Habba Tells MAGA She’s Got An Airtight Appeal, She’s Got Nothing

Give Alina Habba credit, she’s the con de la con. She learned from the very best. After she left the courtroom yesterday, where she managed to plead a $5 million judgment down to an $83.3 million verdict, she was on too much of a forward momentum roll to stop. So she didn’t. She just continued to dig her hole deeper.

And she may convince the base, MAGA, that she knows what’s she’s talking about. I have no doubt that she does. That’s not what’s going to keep Trump’s money in his pocket. The only thing that is going to do that is an effective appeal and Habba does not have the open and shut case that she’s lying to the base about. This is strictly performance theater, what you’re about to see, not reality.

What was his defense again for publicly defaming this women and putting her life at risk? She had the courage to come forward when the other 20 victims curled up in a ball to hide from the threats.

— RandyC (@randyc56) January 27, 2024

Trump has no defense, either to the defamation or to the rape, which was the underlying case and cause of the defamation. And yes, you have to hand it to E. Jean Carroll. She had the guts to persevere. The other women that Trump was credibly accused of raping, folded. And nobody blamed them. They were terrified and with good cause. And so to protect themselves and their families, they folded. Carroll didn’t. She took her case to the end of the line and in doing so brought a modicum of justice to Trump’s other victims. At least they can sleep easier now knowing that he didn’t totally get away with it — one more time.

Habba can play big bad litigator all she wants. She showed her real chops the past few times she’s been in court, not knowing the basics of cross-examination, to such a point where last week Judge Lewis Kaplan halted the proceedings twice and told her to consult with somebody who did know basic trial techniques, because she was screwing things up so badly.

And mouthing off to the judge only served to alienate the jury — at least in the opinion of real litigators who are saying things like, “A lawyer’s job is not to argue in court, a lawyer’s job is to persuade.” Habba doesn’t have the skill to persuade. She’s a hired attack dog, only skilled at fomenting controversy and making a scene. That’s MAGA-law, in a nutshell.

Trump’s former lawyer, Tim Parlatore, said yesterday that Habba cannot do the appeal. An appeal can only be handled by attorneys who specialize in appellate law. Habba is just grandstanding for the base, talking about the perfect record she has, not that she needs it. Righto, Habba’s just going to sail through an appeal and easily overturn this judgment. Uh uh. Let me know when that happens. Right now, it’s in her dreams and that’s where it will stay.

So Trump’s looking for other lawyers as we speak. That, in itself, is a howler. It would be interesting to know just how much he’s got, assets wise, in liquid form. He paid Christopher Kise $3M as a retainer, and probably if Trump finds any reasonably skilled appellate lawyer, he’ll have to pay that person something in that neighborhood.

In order for an appeal to be successful, an appellate lawyer has to find an error on the part of the trial court. Roberta Kaplan, E. Jean Carroll’s lawyer, was meticulous. I seriously doubt that she committed a reversible error, knowing full well that Trump was waiting and hoping for such a thing so that he could appeal the judgment.

So that’s the needle in the haystack. Habba, of course, claims she’s got zero problem in that regard, because she’s raving about “defenses” — but not to this case. She’s talking about DNA and all kinds of things that may well have had a bearing on the underlying case, but this is the damages-only trial that just concluded.

Habba can bullshit the base, and she does so daily. But overturning a ruling is a different kettle of fish.

Nevertheless, there will be a lot of fireworks an theatrics. On that you may depend.