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A high-profile decision by interim New Jersey U.S. Attorney Alina Habba to publicly announce felony assault charges against Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.) on social media is drawing scrutiny from legal experts—some of whom argue the case may already be compromised.
Habba declared on X (formerly Twitter) that McIver had been charged with violating Title 18, United States Code, Section 111(a)(1), for “assaulting, impeding and interfering with law enforcement.” In a statement posted with the announcement, Habba said, “I have persistently made efforts to address these issues without bringing criminal charges and have given Representative McIver every opportunity to come to a resolution, but she has unfortunately declined.”
The move to charge McIver—and especially the manner in which it was announced—is raising alarms. MSNBC legal analysts Lisa Rubin and Kristy Greenberg voiced serious concerns, suggesting the way Habba presented the case could derail it before it even gets to court.
According to Rubin, a grand jury has not yet issued an indictment, which makes the public announcement especially troubling. Greenberg pointed out a key legal hurdle: “They would need to show there is physical contact, but that there was an intentional physical assault. And here, if you even looked back at that video, it’s not clear that there’s any intention behind the physical contact –– it looked like at least there was a lot of jostling.”
Greenberg continued, “As you said, agents were putting hands on her and she was kind of pushing them away,” during the incident in question.
Rubin emphasized how rare it is for a U.S. attorney to make such public statements at this stage of a case. “The thing here, Ana, that’s so unusual, is that I can’t recall another instance in which you see a U.S. attorney going out publicly as charges are filed and before they’re even in the defendant’s own hands,” she told MSNBC host Ana Cabrera.
“You have an obligation as a U.S. attorney not to engage in conduct in terms of your public statements that could prejudice a jury pool,” Rubin added. “That could be prejudicial conduct in and of itself: really unfortunate and also highly unusual, as Kristy knows.”
The controversy also comes against a politically charged backdrop. Habba, previously Donald Trump’s personal attorney in his defamation trial against writer E. Jean Carroll, was appointed after Trump tapped John Giordano for a diplomatic role.
For now, the case appears to face significant legal and procedural headwinds—even before it gets off the ground.
