Surprise, surprise. A former server at Donald Trump’s Bedminster, New Jersey golf club says she was sexually harassed. Isn’t that unusual? Then, here’s the really unbelievable part, she says “a Trump attorney duped her into signing an illegal non-disclosure agreement and settling a sexual harassment claim against her supervisor for a ‘paltry sum.'” No. C’mon. Really? And here’s the really unbelievable part, the Trump attorney in question was Alina Habba. Alina doing something shady? Say it isn’t so. NBC News:
In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in New Jersey’s Middlesex Superior Court, Alice Bianco said attorney Alina Habba acted unethically by portraying herself as a friend and “neutral” ally after she learned that Bianco had alleged her boss was harassing her at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster. Habba began representing Trump publicly soon after the NDA was signed in August 2021, according to the suit.
Habba on Thursday denied the allegations against her in the lawsuit, which was first reported by Politico.
“I always conduct myself ethically and acted no differently in this circumstance,” she said in a statement.
Bianco said in a statement through her lawyer: “I didn’t know my rights. I didn’t know Alina wasn’t supposed to discuss a case with me without my lawyer. I didn’t know New Jersey had banned non-disclosure agreements for victims of sexual harassment. All I knew was that the person claiming to be my friend and advisor threw me in the trash as soon as she pressured me into silence.”
The woman got a pittance of a settlement, which she was assured was tax free and then it turned out not to be tax free.
Bianco is seeking to have the settlement agreement, including the NDA, nullified. She also wants Habba to be referred to the state attorney ethics office.
Bianco’s lawyer, Nancy Erika Smith, said in a statement that Habba had “used the unethical silencing of my client” to “propel herself into Trump’s inner circle. Her behavior was predatory. Pretending to be ‘neutral’ when acting on behalf of one party is clearly unethical.”
Predatory? A Trump lawyer? My goodness gracious.
This case is just one more tiny rock on the pile, but it does open an interesting door. Alina Habba will one day know the truth of the axiom Everything Trump Touches Dies. This could be the beginning of that.
Pause for just a moment and remember a day where this scandal, this one right here, would be enough to sink a presidential candidate. Then look at where we’ve been the past seven years and how this doesn’t even move the needle. This is normal in Trump world.
Anyone familiar with the expression that water seeks it’s own level? This looks like a case of a predator seeking their natural habitat.
Ursula, your last paragraph says it all. How very sad. And where do we go from here?
Down further still, Meg, sadly. Trump knows no bottom, nor does his MAGAt GOP. Every time we think he and they have touched bottom in their swamp, they manage to squirm even deeper.
Disgusting but not shocking.