Interim U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, Alina Habba, was cautioned by a magistrate not to make out-of-court statements regarding Democratic Newark Mayor Ras Baraka following his arrest.
Baraka was arrested last month for trespassing outside an immigration detention center in Newark, New Jersey, where he and three members of Congress were attempting to gain access.
U.S. Magistrate Andre M. Espinosa cautioned officials in the Trump administration against making statements about Baraka outside of court. Espinosa emphasized the need to “heed carefully the rules of professional conduct” and reminded them of the “boundaries of propriety for public comment related to an ongoing investigation and/or prosecution.”
Earlier that day, Habba, a longtime personal attorney to President Donald Trump, had posted on social media, stating that the mayor had “willingly chosen to disregard the law” and had “committed trespass” before his arrest last week at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Newark.
During the hearing, Espinosa also ruled that Baraka was not a flight risk.
“It doesn’t take me much effort to assess the facts here and conclude that the mayor of the largest city in New Jersey poses no substantial flight risk or no flight risk at all and no danger to the community that must be protected against any conditions,” Espinosa said.
Baraka is also a candidate for New Jersey governor.
Habba spoke to Fox News’ Martha MacCallum after Baraka’s arrest and following the ‘storming’ of the facility by three Democratic members of Congress from New Jersey.
“So Alina, their description of what happened—they said the mayor was outside the fence and he was taken away by 20 armed individuals, and they were all intimidated by federal officials on the property. What do you say?” MacCallum asked to kick off the segment.
“I will say the truth and correct them. I’m sorry you’re trying to politicize this, but let me be clear: Congresspeople have the right to investigate, and we allowed them in—number one,” she began.
“Number two, the mayor was inside the facility and was warned and asked to leave several times—more than once. He refused to leave, was put under arrest inside the facility, walked out when he was told he was under arrest, and then was cuffed. That’s what happened,” Habba added.
“Thanks to our team, who I stand behind—who many people don’t understand, the Department of Justice encompasses that. They did everything correctly,” the acting U.S. attorney went on.
“If you look at the individual Twitter accounts, they have been openly saying they will go in. There’s a reason the congresspeople are standing out there running amok and running their mouths as usual. But I will tell you this: the mayor was inside and told he would be under arrest inside when he refused to leave after several notifications that he should remove himself. He chose not to do so and then was placed under arrest when he walked out of the facility,” Habba continued.
“So while I love this game, the game and the tactics of the individuals that are perfectly fine and were not touched, I will say very clearly,” she said before MacCallum interrupted.
“They were not assaulted? None of them were assaulted? That is what they said. They looked fine. But I’m asking in terms of what happened in there—it is very striking, especially after having read the list of at least some of the people in this facility,” the host said. “And I’m trying to figure out exactly what they are doing to protect people.”
“It’s called grandstanding, unfortunately. When you break the law, there’s no grandstanding that will help you,” said Habba.
