Ranking Member Raskin Opens Probe Into DOJ’s Efforts to Chill Congressional Oversight by Charging Rep. McIver

Washington, D.C. (June 3, 2025)—Today, Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi demanding information on U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba’s decision to charge Rep. LaMonica McIver for actions taken in her official capacity without consulting or obtaining approval from the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Public Integrity Section, in violation of DOJ policy and in a clear attempt to deter congressional oversight.

“Last month, Alina Habba, a former personal attorney to Donald Trump and now the interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey focused on ‘turning New Jersey red,’ charged a sitting Member of Congress, Congresswoman LaMonica McIver, with two felony counts of assaulting federal officers during a congressional oversight visit to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in her district. Ms. Habba’s unprecedented charging decision is a blatant attempt to intimidate Members of Congress and to deter us from carrying out our constitutional oversight duties. It appears Ms. Habba brought these charges in violation of long-standing Department of Justice (DOJ) policies designed to prevent exactly this type of politically-motivated abuse of prosecutorial power,” wrote Ranking Member Raskin.

On May 20, Ms. Habba brought charges against Rep. McIver stemming from a May 9 oversight visit she conducted alongside Representatives Bonnie Watson Coleman and Robert Menendez Jr., to Delaney Hall, an ICE detention facility in Newark.

Ms. Habba’s decision to charge Rep. McIver appears to have violated DOJ’s own policy requiring approval by DOJ’s Public Integrity Section prior to charging a Member of Congress for actions taken in their official capacity. Under the Department’s policy, DOJ prosecutors must consult with the Public Integrity Section before initiating an investigation of Members of Congress, and seek the Section’s approval before bringing charges.

The consultation requirement is designed to guard against a rampant Executive Branch weaponizing federal law enforcement against the President’s perceived enemies, or even the perception that a DOJ investigation or prosecution was motivated by improper political purpose. Ms. Habba’s apparent violation of DOJ policy comes as the Trump Administration seeks to eliminate the requirement to obtain Public Integrity Section approval altogether—the latest in a series of Trump Administration efforts to gut DOJ’s anti-corruption capabilities and use DOJ to persecute the Administration’s perceived political enemies. 

“The decision to charge Congresswoman McIver appears to be part of a concerted strategy to deter congressional oversight and relentlessly pursue Donald Trump’s extreme immigration policy with complete disregard for the rule of law and the lawmaking branch of the government. Ms. Habba has already threatened investigations of Democratic elected officials, including New Jersey’s governor and attorney general. She has aligned herself completely with the President, abandoning any pretense of legal independence or official neutrality, and promised to pursue ‘anybody who does get in that way, in the way of what we are doing,’” added Ranking Member Raskin.

Ranking Member Raskin requested DOJ provide information and documents on Habba’s decision to charge Rep. McIver and whether the Public Integrity Section, the President, or any White House staff were consulted.

Ranking Member Raskin also requested information on Ms. Habba’s decision to bring and then drop baseless charges against Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who joined the Members on their oversight visit and was inexplicably arrested after he left the facility. A judge strongly criticized the DOJ for bringing these baseless charges, admonishing the government for “failure to adequately investigate.”

Click here to read the letter.