Trump suggests he may sideline Alina Habba in appealing Carroll verdict after she lost
Former President Donald Trump is still seething over the $88.3 million judgment a jury issued in writer E. Jean Carroll's defamation trial. And a recent post to his Truth Social account suggests he may not be satisfied with attorney Alina Habba leading his appeal efforts.
Late Tuesday night, Trump posted that he was "interviewing various law firms" to represent him in appealing the verdict, which he called a "witch hunt" and a "sham" presided over by a "highly partisan, Trump hating judge."
"This entire HOAX is a disgrace to our American System of Justice," the former president wrote. "Any lawyer who takes a TRUMP CASE is either 'CRAZY,' or a TRUE AMERICAN PATRIOT. I will make my decision soon!"
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Habba made headlines throughout the trial for making hail-Mary motions to delay, postpone and throw out the case on spurious grounds. In one instance early on in the proceedings, Habba repeated her motion to adjourn the trial so Trump could attend his mother-in-law's funeral, even though US District Judge Lewis F. Kaplan already ruled that the trial would continue with or without Trump's presence in the courtroom. This prompted Kaplan to deny her motion once again, and ask her if she understood the word "none."
After the verdict was announced, Habba held a press conference outside of the courtroom in which she complained that the jury was biased against her client and that the judge wouldn't allow her to use any evidence in Trump's defense. However, the trial was merely a penalty phase in which the only question remaining for the jury was how much the former president had to pay Carroll — who had already won a $5 million judgment in 2023 after a jury found Trump liable for both sexual abuse and defamation.
Following Habba's lackluster performance in the courtroom, a clip went viral of an interview in which Habba said she would rather be "pretty" than "smart," adding that she can "fake being smart." CNN reporter Jake Tapper cut away from her press gaggle during her remarks in which she aired grievances about being "stripped" of all of her defenses.
"So you're getting an idea now about why Donald Trump's attorney is perceived as effective as she is, which is not particularly effective," Tapper said.
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