Former Justice Department lawyer Andrew Weissmann expressed his astonishment on MSNBC's "Deadline: White House" Wednesday over the situation unfolding in district courts, where judges are being forced to take the extremely unusual step of vetoing President Donald Trump's interim U.S. attorneys, including his former defense lawyer Alina Habba in New Jersey.
This follows a move by Attorney General Pam Bondi to step in and remove the federal prosecutor that a bipartisan group of district judges named in Habba's place.
"Tell us what is supposed to happen and what happens now?" asked anchor Nicolle Wallace.
"So when somebody is nominated to be United States Attorney, if they don't have their confirmation hearing before the Senate, which is necessary for them to have the position within 120 days, then under congressional statute, the judges in that district get to select the sort of acting U.S. Attorney, who takes over almost invariably," said Weissman.
The important point, he stressed, is that "in my 21 years at the Department of Justice, I have never heard of judges not just simply selecting the person who was nominated, because regardless of politics, usually the person is competent. They can do the job. But I think really, the first time that I can think of that, we now have not just Alina, but another sitting nominee in the Northern District of New York, where the judges ... did not support selecting that person to continue. That, to me, is actually the story. It just is so remarkable that these people are viewed by the courts as so unqualified that the bench isn't going to support them."
As for Bondi's claim that the judges are "politically-minded," said Weissmann, that's nonsense.
"My question to her would be, 'Says who? Where are your facts to say that?'" said Weissmann. "Tell me about why you think that these are only Democratic judges who are doing it and not Republicans? And then explain to me why you have Judge Wilkinson in the Fourth Circuit, a conservative sort of legal leader, excoriating this administration. You have Judge Susan Gallagher, appointed by Donald Trump, excoriating this administration. These are not politically-minded judges."
The truth is, he said, this kind of rebuke of a president's prosecutors "has never happened before, precisely because the people who are selected by the president are somebody you may disagree with in terms of their policies, but that's not your job as a judge. But here they are rejected for very good factual reasons in terms of their qualifications. Remember, Alina Habba has no experience whatsoever in sort of the criminal law and holding this particular position. And there are obviously lots and lots of people who could be loyal to Donald Trump, who have conservative policies and agendas, but who are qualified for this particular role ... and the judges here clearly determined that she was not fit to do that.
The fact Bondi is attacking and threatening the judges who made this decision, Weissmann added, "is, again, unheard of, that you would have that kind of relationship between the Department of Justice and judges, who you have to appear in front of every day."
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