Alina Habba in 2023 (Gage Skidmore)
Alina Habba Mildon recently drew the ire of President Donald Trump when it was discovered she was making millions moonlighting while still working for him. Asked if she'll make sure Trump gets his cut of her new four-year contract, Mildon laughed.
The former personal lawyer to Trump signed a reported four-year contract worth more than $50 million with Concord Partners, a company tied to the family of Venezuelan banker Julio Herrera Velutini, the New York Times said. The deal reportedly paid her about $10 million a year plus bonuses.
Herrera then received a presidential pardon from Trump in January 2026. That timing made it look like Habba Mildon may have been paid to help score the pardon, which she has denied.
Trump was incensed, the Times said. "Trump has told aides and allies that she should donate a portion of that money to his future presidential library or another Trump-related entity, according to multiple people briefed on the conversations."
"I thought it was terrible," Trump said. "I told her, I said, 'I don't want her paid.' We had somebody speak to the people that did it, and she used her relationship to do that. And it was far too much. You know, it's one thing for a person to get paid legal fees or whatever — she's a lawyer. I thought it was a totally obnoxious and outrageous and it's not acceptable. Not acceptable, at all."
So, CBS News asked Habba Mildon if she intends to donate it.
"Habba Mildon responded to the text message with a 'haha' reaction. (She removed the reaction seconds later and declined to comment)," the CBS report said.
One former Trump adviser told CBS that all funding is now being funneled through the library. For a time, those funds appeared to go primarily to Trump's meme coin, the Freedom 250 events and his White House ballroom project. The report noted that Trump's super PAC, MAGA Inc., dolled out some of its $400 million coffers to help Republicans in the midterms. It's unclear how much, but the December Federal Elections Commission filings will reveal it.
"The library is one of the last few places he can squeeze people for money," the former adviser told CBS. "That's what a businessman does. He just creates opportunities."
However, the money going to Trump's projects may be drying up, as Democrats have made it clear that accountability is coming.
"Giant corporations and foreign governments should not be able to buy influence in Washington with donations to the president's library," Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) told CBS News. She will be among those looking at the library for "any wrongdoing." If it exists, they "will be held accountable."
Trump wants his presidential library to also be a hotel, said a lawsuit filed by Miami residents earlier this year. Florida attempted to gift land to Trump that is valued at about $67 million. The lawsuit said that a U.S. constitutional provision bars states from giving the president financial benefits. President Barack Obama's library is on city-owned land that Chicago leased to Obama. Other states have made similar moves, but no state has outright given a gift of land to a president for his library.