A federal judge on Thursday ruled Alina Habba, a former personal lawyer to President Trump, has been unlawfully serving as New Jersey's top federal prosecutor.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann explained that the Trump administration made Habba the U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey through a "novel series of legal and personnel moves," disagreeing with the district court's judges and criminal defendants in that district about who should lead the office along the way.

"Faced with the question of whether Ms. Habba is lawfully performing the functions and duties of the office of the United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey, I conclude that she is not," he wrote in

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