Robert Frazer, a career prosecutor who has worked in the U.S. Attorney’s office in New Jersey for more than two decades, has been appointed by New Jersey’s District Court judges as the state’s new U.S. Attorney, per several court filings made today.
The District Court’s chief judge, Renée Marie Bumb, entered a brief order announcing that the court had appointed Frazer to the role. The Department of Justice acknowledged the appointment in a letter of its own, stating that the decision to elevate Frazer “followed consultations between the District Court and the Department of Justice’s senior leadership.”
Not much is known for now about Frazer, currently the senior trial counsel in the office’s organized crime and gangs unit. Frazer has worked in the office under four different presidents, indicating that he may be immune to many of the political battles that have troubled the New Jersey U.S. Attorney’s office for the last year.
Frazer’s appointment could bring to an end, at least for now, the high-profile drama that has made the office a flashpoint in national debates over presidential power. Almost exactly one year ago, President Donald Trump appointed Alina Habba, his former defense attorney and a conservative firebrand, to the job, kicking off a long series of legal disputes over how long Habba could stay in the role and who would take her place if she left.
Most recently, the Trump administration was slapped down in its attempt to have three different prosecutors collectively perform the duties of the U.S. Attorney while the office itself remained vacant. The judge in that case, District Judge Matthew Brann of Pennsylvania, had previously ruled Habba ineligible to serve last summer.
Habba had not ruled out attempting to return to the U.S. Attorney post if given the green light by the judiciary, but she said today that she supports Frazer’s appointment.
“New Jersey deserves a great chief federal law enforcement official who is in line with President Trump’s agenda of making this country safe and NJ great!” she said on social media. “I know Rob well and he will be a great champion of this state and mission of the [the Justice Department].”
When the role of U.S. Attorney is vacant, the district’s District Court judges are given the authority to hold a vote and appoint someone to fill it. That’s what New Jersey’s judges did with Craig Carpenito in 2018, and again with Desiree Grace last July; the Carpenito appointment was done with the approval of the Trump administration, but the Grace appointment was not, and she was later fired from the Justice Department.
After Habba’s disqualification, the Justice Department wanted District Court judges to appoint Jordan Fox, one of the three members of the “triumvirate” that led the office for several months, but that plan ultimately came to naught.
New Jersey’s U.S. senators, Cory Booker and Andy Kim, had successfully blocked Habba from moving forward in the Senate, and repeatedly pleaded with the Trump administration to work with them on finding a U.S. Attorney all sides could find agreeable. The two senators said in a statement that they supported Frazer’s appointment, which they said would hopefully bring order and stability back to the office.
“While our repeated efforts to work with the President to appoint a qualified individual to the role, who could be confirmed by the Senate, were ignored or rebuffed, we support the District Court’s decision to fill the position and allow the U.S. Attorney’s Office to fulfill its critical law enforcement responsibilities before the people of New Jersey suffer any further harm,” Booker and Kim said.
“The Office can now at long last move past the chaos and partisanship of the past year and return to its critical mission: combating violent crime, fighting public corruption, dismantling drug trafficking networks, and protecting the rights of all New Jerseyans,” they added.
This developing story was updated periodically, including at 6:55 p.m. with comment from Senators Kim and Booker.
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