Inside Alina Habba's Brutal Feud With New York Attorney General Letitia James

Donald Trump's lawyer, Alina Habba, has a rather strange relationship with her most famous client. Sure, she gets paid to defend him, but Habba has also been spotted at the divisive politician's side more often than even his wife, Melania Trump, during the 2024 presidential campaign. It should therefore come as no surprise that Habba isn't a fan of New York Attorney General Leticia James, who made it a priority to ensure that Trump stood trial for his various crimes. The result was the former president's New York fraud trial, which eventually saw him convicted on 34 counts.

During the drawn-out court proceedings, Habba and James butted heads a few times, but the controversial lawyer had already made her dislike of the attorney general crystal clear before James first indicted Trump in 2023. Thanks to Na'syia Drayton, who worked as a legal assistant at Habba's firm, it was revealed that Trump's favorite lawyer had called James a "Black b****h," (via Newsweek). Drayton filed a lawsuit against Habba's firm for discrimination, and the attorney's comments about James made it into the court documents, and eventually, the news cycle (James didn't publicly comment). 

Aside from calling her rival offensive names in the workplace, Habba also spoke candidly about what she thought James' true intentions were with the high-profile lawsuit against Trump, insisting the case was nothing but political warfare. "She is a sick person who really, really truly has taken her oath of office and just weaponized it," Habba told Newsmax, before additionally calling James, "vicious."

Despite Attorney General Leticia James' lack of participation in the feud, Alina Habba continued to take shots at the New York attorney general every chance she got. While gracing the audience with her presence at the ReAwaken America Tour in December 2023, Habba couldn't resist bringing up Donald Trump's fraud case, and as a result, James. "[I just] spent the past 11 weeks in New York City fighting beautiful Miss Letitia James," she proudly told the audience (via Newsweek). "Yeah, seriously, she's a real beaut," she added sarcastically before laughing at her own joke. The staunch Trump loyalist also brought up James while attending AmericaFest, claiming, "[James is] trying to kill the Trump family, their organization and the presidency."

In February 2024, when things really started heating up in court, Habba raged against James again, telling Fox News that the attorney general had acted inappropriately during Trump's court proceedings. "She had a Starbucks coffee in her hand, she wasn't doing work, she wasn't sitting at the council table, she was in the back with her shoes off and a coffee. And at the end of the day we're sitting there going 'this is the state of our country,'" Habba claimed (via X, formerly known as Twitter). While speaking to the press in April 2024, she referred to James' case against Trump as a "witch hunt." 

"He [Trump] shouldn't even be here today because he did nothing wrong," Habba argued at the time (via YouTube). Notably, when the court ruled in James' favor in the civil fraud case against Trump, just a few months prior, the attorney general released a statement expressing her approval. "Today, justice has been served [...] Donald Trump is finally facing accountability for his lying, cheating, and staggering fraud. Because no matter how big, rich, or powerful you think you are, no one is above the law," James said.