Alina Habba Has Been Representing Donald Trump For Longer Than We Thought

Alina Habba became immensely popular during E. Jean Carroll's 2023 defamation suit, but the New Jersey lawyer had been representing Donald Trump for years before that. She officially became his attorney in 2021, two years after they first met. In September of that year, Mr. Trump and his new attorney sued The New York Times, three reporters, and Mary Trump for the Times' Pulitzer-winning story that exposed his family's tax evasion.

The Habba-Trump team was also on defense against 2017 defamation claims from former reality TV star Summer Zervos, who'd previously alleged that Donald had sexually assaulted her. However, shortly after Habba began working for the former president, Zervos withdrew the case. Her timing — as well as Habba's spirited media appearances — made many conclude that the New Jersey lawyer had worked magic behind the scenes.

Habba even told ABC that Zervos "had no choice" but to drop the case, and Donald pointed to the abandoned suit as an exoneration. In reality, The Daily Beast reports that, per an unnamed source, Zervos actually dropped the suit because it had stretched on for nearly four years. Nonetheless, Alina Habba continued to curate a reputation as an ardent and vocal supporter of Trump's, passionately defending him on television shows, at rallies, and in courtrooms. Unfortunately for her, she seems to have more success defending her client when judges aren't present.

Donald Trump's suits against The New York Times, three reporters, and Mary Trump were assigned to Judge Robert Reed, who dismissed the case against the publisher and its journalists on May 3, 2023. In his dismissal order, the judge stated that the claims against the newspaper and its employees "fail as a matter of constitutional law." In other words, Donald didn't have sufficient legal grounds to sue in the first place.

The judge further noted that the Times and its reporters were protected by the First Amendment, adding that Donald's tax records were of "high public interest." He also pointed out the former president promised — and failed — to release his tax records.

More embarrassingly for Habba, Judge Reed highlighted multiple mistakes she'd made during her filing. Not only were some claims duplicated, but Habba didn't meet the legal requirements for some of the claims made — an error one wouldn't expect from a legal expert. Donald's suit against Mary wasn't dismissed, but he was sanctioned for targeting the New York Times and its reporters. The former president was ordered to shell out $392,638 in legal fees. This wasn't the first time Habba's legal decisions got Trump sanctioned.

In March 2022, The Trump-Habba team sued 31 individuals and organizations, accusing them of plotting and attacking Donald Trump's election chances using propaganda. Unfortunately, per Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks, Alina Habba's suit had clearly visible problems, and even though she was given multiple chances to fix them, she didn't.

Eventually, the judge dismissed the charges and scolded Trump and Habba in a 46-page sanction order dated January 19, 2023. "This case should never have been brought. Its inadequacy as a legal claim was evident from the start," he wrote. Trump and Habba were jointly required to pay $937,989.39 to settle the defendants' attorney bills.

Middlebrooks and Reed are only two of the multiple legal practitioners who have criticized Habba's legal skills. During E. Jean Carroll's defamation trial, Habba stole the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. She asked questions she wasn't allowed to, tried to talk over Judge Lewis Kaplan, and even apparently forgot to submit evidence ahead of time. According to Newsweek, Judge Kaplan had to ask her to "refresh your memory about how you get a document into evidence." After years of losses, we wonder what Trump thinks of Habba's legal skills.