President Trump's former lawyer will remain the top federal prosecutor of New Jersey.

The Justice Department Thursday night appears to have found a workaround for Alina Haba to continue in her role as acting U.S. attorney for the state instead of as interim U.S. attorney, ending a standoff between New Jersey's federal judges who ousted her and the White House, at least for now.

In a complex maneuver, the Trump administration on Thursday withdrew Haba's formal nomination to the post and appointed her first assistant U.S. attorney.

The job was held by career prosecutor Desiree Grace until earlier this week when she was fired by the White House.

That was after the state's federal judges voted to have her replace Haba when her term was set to expire this week.

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Senators Cory Booker and Andy Kim immediately fired back on the move, calling out the administration for bypassing the courts and the required advice and consent of Congress, saying the quote "relentless attacks on the court are not only disgraceful, they're knowingly hypocritical."

Tracy Tully of The New York Times joins us now to explain how the power struggle unfolded.

Tracy, thanks so much for giving us some of your time.

Let's start with what felt like this pretty extraordinary moment yesterday.

Can you sort of walk us through how this workaround all came together to enable Alina Haba to stay in this role?

My understanding is that, typically, the interim U.S. attorney could be named acting, but only if they haven't been formally nominated by the president to be for Senate confirmation.

So Ms. Haba had been formally nominated for Senate confirmation, even though it wasn't likely, given that New Jersey senators have criticized her first four months in office.

So before she could become the acting U.S. attorney, they had to first pull her nomination from the Senate.

And on Tuesday, they had created a vacancy as first deputy or first assistant by firing Desi Grace, who Ms. Haba had actually put into that position in April, so soon after she was named to the job by -- or sworn in by Pam Bondi, the attorney general.

How rare, Tracy, is this kind of standoff and the use of this procedure by the DOJ, by the White House, when it comes to an appointee in a role like this?

I don't know, over time, how common it is.

I don't -- my sense is, it's not terribly common.

But it, in fact, happened just like 10 days ago in the Northern District of New York, so based in Albany, where there was a similar situation involving a U.S. attorney, Mr. Sarkony, who had been placed in the temporary 120-day position by the attorney general.

And then the judges there did nothing.

They declined to extend his term, much like happened in New Jersey.

Yes, it is definitely a workaround.

What are your sources telling you about the effect, if there is an effect, on the day-to-day operations within the U.S. attorney's office in New Jersey?

I know we called a couple of times this week out of the confusion and asked the receptionist who answered, who's the U.S. attorney right now?

And they told us, that's a great question.

What type of effect is it having?

I mean, there has been a practical effect.

I think there -- even prior to this week, the morale had -- was low, for a variety of reasons, including staffing levels.

But then this week happens, and there's such -- it's so topsy-turvy.

And functionally, I'm told, my reporting shows that they stopped the grand jury presentments this week, because there was such uncertainty about what was going on.

And assistant U.S. attorneys were apparently told not to send what they call informations, I believe, to the front office, because there was a lack of clarity over who might be able to sign it.

It's had a practical effect.

And so what happens now with Desiree Grace?

Will she be able to reassume her old job, if Alina Haba is in fact the acting U.S. attorney?

Unfortunately, she's out of a job, I think, with -- short of something else happening.

And given this week, I wouldn't preclude that.

But she's a very, very well-regarded assistant U.S. attorney.

She became first assistant.

Ms. Haba put her there.

And the judges thought highly enough of her to make her the U.S. attorney, which is not unheard of.

It's happened 48 times, but my reporting shows, since 2007, where the judges, a judicial panel, actually appoints the U.S. attorney, even though there were some social media comments about how this was -- I believe the White House called them rogue judges, which is -- it's really more common than that.

But she will, unfortunately, I think, be looking for a job.

Tracy Tully with The New York Times.

Tracy, great reporting.

Thanks so much for coming on the show.

Thank you.