Arkansas high profile trial lawyer Tom Mars, a former police officer and Director of the Arkansas State Police, announced his disapproval of President Donald Trump‘s pick for interim U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey.
Mars, who also served as General Counsel for retail giant Walmart, wrote on X: “Trump parks his personal attorney and former parking garage General Counsel, Alina Habba (who doesn’t even know how to introduce exhibits), in a powerful law enforcement position once held by Chris Christie and Robert Cleary. A disgraceful new low for U.S. Attorneys.”
Note: Habba, who served as lead attorney for the E. Jean Carroll v. Donald J. Trump trial in New York in 2024, was repeatedly reprimanded by Judge Lewis Kaplan for her methods of introducing evidence. (A jury awarded Carroll $83.3 million in damages against Trump on January 26, 2024.)
Trump parks his personal attorney and former parking garage General Counsel, Alina Habba (who doesn’t even know how to introduce exhibits), in a powerful law enforcement position once held by Chris Christie and Robert Cleary. A disgraceful new low for U.S. Attorneys. https://t.co/Pe1N1d1zNj
— Tom Mars (@TomMarsLaw) March 24, 2025
Before being U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, Robert Cleary — whom Mars cites as one of Habba’s more qualified predecessors — served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, eventually became Chief of the Major Crimes Unit, and was appointed lead prosecutor in the Unabomber case, United States v. Theodore J. Kaczynski. In February 2024, Cleary was appointed as a bankruptcy examiner in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings of cryptocurrency exchange FTX.
Cleary’s successor, future New Jersey Governor and presidential candidate Chris Christie, famously prosecuted New Jersey real estate developer Charles Kushner (father of Trump’s future son-in-law Jared Kushner), who pleaded guilty to 16 counts of illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion, and witness tampering. After receiving a pardon from Trump, Kushner was named U.S. Ambassador to France in 2025.
Note: Mars was also quick to point out a typo (see below) in U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi‘s reply to Judge James E. Boasberg’s court in support of an emergency appeal.
How is the Court of Appeals supposed to take the DOJ seriously when neither AG Pam Bondi nor any of the nine other DOJ lawyers who filed an “Emergency Appeal” bothered to proofread the cover sheet of their reply brief? How embarrassing. pic.twitter.com/5Koxa09aOV
— Tom Mars (@TomMarsLaw) March 25, 2025
Mars wrote: “How is the Court of Appeals supposed to take the DOJ seriously when neither AG Pam Bondi nor any of the nine other DOJ lawyers who filed an ‘Emergency Appeal’ bothered to proofread the cover sheet of their reply brief? How embarrassing.”