By Benjamin J. Hulac, Washington Correspondent
The criminal trial against Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-10th) will proceed after a federal judge ruled the prosecution’s case has merit, a legal setback for the second-term lawmaker from Newark.
U.S. District Judge Jamel Semper declined Thursday to dismiss two of the three charges against McIver and requested more evidence about the third charge.
McIver has pleaded not guilty to the charges, saying the prosecution “will not intimidate me. They will not stop me from doing my job.”
Federal prosecutors in New Jersey, led by Alina Habba, a former personal attorney to President Donald Trump whom the Senate has not confirmed, have accused McIver of assaulting federal police during an inspection visit in May of Delaney Hall, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention site in Newark. She faces up to 17 years in prison if convicted.
In trying to dismiss the charge, McIver argued U.S. prosecutors were “selectively” and “vindictively” targeting her. McIver, represented by Paul Fishman, former U.S. attorney for New Jersey during the Obama administration, also argued legal protections she holds as a member of Congress shield her from prosecution related to her official duties.
“From the beginning, this case has been about trying to intimate me, stop me from doing oversight and keep me from doing my job,” McIver said in a statement Thursday.
“I will keep standing up to protect people, and the court’s denial of my motions does not change that fact,” McIver said. “This case is not over.”
During the May visit, a scuffle of pushing and shoving broke out between federal immigration officials and McIver, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and Reps. Rob Menendez (D-8th) and Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-12th), and their staffers.
From that scrum, McIver was charged. Other charges against Baraka were dropped. No one else was charged.
The case against McIver rocketed to the national spotlight this year, with Republicans calling for her conviction and Democrats rallying to her side.
In September, the Republican-majority House tried to formally censure McIver for her role in the scuffle outside Delaney Hall and to strip her Homeland Security Committee seat.
A majority — Democrats and a small group of Republicans — voted table, or block, that attempt.
“Lawfully or unlawfully, Defendant actively engaged in conduct unrelated to her oversight responsibilities and congressional duties,” Semper wrote in his opinion.
Former President Joe Biden nominated Semper. The Senate confirmed Semper in 2023.
In an order, Semper set Nov. 20 as for an in-person status conference between both sides on the case.