Alina Habba joined Donald Trump’s legal team in 2021
Washington:
US President Donald Trump has appointed his longtime attorney, Alina Habba, as interim Attorney for the District of New Jersey, effective immediately.
Ms Habba, who currently serves as Counselor to the President, replaces John Giordano, whom Trump nominated as US Ambassador to Namibia.
Trump announced the decision on Truth Social, calling it a “great pleasure” to appoint Ms Habba to the role in her home state. Ms Habba responded on X, saying she is “honoured” and vowing to “end the weaponisation of justice.”
Who is Alina Habba?
- Alina Habba, of Iraqi descent, was born in New Jersey. She was recently named “Chaldean Woman of the Year” for her achievements in law and politics.
- Alina Habba graduated from Kent Place School in 2002. She attended Lehigh University and earned a bachelor’s degree in political science in 2005. After graduating from university, Ms Habba worked in the fashion industry at Marc Jacobs, one of America’s top brands. She returned to college after several years and earned her law degree from Widener University in Pennsylvania in 2010.
- She briefly served as a clerk for New Jersey Superior Court Judge Eugene Codey Jr. Later, she entered private practice and worked for several years before starting her own law firm in 2020.
- In 2021, she joined Donald Trump’s legal team after reportedly meeting him at his Bedminster country club in New Jersey, where her firm was based. Alina Habba defended Trump in multiple legal battles, including the Summer Zervos case (a former Apprentice contestant who accused Trump of sexual assault), his $100 million lawsuit against The New York Times and Mary Trump (his niece, over tax record disclosures), and the New York civil fraud case (where he was found guilty of inflating property values).
- She served as one of Trump’s defence attorneys in the New York hush-money case, where he was convicted on 34 charges for trying to influence the 2016 election through a hush-money payment to a porn actress, becoming the first US president to be convicted by a jury. She frequently clashed with Judge Lewis Kaplan during the E Jean Carroll defamation trial (Carroll accused Trump of sexual assault in the 1990s) and criticised Judge Arthur Engoron (who oversaw Trump’s fraud case), calling him “unhinged.” Trump praised her after she got Michael Cohen (his former fixer and key witness) to admit to perjury on the stand. She was also Trump’s legal spokesperson throughout these cases.
- Ms Habba became one of Trump’s closest associates, frequently accompanying him on his presidential campaign trail. She was a speaker at a Trump rally in Madison Square Garden in October. Since 2021, she has been a senior advisor for Trump’s Super PAC, MAGA Inc.