Maybe Trump’s incompetent loser lawyer Alina Habba has seen the pundit class suggesting her days on Trump’s payroll are numbered. As in Jan. 31 when judge Engoron’s ruling on the New York State civil trial is due. If I were her I’d sure be worried, and trying to figure out a way to hang on. Habba has been around Trump enough to try and butt-kiss by tossing out wild legal claims and she’s come up with a doozy. She says the judge in the Carroll case failed to disclose an “improper” “relationship” with Carroll’s attorney thirty years ago!
Well, let’s take a look. This article from Raw Story states the basics, which is that Habba wants to discredit judge Kaplan who presided over last week’s civil trial that resulted in that $83.3 million judgement. She alleges Kaplan mentored Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan (no, they’re not related) several decades ago. It seems in 1992 Ms. Kaplan went to work at the same law firm judge Kaplan was working at prior to taking the bench in 1994. Kaplan filed a three page letter today criticizing what she characterizes as a relationship. More on that in a bit. In her complaint Habba states:
“The Court was overtly hostile towards defense counsel and President Trump, and displayed preferential treatment towards Plaintiff’s counsel,” Habba writes.
“We are unable to flesh out our position concerning what specific relief should be requested, including, but not limited to, moving for new trials on the issues of liability and damages.”
Raw Story’s article goes on to note the complaint is based on a New York Post article citing an anonymous source who alleges that (now) judge Kaplan and Roberta Kaplan were “close colleagues”:
“Lew was like her mentor,” the former partner told the Post.
Habba is quoted as responding, “It’s insane and so incestuous.”
First of all, Habba’s use of the word “incestuous” is pretty volatile and if she can’t back it up Roberta Kaplan might have grounds to do some suing on her own behalf. Of Habba. If the the two (Kaplans) had little or no contact, and especially if there isn’t anyone who will go on record (even in a bar hearing) and testify there was a “mentorship” between the two Habba’s got some explaining to do when, as is likely she’s up on disciplinary proceedings of her own. Of Habba. Second, am I the only one who sees the irony in Habba using such a loaded term while representing a reprehensible man, and admitted groper and sexual abuses and adjudicated rapist? Who has ALSO publicly and multiple times talked about his desire to bang his own daughter?
Habba claims judge Kaplan committed an ethics violation by not disclosing a prior working relationship with Kaplan. She uses a quote from the Code of Conduct for United States Judges that says judges should recuse themselves if “a lawyer with whom the judge previously practiced law served during such association as a lawyer concerning the matter.” Sounds bad doesn’t it? Until you look a little close, and remember that all this was thirty years ago. Neither of them worked on a case involving Trump or Carroll back then, much less a case of Carroll suing Trump for any reason at all.
And that’s where Habba’s complaint belly flops. Another attorney, one who actually knows law disagreed after reading Habba’s complaint and reviewing the law:
“Judge Kaplan would have a real conflict of interest if E. Jean Carroll was suing Donald Trump in 1992, and then the lawsuit languished for 32 years, and one of the original lawyers who filed that suit was still with the firm,” wrote Andrew Fleischman, a Georgia attorney and defamation expert.
Okay, but he didn’t stop there. It used to be lawyers were loathe to criticize other lawyers (outside of courtrooms) and so publicly but times have changed. Because Fleischman went for the kill shot:
“Alina Habba is such a bad lawyer she forgot not to italicize and bold the part of the law that wrecks her argument.”
That one’s going to sting. Bigly to use a Trump term. As for Habba’s letter of complaint will it make a difference with Trump? Might he keep her on a while longer because she can convince him she’s got a shot with this? Maybe. I doubt it given Trump’s about a bigger chunk carved out of his fat orange ass this week. We’ll have to wait and see. I still say as I did earlier today Trump’s biggest worry right now is finding a way to cover the money he’s going to have to put up to appeal so for the time being she might skate. Stay tuned.
Gee, wouldn’t you think that Judge Kaplan and attorney Roberta Kaplan would have this figured out before the trial ever began? I mean how many articles about this trial have been written noting the same spelling of their last names? Answer: 99% of them.
The ONLY ‘stupid’ here is Habba.
Isn’t this the same BS Trump is using in Georgia to get the RICO charges dismissed? Because a possible (not yet evidenced) office affair, mostly as a story pushed by a soon-to-be-divorced angry spouse, means that all cases brought by the DA are null and void! OMG!! People who work together MIGHT have taken a liking to one another?! Well, scarlet As and destroyed reputations and nasty defamation are really the only answers! Oh, and lost validity of every grand jury indictment, too!!