It’s not every day we get a chief federal prosecutor who has admitted being a big fan of an alleged sex trafficker and rapist, but here we are.
There are lots of reasons to be concerned about Alina Habba, whom President Trump named as the new interim U.S. attorney for New Jersey on Monday. But chief among those is her drooling over online influencer Andrew Tate.
“I’m a big fan,” Habba told Tate when both appeared on a podcast in January.
When Habba told Tate this, she knew that Tate and his brother had been accused by Romanian authorities of trafficking women, forcing them to appear in pornographic videos that were posted online, and that the two men face charges of “sexual aggression” in the United Kingdom.
“I’m a big fan.”
I’m not going to try to understand the appeal of someone like Andrew Tate, who seems transparently odious. A writer at conservative site The Federalist who claims to have rebuked his moral pitfalls nonetheless argues Tate speaks about masculinity in a way that “boys desperately need to hear.” I assume she’s not talking about Tate’s “Pimping Hoes” podcast, but who knows nowadays.
But even assuming it’s true that Tate has tapped into the minds of boys who need to feel good about themselves, he’s been accused of sexual assault in multiple countries, including the United States (a woman suing him in Florida alleges he lured her to Romania and coerced her into sex work). Why would our new federal prosecutor consider herself a big fan of him? What is she a big fan of?
Perhaps sensing her comments would be a big problem, about two weeks ago, Habba talked to Jan Jekielek of the Epoch Times and tried to walk back her Andrew Tate fangirling — while still claiming that she hadn’t said what she said.
“What I said was — it’s some great manipulation — so the Tate brothers, you know, have a tremendous social media presence in terms of, and what we were discussing were politics in the U.K. He was talking about running. And I am always passionate about people that are vocal against certain things,” she said.
She’s passionate about people who are vocal against certain things, got it. Love the clarity.
Lauren Hersh, national director of anti-trafficking organization World Without Exploitation, told me she was “deeply concerned” about Habba’s interaction with Tate. Hersh said it’s troubling that an attorney who is going to be our state’s new chief prosecutor “would respond to Andrew Tate with any sort of praise.”
“For me it’s less about the gushing and more about the fact this is a person who’s tasked with holding accountable those who exploit. If this is her perspective on someone who is a self-admitted misogynist with very serious allegations of exploitation, I’m concerned how she will hold accountable those who exploit in the state of New Jersey. That’s really the crux of this for me,” she said.
I asked the U.S. Attorney’s Office to comment and I did not hear back. At the White House on Monday, Habba called New Jersey a “neglected state,” citing crime in places like Newark and Camden. Perhaps we don’t have enough sex traffickers for her to gush over.
Reaction to Habba’s appointment from Democrats here in New Jersey has been mixed. Sen. Cory Booker has yet to issue a statement. On News12 Tuesday, Gov. Phil Murphy was respectful, though he seemed irked that Habba implied New Jersey is infested with crime.
“I wish her well. She seems like a very significant talent,” Murphy said. “This is historically a nonpartisan position, so I’m expecting and assume she’ll continue that tradition.”
No mention of her playing footsie with an alleged sex trafficker. Luckily, Sen. Andy Kim knows enough to be horrified.
“The announcement of Alina Habba to be interim US Attorney in New Jersey is an unacceptable partisan choice that will leave New Jersey ill-prepared to take on dangerous challenges like gun violence and drug trafficking. We must do better to keep our communities safe,” Kim said in a statement.
