Counselor to the president pick Alina Habba was scolded by judge in Trump's defamation trial
President-elect Donald Trump's choice of Alina Habba to serve as counselor to the president marks at least the fifth former Trump defense lawyer chosen for the new administration.
In announcing her appointment, Trump posted on Truth Social Sunday that Habba has been "unwavering in her loyalty, and unmatched in her resolve - standing with me through numerous 'trials,' battles, and countless days in Court."
Habba represented Trump in his latest trial against New York writer E. Jean Carroll, in which a federal jury awarded Carroll $83.3 million in damages for defamation in January. She also represented Trump in his New York civil fraud case, in which a New York state trial judge determined Trump owed $454 million as of February for inflating the value of his assets to get better loan and insurance terms. Interest is continuing to accrue on both those judgments, which Trump has appealed.
Tangling with judges at trial
At the Carroll trial in January, federal Judge Lewis Kaplan repeatedly chided or reproached Habba about her representation of Trump in court, sometimes seeming to doubt her trial expertise.
"It's evidence 101," Kaplan said at one point to explain why a question she asked a witness was inappropriate.
"This is not my law school examination," Kaplan told Habba at another point, after she asked him why he sustained an objection from Carroll's legal team to one of her questions.
After Habba claimed in Trump's civil fraud trial closing arguments that the lawsuit was politically motivated – "You have been dragged through a political agenda," she said – New York state Judge Arthur Engoron instructed her to restrict remarks to addressing the law and the facts of the case, a typical constraint in closing arguments for any trial.
Habba also turned away from Engoron several times during those remarks to address the onlookers in the public area of the courtroom, which is unusual in a trial. Lawyers typically address either a judge or a jury during closing remarks.
Other ex-Trump defense lawyers picked for administration
Trump has nominated several other ex-defense lawyers to also serve in his upcoming administration.
He picked Pam Bondi, a former Florida attorney general, to serve as U.S. attorney general after his first choice, former Florida Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz, announced he was removing himself from the Senate confirmation process. Bondi was one of Trump's defense lawyers during his first Senate impeachment trial, in which he was acquitted on the charge of withholding aid to Ukraine in order to pressure the Ukrainian government to investigate now-President Joe Biden.
The U.S. attorney general heads the Justice Department.
Trump has also nominated two of his defense attorneys from his New York criminal trial, Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, for the number two and number three positions at the Justice Department. And he has nominated former Missouri solicitor general John Sauer to serve as U.S. solicitor general, a role at the Justice Department that involves representing the presidential administration at the Supreme Court.
Sauer has represented Trump in his appeals across multiple cases, including arguing before the U.S. Supreme Court that Trump was immune from prosecution for official acts in Trump's federal election interference criminal case, which was dropped by the Justice Department in the wake of Trump's election.