In another potentially big blow for Democrats as they struggle to find their footing and attack the Trump Administration in a productive way, Republican legal activists have found a way to use House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’s own comments against him and push the Ethics Committee into investigating him for his attempt to pressure a federal judge into removing U.S. Attorney Alina Habba from her position.
As background, the spat between Habba and Jeffries kicked off when Habba decided to charge Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ) over her alleged obstruction of Homeland Security agents when she got in a violent altercation with them during a trespassing incident in a Newark, NJ, ICE detention center. Rep. McIver has pleaded not guilty and is headed to a trial in November.
Announcing the charges on X, Habba wrote, “Today a federal grand jury seated in Newark, New Jersey returned a three-count indictment charging U.S. Representative LaMonica McIver with forcibly impeding and interfering with federal law enforcement officers. This indictment has a maximum penalty of 8 years for Count One, an additional maximum penalty of 8 years for Count Two, and a maximum penalty of 1 year in prison for Count Three . . . While people are free to express their views for or against particular policies, they must not do so in a manner that endangers law enforcement and the communities those officers serve.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries then freaked out in a post on X in which he attempted to pressure federal judges into keeping Habba out of the job. He said, “The so-called U.S. Attorney in NJ maliciously indicted Congresswoman LaMonica McIver for doing her job. Alina Habba is a woefully unqualified political hack who has to go. She must be rejected by the Federal District Court judges who are considering whether to retain her.”
It was over that tweet that the Article III Project sounded off in a letter to the House Ethics Committee in which it demanded that Rep. Jeffries be investigated. After reviewing the charges and tweet at issue, the letter provided, “House Democrat Leader Hakeem Jeffries called on the 17 New Jersey U.S. district judges (15 of whom are Democrat-appointed by Presidents Obama and Biden) to effectively fire the New Jersey U.S. attorney tomorrow at 10 am ET.”
Continuing, it explained that the Democrat representative was pressuring the judges because of Habba’s desire to hold Rep. McIver accountable for her alleged crimes, saying, “The reason? Because she brought an indictment against a Democrat House Member-who allegedly attacked federal officers.”
Adding to that, the letter explained that his attempt to pressure the judges constitutes not just a poor decision, but outright “corruption” from the Democrat leader in the House. Stating that in crystal-clear terms, the letter said, “This is clear corruption by House Democrat Leader Hakeem Jeffries.”
"*" indicates required fields
Building on that, the letter explained that Jeffries’s post “violates Canons 2, 3, and 5 of the Code of Conduct for United States Judges for the New Jersey U.S. district judges to decline to appoint U.S. Attorney Alina Habba for these or other political considerations. This makes Hakeem Jeffries’ House ethics violation even more egregious. Not only has Hakeem Jeffries corrupted the House, he has also used his powerful House office to corrupt the federal judiciary and the Justice Department’s ongoing criminal proceedings.”
Further explaining the matter, the Article III Project’s letter noted, “A House Member— particularly the top House Democrat leader-who disagrees with the merits of a pending criminal case abuses his official position when he attempts to strong-arm federal judges to corruptly prejudice the ongoing criminal proceeding by firing the U.S. attorney for the purely political reason of protecting a partisan House colleague.”
Adding to that, the letter noted that the tweet went against established congressional procedures and that “Insofar as it is inappropriate for a senator to intervene in a pending judicial proceeding, it is equally inappropriate for a House member— particularly the most powerful House Democrat—to do so.”
Then, returning ot the matter of corruption and abuse of power, which are allegations of criminal behavior, the letter noted, “Quite simply, Hakeem Jeffries’ inappropriate strong-arming of federal judges to violate their judicial ethics and his corrupt threats against the U.S. attorney concerning a pending criminal case in federal district court violates House Rule XXIII, cl. 1, which requires Members to act in a manner that reflects creditably on the House, and which this Committee has applied to abuses of official position. Hakeem Jeffries’ use of his perch as a leader of the legislative branch to strongarm 17 federal judges to fire a U.S. attorney who is prosecuting his House Democrat colleague for allegedly attacking federal officers is a quintessential abuse of official position.”
Concluding, the letter called on the Ethics Committee to do whatever it needs to do to hold Jeffries accountable for the clear corruption it had alleged, saying, “We ask the House Ethics Committee to take all appropriate actions to hold accountable House Democrat Leader Hakeem Jeffries.”
Jeffries freaked out in response, snapping, in a statement to Fox News about the letter, “Does anyone think that that’s a serious complaint, I mean really? Does anyone think that’s a serious complaint from this hack, right-wing extreme group?” He added, “The people of NJ deserve better. If I said it, I meant it.”
Watch Rep. McIver (in the red jacket) attack federal agents here: