A US appeals court on Monday struck down an attempt by President Donald Trump to bypass the customary Senate confirmation process and appoint his former personal lawyer to a post as a top federal prosecutor.

The judges wrote that the Trump administration appeared to have become frustrated by legal and political barriers that have prevented its preferred U.S. attorneys from leading federal prosecutors’ offices.

The Trump administration's maneuvers to keep the president's former lawyer Alina Habba in place as New Jersey's top federal prosecutor were illegal and she is disqualified, a federal appeals court said Monday.

President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer Alina Habba is disqualified from serving as New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor despite his administration’s maneuvers to keep her in the role, an appeals court said Monday. A panel of judges from the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sitting in Philadelphia sided with a lower-court judge's ruling after hearing oral arguments at which Habba was present on Oct. 20.

A federal appeals court says maneuvers to keep President Donald Trump’s former lawyer Alina Habba in place as New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor were illegal.