Trump Prosecutor Wants to Lock Up New Jersey’s Governor

Summary

Bulwark Takes Summary: "Trump Prosecutor Wants to Lock Up New Jersey’s Governor"
Release Date: April 11, 2025

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Introduction to the Episode's Main Topic

In the April 11, 2025 episode of Bulwark Takes, hosted by The Bulwark team members JVL and Will Sommer, the discussion centers around a significant legal and political development in New Jersey. The focal point is Alina Haba, the interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, who has publicly announced criminal investigations against Governor Chris Murphy and Attorney General Matt Platkin. This move has sparked debates about the politicization of law enforcement and reflects broader trends within the Republican sphere.

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Announcement of the Investigation

The episode kicks off with JVL delivering breaking news about Alina Haba's unexpected public declaration on FOX News. Haba revealed her intent to launch criminal investigations into Governor Murphy and Attorney General Platkin, citing their alleged obstruction of federal immigration enforcement efforts.

JVL [00:29]: "Hello everybody. This is JVL here with my Bulwark colleague Will Sommer. And we have breaking news from across the river from me in New York City in New Jersey last night, Alina Haba... announcing criminal investigations against the New Jersey Governor, Chris Murphy, and the New Jersey Attorney General, Matt Plotkin."

Haba criticized the Governor's website for instructing state law enforcement to disregard federal immigration warrants, positioning her actions as a strict enforcement of federal law. She emphasized that any obstruction or concealment related to federal efforts would be met with severe charges.

Alina Haba [01:35]: "Anybody who does get in that way, in the way of what we are doing, which is not political, it is simply against crime, will be charged in the state of New Jersey for obstruction, for concealment. And I will come after them hard."

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Analysis of Alina Haba's Actions

Will Sommer provides a critical analysis of Haba's approach, drawing parallels to tactics employed by former President Trump. He suggests that launching public investigations serves as a strategic maneuver to undermine political opponents rather than purely enforcing the law.

Will Sommer [03:06]: "Well, this is kind of a new Trumpian thing, isn't it? Sort of saying like we're launching an investigation as a way to sort of mess with someone."

Sommer highlights the unconventional nature of announcing such investigations on a cable news network instead of through official press releases, indicating a move towards highly politicized law enforcement.

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The Trend of Cosplay and Public-Facing Law Enforcement

JVL and Sommer delve into the cultural phenomenon of public-facing law enforcement officials adopting performative personas, often involving cosplay elements. They reference Alina Haba's recent appearance in tactical gear as an example of this trend.

JVL [05:06]: "She seems to be like the right wing version of the Borg from Star Trek... she was in our US Marshalls flak jacket and her ball cap pulled down over her eyes and combat boots and, you know, yoga pants."

They discuss how this performative approach is not entirely new but has gained momentum within the Trump administration, with figures like Kristi Noem leading the charge by engaging in highly publicized, action-oriented photo ops.

Will Sommer [07:32]: "Kristi Noem is sort of the leading avatar of it. I think she's out wearing cowboy hats at the border... taking dysportolation raids."

The hosts express concern that such theatrics may overshadow the substantive responsibilities of law enforcement, turning serious public service roles into platforms for political performance and media presence.

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Implications for the Political Landscape

The conversation shifts to the potential political ambitions of Alina Haba, speculating that her high-profile actions and media presence indicate aspirations beyond her current role. Sommer suggests that her behavior and visibility are positioning her for future political campaigns, possibly for higher office within New Jersey or even at the national level.

Will Sommer [11:08]: "It feels like she's running for something in New Jersey... it's like they're really lauding various credentials onto her to let her run for Senate or governor."

JVL echoes this sentiment, expressing skepticism about Haba's chances as a Republican in a traditionally Democratic-leaning state but acknowledges the unpredictable nature of current American politics.

JVL [11:28]: "Good luck to her winning as a Republican in New Jersey, but I don't know, man... it's not the craziest thing I've ever heard."

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Conclusion and Final Thoughts

In wrapping up the episode, JVL and Sommer reflect on the broader implications of Alina Haba's actions and the trend of politicizing law enforcement. They express concern over the potential erosion of nonpartisan roles and the increasing intertwining of legal actions with political agendas. The hosts emphasize the importance of maintaining the integrity of law enforcement to ensure that legal processes remain unbiased and focused on justice rather than political vendettas.

JVL [11:45]: "It's not like this is new. It's a little weird for it to morph from the fringes into the job of a U.S. attorney... turning serious jobs for like sincere, genuine public servants into, you know, look, your job is just to make TikToks and get on Fox."

Finally, the episode underscores the ongoing challenges within the American legal and political systems, highlighting the need for vigilance in preserving the separation between law enforcement and political influence.

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Notable Quotes with Attribution and Timestamps

• JVL [00:29]: "Alina Haba... announcing criminal investigations against the New Jersey Governor, Chris Murphy, and the New Jersey Attorney General, Matt Plotkin."

• Alina Haba [01:35]: "Anybody who does get in that way... will be charged in the state of New Jersey for obstruction, for concealment. And I will come after them hard."

• Will Sommer [03:06]: "This is kind of a new Trumpian thing... we're launching an investigation as a way to sort of mess with someone."

• JVL [05:06]: "She was in our US Marshalls flak jacket and her ball cap pulled down over her eyes and combat boots..."

• Will Sommer [07:32]: "Kristi Noem is sort of the leading avatar of it... taking deportation raids."

• Will Sommer [11:08]: "It feels like she's running for something in New Jersey... let her run for Senate or governor."

• JVL [11:45]: "Turning serious jobs for sincere, genuine public servants into... just to make TikToks and get on Fox."

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This episode of Bulwark Takes provides a comprehensive analysis of the intersection between law enforcement and politics in New Jersey, using Alina Haba's actions as a case study to explore broader national trends and their implications for democratic institutions.

Transcript

[Ryan Seacrest]

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[Will Sommer]

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[JVL]

See terms and conditions 18/ hello everybody. This is JVL here with my bulwark colleague Will Sommer. And we have breaking news from the across the river from me in New York City in New Jersey last night, Alina Haba, who is, can't believe I have to say this, the interim U.S. attorney for the great state of New Jersey, she, she went onto FOX to make an important legal announcement last night that she is instructing her office to open criminal investigations against the New Jersey Governor, Chris Murphy and the New Jersey Attorney General, Matt Plotkin. It's a little weird to announce the opening of criminal investigations on a cable news network and not like by official press release, but, but here she is telling the world that she is criminally investigating the governor and Attorney General of the state in which she lives.

[Alina Haba]

We know that the governor has on his website currently do's and don'ts for his local state of law enforcement. Those do's and don'ts instruct them not to cooperate with illegal immigrants who have administrative warrants that have been issued by the court after due process saying that they are no longer welcome here. They have gone through the court system. They, they are to be deported. It is instructing them to go against our federal rules, our executive orders. And I am unfortunately going to announce on your show tonight, Sean, and I want it to be a warning for everybody that I have instructed my office today to open an investigation into Governor Murphy, to open an investigation into Attorney General Platkin, who has also instructed the state police not to assist any of our federal and they list our federal agencies that are under my direction, the FBI, the dea, all these individuals that are trying to clean up our streets in New Jersey not to cooperate. That will no longer stand. Pam Bondi has made it clear, and so has our President, that we are to take all criminal, violent criminals and criminals out of this country and to completely enforce federal law. And anybody who does get in that way, in the way of what we are doing, which is not political, it is simply against crime, will be charged in the state of New Jersey for obstruction, for concealment. And I will come after them hard. Those investigations will start immediately.

[JVL]

Well, Will, what do you think?

[Will Sommer]

Well, this is, this is kind of a new Trumpian thing, isn't it? Sort of saying like we're launching an investigation as a way to sort of mess with someone. Just publicly saying that, like I think about Trump signing the executive orders to, you know, pursue someone like Chris Krebs this week. I mean, it's very bizarre this idea that, you know, Alina Haba doesn't like how, how Governor Murphy there is running the, you know, the state interfacing with, with immigration officials. And so she says, well, I'm going to investigate him criminally for obstruction.

[JVL]

Yes, yes. She, anybody who does get in that way, in the way of what we're doing will be charged in the state of New Jersey for obstruction, for concealment. And I will come after them hard. Hard. ARR. So I mean, on the one hand, I guess we could all say, ha, ha, ha, how silly, how ridiculous. Look at these hypocrites doing actual lawfare after campaigning that they were going to depoliticize the law fair. But on the other end, like, I don't know, I'm pretty concerned about this. Doesn't this seem like like the first step towards actually prosecuting people for political differences is opening investigations into them?

[Will Sommer]

Yeah, I mean, she says she's looking at criminal cases now against the governor and the Attorney General of New Jersey over laws. I mean, the backstory here is that this is all over this, this New Jersey law that basically prevents local and state officials from cooperating like really closely with, with federal immigration officials in terms of deportations. Now this is a law that Phil Murphy says has been upheld by even Trump appointed judges. But the reason we're hearing about this now is because it's been in the right wing media. Breitbart was writing about it this week. And so that appears to have been what set off Alina Haba in terms of this like launching an incremental criminal investigation, such as it is.

[JVL]

Yeah, so she seems to be like the right wing version of the Borg from Star Trek. She sort of encounters things in the right wing sphere and then integrates them into her personality. Here she is ramping up with like Trump. She's going to use, use the police state to go after her political enemies. Last week she did Kristi Noem by doing cosplay. Did you see that? This was, she's amazing. She showed up, I forget where she was, but with a. She was in our US Marshalls flak jacket and her ball cap pulled down over her eyes and combat boots and, you know, yoga pants.

[Will Sommer]

Well, this was the picture we all thought was AI we had a big discussion about because it looked so unreal, this idea of, you know, yeah, Alina Haba in the flak jacket or what have you. And we thought it had to be fake, but it wasn't.

[JVL]

Yeah. I mean, on the one hand, ridiculous, but again, on the other hand, like, I don't know, it somehow is working for Kristi Noem. Is it going to work for this woman too?

[Will Sommer]

I mean, she definitely. I mean, this is kind of, this, this sort of meteoric rise of a Trump loyalist. I mean, this is someone who was a, she was a lawyer for Trump on some of his criminal cases. My sense was, was not particularly well regarded in terms of her actual lawyering, but she was very, she looks like someone who can go on Fox News, and she did, she can go on Fox a lot. And so from that she had this rise. And now, I mean, it's, it's surreal that she's the U.S. attorney for New Jersey. I mean, this, A few months ago she was on some right wing talk show saying what a big fan she was of Andrew Tate, the accused human trafficker. And now she's, you know, one of the top law enforcement officials in the country.

[JVL]

Can we talk about the cosplay thing? So when, when did this become a thing in right wing circles? When, like, is, is this, did it start with Kristine Ohm when she was governor? Is it part of, is it like part of the gun culture? Like everyone just was getting pictures with their guns and it morphed into this, like, what, where did this come from? Maybe it comes from George W. Bush landing a fighter jet or being in the cockpit on a fighter jet as it was landing on an aircraft carrier. Is that where this dates to? Or does it date to Mike Dukakis in the, in the tank?

[Will Sommer]

Well, I mean, you know, as you pointed out, I mean, I think this kind of like this dressing up is something that sort of has been with us for a long time, but we're definitely, it's definitely getting a renaissance in the Trump administration. I mean, I think Kristi Noem is sort of the, the leading avatar of it. I think she's out wearing cowboy hats at the border. You know, she's doing some like tough deportation raids. Just this week she took the libs of TikTok lady along with her. They had ice jackets and everything and the badges. She's definitely like the main face of it. I think even some people on the right are starting to say, like, all right, you know, can we actually get some deportations done? But I think at the same time, I mean, as you said, I think this is spreading. Alina Hava think about Pete Hegseth whose entire job seems to be, you know, working out with the troops at various military bases.

[JVL]

Yeah, I mean, he is basically like Arnold Schwarzenegger, you know, running around doing photo ops where he does like jumping jacks and push ups with kids. Right. But with the troops. It's a weird level performance, but I guess it isn't really unique. I mean, I think back to. You're not an Elvis guy.

[Will Sommer]

I mean, no, I'm, I'm a little young.

[JVL]

I think I'm a little young too. But he is part of the culture. It's not like I did not experience Elvis firsthand. Well, not that old. How old do you think I am? But Elvis loved cosplaying as law enforcement. He, you know, he had all these sorts of honorary badges that he would wear and would write letters to Nick's boy. His correspondence with Nixon is wild and would volunteer himself to go undercover and stuff. So it's, it's not like this is new. It's a little weird for it to morph from the fringes into the job of a U.S. attorney has historically been a basically anonymous job for people who are serious public servants. And now we're even turning serious jobs for like sincere, genuine public servants into, you know, look, your job is just to make tiktoks and get on Fox.

[Will Sommer]

Well, you know, it's funny you say that. I mean, just today, so, so in this week's issue, my newsletter, I talk about Dan Bongino trying to be a lot more forward facing and social media. But just today was recording this on Friday, he says, well, we've now directed all heads of FBI field offices to get out there, do more podcast hits. Basically, he says this is not just about getting social media clout. You know, I'm barely paraphrasing here, but essentially he's saying we're trying to make all of our Washington, excuse me, all of our field office FBI leaders into sort of like regional social media personalities.

[JVL]

I mean, was Madison Cawthorn a prophet when he like fired his legislative staff and hired a bunch of comms people and was like, if I'm not making news, then I'm not doing my job as a congressman.

[Will Sommer]

Well, I mean, we see that. I mean, you think about Nancy Mace, you think about all, like, who are the most seen as, I think, the most effective among Republicans or at least the top fundraisers. It's often the ones who are out there the most.

[JVL]

God love us. Will, what is Alina Haba running for? So she is a reasonably new character on the Trump show. She only really came in around 2022, I think is where we first started seeing her. She's really proven to be very popular with the casting director for some reason. Who could say why? Probably because of her native acting talent and. But she wouldn't be doing this stuff if she wasn't thinking of moving up the org chart. What's her next step?

[Will Sommer]

It feels like she's running for something in New Jersey. Right. I feel like making her the U.S. attorney for New Jersey is so random. Like I. She wasn't running for something. I feel like she'd be trying to get something else at the White House or something. But this feels to me like they're really like sort of lauding various credentials onto her to let her run for Senate or governor.

[JVL]

Yeah, that's, that's great. And I would say good luck to her winning as a Republican in New Jersey, but I don't know, man. Like, we live in such a crazy world that I, you know, it's not likely to work. It's not the craziest thing I've ever heard.

[Will Sommer]

Yeah, I wouldn't rule it out. Right. And maybe that's what all the photo ops are about as well.

[JVL]

All right, Will Sommer, thanks for being with us. False Flag is his newsletter. Hit like hit subscribe, stay with the channel. We will cover all of the crazy and God knows there's a lot of it. Good luck, America.

[Ryan Seacrest]

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[JVL]

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