Trump Lawyer: Mistrial Filing Coming ‘Very Soon’
Former President Donald Trump’s attorney, Alina Habba, has revealed that she is in the process of filing for the judge in Trump’s New York civil fraud trial to declare a mistrial — though she couldn’t provide too much detail because of a controversial gag order in the case.
Judge Arthur Engoron, an outspoken Democrat, has shown his bias in the trial at nearly every turn — including in issuing a gag order preventing Trump and his legal team from talking about his top clerk, Allison Greenfield. The clerk has been revealed to have violated the law by making political donations in excess of the $500 per calendar year limit for judicial employees as established in Section 100.5 of the Judicial Conduct Code.
Habba spoke about the gag order and potential mistrial during an appearance on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.”
“We have a gag order currently against certain issues that we can’t speak to, and we have seen this on many cases of [Trump’s],” she said. “It’s a First Amendment right. He’s also a leading candidate. He has a right to speak. He should speak about anybody and anything that he sees that’s corrupt. But even I have a limited gag order.”
The former president and his lawyers have been outspoken in their criticism of Engoron and his clerk’s biases, though Habba was unable to confirm whether that was the reason behind the plans to file for a mistrial — but she did confirm that “we will be filing papers to address all of those issues.”
Slamming the gag order, Habba argued that the idea that she couldn’t discuss the issue as Trump’s spokeswoman and attorney “says a lot about the state of our judicial system right now.”
When asked by Fox News host Maria Bartiromo when the mistrial filing would be entered, Habba said: “Soon, very soon.”
She went on to explain that there is a major issue with filing a motion for recusal — as Engoron, the sole judge in the case, will be the one deciding whether he will recuse himself or whether he believes there was a mistrial.
“It’s the same judge that issued the gag order that has to make those determinations, so at this point, I don’t have any reason to believe he shouldn’t after what we have learned if it’s true,” Habba explained. “I will tell you that it’s concerning when he is the arbiter and the decision-maker of some of these issues.”
In this case, New York Attorney General Letitia James is accusing Trump and the Trump Organization of overvaluing properties while seeking favorable banking terms — a controversial claim that has been disputed by numerous analysts and business experts. Habba pointed out in the interview that these transactions contain a disclaimer that “everybody always puts on” informing businesses to do their own background checks.
“Remember, there was nobody harmed,” she argued. “These are sophisticated lenders, Deutsche Bank, major, major establishments, with all kinds of regulations. These people take somebody’s numbers, but they don’t use them. They do their own due diligence, and they weren’t harmed but paid on time. They were paid with interest.”
Habba also declared that James “is putting her nose into private companies and private individuals’ work, which is not what is meant to happen. The law she’s using is a consumer fraud law so that she can establish some way to have control.”
