Alina Habba, Trump Attorney, Remains of Trump Loathes Legal Team

Facing high-stakes investigations that could cripple his business empire or even mean jail time for him and his close associates, former President Donald Trump and his team of lawyers. of his family is facing a threat from within.

Her name is Alina Habba, and — barely known — the relatively unknown New Jersey attorney has gone from representing a college student ticking off the COVID-19 virtual school to becoming one of the attorneys. leading defense of the twice impeached former president in some of the country’s most high-profile cases.

There’s just one problem for Habba: Hardly anyone in the Trump legal universe can stand her.

Many of Habba’s senior Trumpland attorneys — including but not limited to Alan Garten — have confided that she made a mistake or didn’t know what she was doing, according to Trumpworld legal sources familiar with the subject. this topic. Some of them want her fired or set aside.

Some of Trump’s lawyers have argued that her work is so bad – self-interested, pointless belligerent and negligent – that they argue that Habba’s mere presence on the team increases the likelihood that Trump and his family must face losses in court and legal risk.

This report is based on interviews with four current and former Trump attorneys, as well as three other sources familiar with the situation at the Trump Organization and in the Trump family’s orbit.

“’What the hell is she doing?’ is probably the most common question we ask of her,” one of these attorneys, who still works in inner Trump, commented last week.

Habba’s professional conduct, decisions, and courtroom stage regularly put her Trumpworld legal colleagues to shame — so much so that there are many group chats of Trump attorneys, where much of the discussion is commentary devoted to complaining a lot about Habba or mocking her harshly. (Habba, naturally, is not included in text or email strings.)

Habba did not respond to a request for comment. Instead, the Trump Organization issued a roughly similar statement issued to Axios when it introduced Habba in January.

“This story is completely untrue. Alina Habba is not only an incredibly capable attorney, she has our highest trust and confidence and is qualified to take on some of the most corrupt and unethical political institutions in the country. this country,” read a statement issued by Eric Trump, one of the presidents’ sons.

But if she has the utmost trust and confidence of Eric Trump, the attorneys attached to Trumpworld are not so sure. One lawyer in Trump’s orbit, who admitted they had never met Habba, simply had this to say about her legal analysis on TV: “Ouch.”

For those wondering how she’s been stuck for this long – with so many of Trump’s attorneys provoking her removal and constantly tormenting her – the answer is: lies the 45th president obsessed with television and pictures.

Privately, Trump has repeatedly commented on how much she “loves Trump” and repeatedly told close associates about her appearance — how she is “beautiful” on TV and at clubs. his ministry, according to two sources who spoke to him about Habba in recent months.

Another lawyer pointed out that Habba appears to be filling a space once reserved for Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell: an assault lawyer who acted as a mouthpiece for Trump. But the man also warned that Habba might eventually suffer their fate. Both attorneys have faced disciplinary requests for their willingness to amplify their clients’ baseless claims in an issue deemed unfounded in the legal profession.

Habba has also taken on the role of Trump’s personal litigator and turned what are often sobering courtroom arguments into ostentatious antics that – to her extremely disdainful colleagues – have seems like an ongoing audition for conservative television.

“If you want to be a lawyer, you have to stick to the facts of the case. Compliance with laws. If you want to be on some news programming… that’s probably where you should be,” one such lawyer told The Daily Beast.

Those stages were on full display last month in New York state court, when Habba protested Trump’s testifying before New York Attorney General Letitia James by treating the entire investigation as a smear job. smeared and made brief speeches that dispersed right-wing political views — including an unrelated debate about Hillary Clinton. Habba was repeatedly reprimanded by an officer for interrupting the judge and talking over the speaker.

But it wasn’t just her courtroom legislative behavior that drew the ire of fellow Trump attorneys. Habba signed the petition to the court last month, making assertions that were immediately countered by Trump’s own public statement the next day.

While court papers said Trump “denied knowledge” of how his brand value was used to inflate the value of business assets, Trump himself was quick to backtrack and publicize. detailing exactly how he appreciated the trademark that increased the value of several business assets in 2014 attorneys in James’s office seized on that and asked the judge to consider Trump’s claim as admission, forcing Trump to testify to the office’s ongoing bank fraud and tax evasion investigation.

The judge then ordered Trump to appear for questioning under oath, and that ruling is headed for a state appeals court.

Sources said the public statement was reviewed by Trump’s lawyers before it was released, making the law itself even more confusing.

A source in Trump’s orbit who spoke to The Daily Beast wondered if Habba would find himself in the same position as so many of Trump’s lawyers before her: stuck with one unruly client would say whatever he wants, the consequences are damned.

Habba, who turns 38 this month, runs a small law firm just eight minutes’ drive from Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. According to three sources, Habba spent a lot of time at Trump properties, including a Jersey golf club. In fact, she’s there so often that she was the victim of a car theft last month when thieves drove through the security checkpoint at the club and stole some items from her. her unlocked Range Rover.

Habba made his first appearance on the Trump stage last year. When prominent New York attorney Marc Kasowitz gave up representing the former president in a number of lawsuits, she stepped forward to accept responsibility.

In September, Habba defended Trump in a 2017 lawsuit claiming he forcibly kissed and sexually touched Summer Zervos, a former contestant on the fifth season of the show. Probationer. When the lawsuit went nowhere for five years, Zervos dropped the lawsuit in November, a move that Habba sees as her own victory for her client.

However, a person familiar with that case told The Daily Beast that the case was dropped due to Zervos’ own frustrations with the lengthy affair, and Habba’s involvement had little to do with the case. The trial lasted for half a decade.

Then, in November, Habba joined Trump’s defense against journalist E. Jean Carroll, who claimed he raped her in the 1990s then was sued for defamation for saying she spoke. lie. In that case, Habba took a more novel approach, claiming that Trump was exercising his right to free speech protected by New York law when he claimed “she’s not my type.” from the White House podium and issued a statement asserting Carroll was merely “attempting to sell a new book.” This month, the federal judge on the case closed that argument — and even forced it into force. accused Trump and his legal team of engaging in legal delay tactics.

In December, Trump exploited Habba to mount a frontal attack against Letitia James, suing in federal court to ask the judge to unilaterally block the state attorney general’s investigation.

According to two people familiar with the matter, some of Trump’s lawyers who work with Habba have vehemently opposed the move and argued internally against doing what they see as a counterproductive and likely move. will surely fail. Other lawyers largely blamed Habba for backing Trump in the case and encouraging Trump’s vengeful instincts to do so.

In recent months, Habba has made a number of television appearances on Fox News and Newsmax, fighting a legal system she considers anti-conservative. Lawyers, especially those representing high-profile figures, regularly appear on television to discuss their cases. But they rarely attack the character of the judges overseeing their cases — or set expectations by saying that any future losses in court are entirely determined by their personal politics. judge.

And yet, that tactic quickly became Habba’s favourite.

In January, she set her eyes on U.S. District Judge Brenda K. Sannes and Court Judge Christian F. Hummel, telling a Newsmax host, “We have cards against us here. New York. We are in the northern district, we have judges that you know are mostly libertarians, unfortunately… if the judge can turn his politics on his side, this should be Accept and we will win. ”

Habba also recently hurled several grenades at New York Judge Arthur F. Engoron and others when she appeared on Newsmax.

She told the presenter last month: “At the end of the day, this is a matter of New York state.

Her other legal work has been largely politically inexcusable.

In 2020, she sued on behalf of several nursing homes in New Jersey for allegedly abusing their patients. And she represents a student who sued the University of Bridgeport, because the Connecticut school is charging full tuition while only holding virtual classes in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

But 2010 graduates of Widener Law School — ranked in the bottom 25% of law schools, according to US News and World Report—Has received at least one other conservative client.

In July, she represented pharmaceutical businessman Caesar DePaço in federal court when he sued Portuguese journalists for revealing his close ties to the country’s far-right Chega party. there.