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.
In a Fox News interview Thursday night, Bondi said, “We know who did this to Alina,” and called a video of the incident “chilling.”
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.
Bondi told Fox News’ Sean Hannity Thursday night, “This guy had a full-size baseball bat pacing like a caged animal in front of her office. Then ultimately, he gets up to her office without the bat, but manages to tear apart the front office.”
“Mark my words, he will be in jail, and he will be prosecuted,” Bondi said.
The identity of the suspect and the motive remain unknown at this time.
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.”
“Any violence or threats of violence against any federal officer will not be tolerated. Period,” Bondi said in her X post from earlier Thursday. “This is unfortunately becoming a trend as radicals continue to attack law enforcement agents around the country.”
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.
