Alina Habba Once Seemingly Faked Sick To Get Out Of Court With Trump
As former President Donald Trump's controversial attorney, Alina Habba, learned the hard way, if you're going to call in to work pretending to be sick, you better make sure that you aren't photographed out and about at a party. And as ex-Trump staffer Dylan Quattrucci learned the hard way, you better not be the one who posts those photographs online.
The current and former Trump employee learned their lessons in early January 2024 amidst the ex-POTUS' defamation trial with writer E. Jean Carroll. After a member of the jury was excused due to illness, Trump's legal team also requested a delay, saying that Habba had a fever and wasn't feeling well. Unfortunately for Habba, her sick day was immediately called into question when she was spotted at her boss' New Hampshire primary victory party hours later.
The attorney might have gone unnoticed if it hadn't been for Quattrucci, who posted a photo of him and Habba on X, formerly known as Twitter. The photo-op marked another incident in a long list of controversial court moments by Habba, and it marked the end of the party for Quattrucci.
This wasn't the first time Alina Habba has done something controversial in court
Much like her client, attorney Alina Habba is unapologetically bold and brash in and outside of the courtroom. While skipping out on court because you're "sick" only to get caught attending a party hours later is a definite no-no, it's certainly not the first time Habba has engaged in questionable behavior during former President Donald Trump's ongoing legal proceedings. In fact, the pseudo-sick day wasn't even Habba's most controversial moment in that specific trial.
Around the same time Habba was photographed attending Trump's primary victory bash, the attorney crossed a major line with the judge presiding over the E. Jean Carroll trial. In this particular instance, Habba and the rest of Trump's legal team were trying to share a slide that they hadn't properly submitted into evidence. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan refused to let the ex-POTUS' legal team proceed, causing Habba to push back repeatedly.
Habba continued to verbally argue with the judge until Kaplan finally offered the lawyer a stern warning. "You are on the verge of spending some time in the lockup," Kaplan told Habba (via The Hill). "Now sit down." The warning of potential jail time worked, and Habba backed off.
Trump's ex-staffer was forcibly removed from the party after posting the photo of Habba
Getting caught in a lie is bad, but one might argue that getting in trouble because you caught someone else in a lie is even worse — at least, it'd be safe to assume Dylan Quattrucci, a former staffer for Donald Trump, might feel that way. Quattrucci was the one who outed Habba, posting a photo of the two of them at Trump's New Hampshire primary victory party hours after the New Jersey attorney had claimed she was too sick to attend court.
The ex-staffer had nothing but glowing things to say about Habba, but not even his kind words were enough to stop what came next. Shortly before news of Habba's fake sick day broke, Quattrucci took to social media again to post a video of event staff forcibly removing him from the party, which he said was done without cause.
"Why do I have to leave, sir?" The staffer asked security as they escorted him off the property in a video posted to X. "I have knocked more than 12,000 doors for President Trump. I was standing there speaking with other Trump supporters when I was asked to leave and pushed out of the venue. This is how they treat loyalty. If only President Trump knew how his most loyal and dedicated supporters were treated by his staff."