We have all seen Donald Trump’s lawyer, Alina Habba in action as the E. Jean Carroll defamation trial proceeds—at turns being bossy, ignoring his previous rulings, and not following the proper procedures for entering evidence and just generally not acting in a manner befitting attorneys who actually know their stuff. She’s definitely pushed all of New York federal Judge Lewis Kaplan’s buttons. One day in particular last week, she made so many mistakes he bench-slapped her 14 times. I don’t know if that’s a record or if anyone keeps such records, but it is quite remarkable. And not in a good way.
Kaplan even barked at her at one point—”I make the rulings here, not the lawyers,” snapping “Sit down.”
While it’s bad enough that Habba is being so unprofessional, Trump was also disruptive in court, disparaging Carroll in loud outbursts as she testified.
But John Jones, a former federal judge with more than 20 years on the bench told Business Insider that Kaplan is using a fair amount of restraint in his interactions with Trump and Habba.
“I think Kaplan is being really measured under the circumstances in his reactions to both trump and habba,” he said.
“he was really careful about not overreacting, and i don’t think he overreacted to habba either,” jones said of the judge’s repeated reprimanding. “i think he’s trying to send her signals, which is what a good judge does about how to try her case and what to do, and she’s just blowing past those signals.”
Habba’s disruptive behavior in court is putting people off as she keeps doing Trump’s bidding. Sowing chaos, however, is working against her.
“it’s an unprofessional and bad look,” said Jones, who served in the middle district of pennsylvania.
Jones, now the President of Dickinson College, also said that her continual pandering to Trump’s wishes instead of respecting Judge Kaplan’s is “playing with fire.” Enough so, that he said Habba’s behavior is likely to turn the jury against her.
“the inescapable conclusion the jury members get is that she’s run afoul of the judge and that she’s doing something wrong,” jones said.
“so, habba, not only does she not really have a strategy and a clear defense, rather than to just be disruptive in court, but she’s got an impossible situation with her client,” jones explained. “so i mean, this is a horror show from a defensive standpoint.”
It makes Habba’s argument look as if it were held together by hairpins and Elmer’s Glue. And don’t think the jury doesn’t know this. It’s really the last thing Trump needs. While it would be nice, of course, if he would shut up in court, he also needs a lawyer with a cohesive argument. I can understand the strain Habba is under here — she has to appease a client who’s not much above a circus clown, but I don’t think she’s going to get very far with the jury by constantly drawing the judge’s sharp reprimands. I’m sure the jury isn’t impressed with this; she looks like an amateur.
Because she is.
I think she knows, Trump is going to loose, how can she not! So, if RW & Trump don’t win, they plan on doing as much damage/CHAOS as they can bring, in the mean time!
There is a certain expectation of those who live in certain deprived regions, such as Trumplandia. There is a generalnlack of class, couth, and conscience, and the real tragedy is that there are too many of them.
That whole ‘faking being smart’ thing isn’t really working out for her is it?
Nope. It’s not. She’s becoming quite an embarrassment.
No. But Donald chooses female staffers based on their cleavage, not their I.Q.
Still.trying to.figure out how she passed the N.Y. bar exam. JFK Jr. flunked it twice and he was a he’ll of a lot smarter than Lawyer Beats Doll, though in his case I suspect he really wanted to work in the arts, not a law firm.
If the folks in NY who decide things like whether attorneys licensed in the state get to keep their licenses, continue practicing in the state, etc. do not take away this twit’s license to practice in the state, they will give a black eye to every lawyer who is licensed in NY-their law licenses will be worthless.
It’s bad enough that they had to deal with Giuliani. Now they have her as an embarrassment. She should be disbarred period. I don’t think that will happen, unfortunately.
Oh yes!
I think she really is clueless enough, having been around Trump for too long and gotten blinded by her unexpected turn in the spotlight into thinking that showing cleavage and shoving her “assets” out when addressing the judge will “melt” him into submission. She’s wrong of course, but as you say she’s incapable of realizing that her antics are having the opposite effect from what she and Trump intended.
I still think she should be disbarred, at least in New York, if nothing else. Her antics, at least to me, show she doesn’t know how to act appropriately in a courtroom, and frankly, I think being a good lawyer isn’t all that different from becoming a good artist, or a good musician. Talent plays a part in this and to my way of thinking, Habba has none.
When it comes women, the only number Fat Donnie cares,about are their physical.measurements 38-24-34.
it’s not that she has a difficult client, Trump always sincerely believes that he is the smartest person in the room and all the true believers think that as well. she doesn’t know enough about her job to know better so she does what Trump wants because she thinks it’s the right thing to do.
Habba’s opening statement to the jury misstated the law and will be addressed by the judge. She told the jury that Ms. Carroll had an obligation to mitigate the effect of Trumps defamation. Being a low rent ambulance chaser from New Jersey she was applying the rules in a personal injury case to a defamation case. If you slip on the floor at Walmart and skin your knee bad and don’t go to a doctor then get staph then sue Walmart they will say you didn’t mitigate your injury. You could have gone to a doctor and probably not gotten an infection.
When a person is defamed they are not expected to mitigate the harm of the defamation. They certainly aren’t expected to keep quiet about the hostile and untruthful statements. However, Habba wants to place the burden on Ms. Carroll to somehow reduce the harm of the defamation rather than her client. I think they should force Trump to make an ad where he confesses to the rape and then forced to pay to run it on all the networks and cable news stations every hour during prime time for a week. Oh, and on ‘The Price is Right’ and ‘Wheel of Fortune’ and the ‘700 Club’.