Trump taps Steinhardt as next U.S. Attorney

President Donald Trump will name Douglas J. Steinhardt, a state senator and former Republican state chairman, as acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, the New Jersey Globe has confirmed.

Steinhardt, 56, has served in the State Senate since 2022. He had been state party chairman during Trump’s 2020 re-election and briefly sought the Republican nomination for governor in 2021 as a staunchly pro-Trump candidate.  Steinhardt is a partner at Florio Perrucci, a major New Jersey law firm; for many years, his law partner was former Democratic Gov. Jim Florio.

Trump’s transition team had considered four other candidates: State Sen. Michael Testa, Jr. (R-Vineland), Assemblyman Jay Webber (R-Morris Plains), former Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott McBride, and Andrew Carey, a former Middlesex County Prosecutor and, since 2019, the counsel to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Behind the scenes, former U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito had championed Steinhardt and Testa, while former Attorney General Christopher Porrino had pushed for McBride, his law partner at the Lowenstein Sandler law firm.

Former Gov. Chris Christie inexplicably sought to insert himself into the selection process despite his poisonous relationship with Trump.  Sources close to the selection process confirmed that Christie’s support helped doom McBride and Carey, who had worked for Christie when he was U.S. Attorney.

McBride had the backing of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani – his wife is the goddaughter of Giuliani’s late friend, Peter Powers – but his public support of Christie’s 2024 presidential campaign against Trump hindered his chances.

Steinhardt will replace Vikas Khanna, who became acting U.S. Attorney on January 8 following Philip Sellinger’s resignation.  The timeline is narrow, and Steinhardt is expected to take office as soon as his background check is complete.

He will need the backing of New Jersey’s two Democratic U.S. Senators, Cory Booker and Andy Kim, to win Senate confirmation.

The U.S. Attorney General may appoint an acting U.S. Attorney for up to 120 days; after that, the seventeen U.S. District Court Judges from New Jersey can select a U.S. Attorney to serve until the U.S. Senate confirms a nominee put forward by the president.

After taking office in 2017, Trump never nominated a U.S. Attorney for New Jersey; his original pick, Geoffrey Berman, was instead offered the same job in the Southern District of New York.  Steinhardt was in the mix then and had support from most of the state’s Republican congressional delegation.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions appointed Carpenito as acting U.S. Attorney in January 2018.  Near the end of the 120-day limit for acting federal prosecutors, the judges of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey met and approved Carpenito permanently.

Steinhardt spent fifteen years as mayor of Lopatcong and has been the Warren County GOP Chairman since 2004.  A former college football player and son of a judge, he is the Sussex County Counsel and counsel to the Warren County Sheriff.

Steinhardt would become the first sitting state legislator to become U.S. Attorney since President Dwight Eisenhower nominated Assemblyman William Tompkins (R-Maplewood) in 1953.

Steinhardt declined to comment on his pending nomination.