer Alina Haba resigns from her position as New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor

Alina Haba, US President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, resigned on Monday from her position as federal prosecutor for New Jersey, after an appeals court said she was serving in that position illegally.

In a statement posted on social media, Heba attacked the court’s ruling as political, but said she would resign to “protect the stability and safety” of her office.

Read more: Alina Haba, Trump’s former lawyer, has been disqualified as New Jersey’s attorney general

“But do not confuse compliance with surrender,” she added, adding that the administration would continue to appeal the court rulings that ousted her from office. “This decision will not weaken the Department of Justice, nor will it weaken me.”

Haba said she will remain at the Justice Department as senior advisor to U.S. Attorney Pam Bondi. Her previous duties will now be divided between the office’s three attorneys.

Haba, 41, was appointed in March to serve an interim term as acting U.S. attorney for New Jersey, a powerful position charged with enforcing federal criminal and civil law.

Haba, who was a partner in a small law firm in New Jersey, was among Trump’s most prominent legal defenders during his four years out of office, representing him in court and appearing frequently on television news as his “legal spokesman.”

But she had limited experience in federal court and none as a prosecutor, and two Democratic senators from New Jersey have indicated they would block her confirmation to the U.S. Senate.

Read more: Former Trump lawyer Alina Haba’s term as New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor is ending

When her term ended in July, a panel of federal judges appointed one of her subordinates to the position instead. But Bondi was quick to fire the replacement, blaming Hapa’s removal on “politically inclined judges.”

A lower court judge’s discovery that Haba was serving in that position illegally quickly led to a legal standoff that lasted for months, sparking confusion and delay within New Jersey’s federal court system.

Then, earlier this month, a federal appeals court in Philadelphia disbarred her from serving in that position, writing in her opinion that “the citizens of New Jersey and the dedicated staff of the U.S. Attorney’s Office deserve some clarity and stability.”

Trump’s critics say he is exploiting questionable legal loopholes to appoint unqualified loyalists to jobs that require US Senate approval.

Bondi said the department will continue to fight to overturn the courts’ ruling on HAPA, and will return as US attorney if those appeals are successful. But the public prosecutor said the ruling “made it impossible” to remain in love “with politicized judges who stop trials aimed at bringing violent criminals to justice.”

“These judges should not be able to overrule the president’s choice of attorneys charged with carrying out the executive branch’s primary responsibility of prosecuting crime,” Bondi said.

Haba is one of several prosecutors in the Trump administration whose appointments have faced challenges.

The Justice Department had vowed to appeal a judge’s ruling to dismiss criminal cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James on the grounds that the prosecutor who brought the charges, Lindsey Halligan, was illegally appointed as interim US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

It is unclear whether the administration’s decision to abandon the fight to keep Hapa in office might affect other U.S. attorneys whose appointments were objected to by defense attorneys.

In a statement posted to