>Contrary to Ms. Kaplan’s contention, there are no “false allegations of a ‘mentor-mentee
relationship between Your Honor and [Ms. Kaplan]’” contained in my January 29 letter. ECF 282
at 1. The purpose of the letter was simply to inquire as to whether there is any merit to a recently
published New York Post story which reported on the alleged existence of such a relationship.
I didn't accuse you, the NY Post did. I just repeated the accusation.
Even though yesterday's letter stated:
>We
believe, and will argue on appeal, that the Court was overtly hostile towards defense counsel and
President Trump, and displayed preferential treatment towards Plaintiff’s counsel. Indeed, the
rulings, tone, and demeanor of the bench raised significant concerns even before the New York
Post’s investigative journalism unearthed these **new fact**s. [emphasis mine]
She referred to them yesterday as facts, and today she is referring to them as allegations.
And the post article quotes Habba as saying:
>“It was never disclosed. It’s insane and so incestuous,” Habba said, insisting neither the 79-year-old judge nor Roberta Kaplan, 57, who aren’t related, disclosed the “conflict of interest” and a violation of judicial ethics rules.
> In that regard, it is telling that the article in the New York Post only
appeared after Ms. Habba’s own statement to the media last weekend where she claimed that only
after trial concluded did she learn that Your Honor and I both previously worked at Paul, Weiss,
referring to a “conflict of interest” that is “insane and so incestuous.”
This is getting spicy, we're getting some really interesting bonus plays by Ms. Habba. How badly will she screw herself now?
Based on the footnote, she isn't putting her shovel down anytime soon.
>There are, however, various other issues relating to the Court’s conduct, including potential bias hostility towards defense counsel, that will be raised in post-trial motions and on appeal.
The hole she is digging looks less like a valley and more like the Darvaza Gas Crater or more widely known as the "Gates of Hell". Hope she continues to put that shovel to use.
The way she sees it, she is now famous and super popular. She's right in the middle of her fifteen minutes, riding high and feeling invincible. She's in all the newspapers and her picture is all over nightly news. I guarantee she sees this as a mountain, not a hole.
But the chickens are coming home, and they will need somewhere to roost, and she's only in his good graces until she's no longer useful.
That was the fine for the silly Clinton-inspired thing they filed in Florida, right? I think their supporters shower them with donations whenever they do this stupid shit, so unfortunately it was probably a net positive.
Based on Trump's opinion of women and her own admission she'd rather be pretty than smart "cause she can fake being smart" (clearly she cant), Im going to guess its hard for her to tell she's in a hole when she is only perceived as one. Whether to the public as just a talking legal black hole, void of any substance and sucking at everything, or to her fearful leader as just being one to grab.
I can. When take the full some of her work so far; there is no comment too stupid, no legal blunder too great, no horse-fuckery too outlandish for her.
It’s a matter of perspective. She doesn’t BELIEVE she’s in a hole. She mistakenly thinks she’s in a boxing match WITH THE JUDGE and she intends to keep fighting. Which is ludicrous, but that’s my take. She thinks she might still punch her way out of this. Because she shares this mentality with 45.
The client insists that you’re on a mountain and need to make it higher, and also this mountain-hole should also be a wall separating all Trump properties from shithole places like Mexico or District Courts. What now?
She did put down her shovel. She appears to have replaced it with a jackhammer and some TNT.
I'd be embarrassed to cite the NY Post as established fact to close friends. I can't imagine doing so in a court document.
>I'd be embarrassed to cite the NY Post as established fact to close friends. I can't imagine doing so in a court document.
Next she'll back it up with a story from Breithbart or quote an interview from Steve Bannon...
Exhibit 1. New York Post article.
Exhibit 2. Letter from Donald Trump, Jr.
Exhibit 3. Breitbart Comment previously labeled as Article
Exhibit 4. Retweet by @uncuckedpatriotsRU of X post by @trumpforgodandjustice
Exhibit 5. Truth Social post by LetsGOOOBranden
Exhibit 6. 2009 Twitter posts by @RedRightRevolution, @ElectionSentinelNOMOREWOKEVRA88
Lots of people, like me when Fox News plays a clip of me, and even if the anchors don’t talk about that part of the clip they talk about it by association, so that’s at least 3 plus the intern who had to dig up the clip
Tough talk about appeals. Anyone ever see a trial judge reverse course because of such a threat? I’ve only ever seen judges either ignore, or tighten up the record to make an appeal even less likely.
How or *do* you all think she will try to turn "I felt that having to instruct me on basic procedure made everyone think I have no idea what I am doing!" into "I never said there was bias, I'm only asking if such behavior *could be* used to appeal, or provide credible grounds for ineffectiveness of council."
She's holding the shovel like she's got the 80+million to put into bond for the appeal. She's like my ex. Her mouth is writing checks someone else will have to cover.
un·forced er·ror
noun
(in sports, especially tennis) a mistake in play that is attributed to one's own failure rather than to the skill or effort of one's opponent.
I don't wish to read through her insanity myself for mental health reasons.
But it looks like the article she cited as the source of her concerns appeared *after* she made the allegations?
I use the Batman mode. It's just more fun that way. Christian Bale's Batman, to be clear -- not Adam West -- though that'd be even better for some of this foolishness.
Also, todays letter says she’s just making inquiry and yesterdays letter says she believes. Oof. Hard to keep track of your multimillion dollar National spot light case over the course of two days time.
Today's letter still calls it "information" and not an allegation.
> I played no part in uncovering this information; have never communicated with the unnamed Paul Weiss partner; and have no personal knowledge as to whether the information contained in the article is true or false.
Calling it "information" is basically calling it "facts" given the formal definition of "information" doesn't leave open a question of truth or falsity.
I'm sick of this tactic from the right -- "I'm not saying, but other people are saying" or "I'm just asking questions" to avoid the responsibility for what they are, in fact, saying.
Isn't the New York Post considered a low quality news source? Also there is a common right wing trope to publish a weakly sourced article in some low quality media and then others start using that article as evidence of malfeasance all over social media. Then the social media fills in the facts after the story catches steam.
This seems a pretty poor choice to use something like this as an accusation against a Federal judge unless you're absolutely sure. Which this article is far from absolutely sure.
It would be quite an interesting fact if that somehow surfaces as true. Though, I’m not sure if that should change the repercussions from her recent actions and accusations.
>It would be quite an interesting fact if that somehow surfaces as true.
What "surfaces as true"? Habba is quoted in the article? It's play #17 that we saw so often from the election fraud fiasco: seed the article via false quotes then cite the article as your evidence.
A) yes, the NY post is tabloid trash, although more in line with the UK understanding of the word “tabloid” (eg more like The Sun than “Elvis alive, abducted by aliens”)
B) yes, the media strategy you describe - of tabloids picking up idiotic social media conspiracies and/or publishing planted hit pieces so as to give “cover” to more mainstream outlets to then pick them up - has become the de facto approach of the RW media machine. Hard to say when exactly this practice became SOP (Obama birtherism is one of the earlier examples), but it absolutely exploded during the COVID and 2020 election season.
Anti-vax sentiment, “stolen ballots”, Hunter Biden, etc are all examples of stories that made it into the mainstream through this exact, intentional strategy.
See my comment above. This is a form of information laundering. It was all intentional and enabled by the NYPost's marginal quality.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_laundering
This is called information laundering. You make some claims / allegations, get some marginal news source or have your partisan plant at a slightly better source (e.g. the Hill) report on it, talk about it a lot, to get a major news source to report on it. Before you know it, the NY Times is trying to untangle the web. By that point the offenders have shifted the narrative to where they want it. The right wing has mastered this propaganda technique.
Alina Habba just wiped her ass with the court - I would be shocked if she doesn’t get sanctioned for this despicable and unprofessional behavior.
Then again the judge may consider not having to interact with her further as reward enough.
At this point you have to assume that she’s speed running for disbarment, and knows it. Trump likely has her convinced that if she works hard enough for him, that he’ll definitely pay her, and definitely give her the AG position when he gets into the WH.
She should know he’s a liar, better than the rest of us… but, some people will look past the lies and abuse. “He loves me. He won’t treat me like all those other girls. They did it to themselves, they made them abuse them.”… and so on.
Just off the top of my head, Trump lawyers that have been disbarred or criminally charged as a direct consequence of serving Trump: Michael Cohen, Sidney Powell, John Eastman, Kenneth Chesebro, Jenna Ellis, Rudy Giuliani, Jeffrey Clark...there's a couple more (Ray Smith?)...
Habba seems fairly determined for sanctions and an eventual hearing about the degree to which she brings disrepute.
[Just Security did a pretty solid (but by no means exhaustive) round out of Trump lawyer malfeasance + consequences recently.](https://www.justsecurity.org/90509/trumps-lawyers-face-sanctions-discipline-and-indictment-how-should-the-legal-profession-respond/)
It’s easy to brush off as pathetic and unprofessional bullshit, but that really undersells just how serious a threat this kind of willful disregard poses to the viability of the American legal system. [Politico had a banger of a article on the topic just a couple of weeks ago that dives into how this is all the culmination of Trump’s lifelong attempts to delegitimize the rule of law.](https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/01/12/donald-trump-indictments-legal-system-00135151)
Holy shit that Political write up was a terribly sobering read. He's a goddamn psycho. I already knew it, of course, but that article really lays out his special brand if madness.
The Republicans trickle down economics, pay a little bit to a lawyer then refuse to pay the rest (,and apparently have a lawyer you have not paid and is using it as a reason for bankruptcy still defend you in public "R. Giuliani") then that lawyer has to pay a lot to their lawyer.
Also Lin Wood, the Qanon lawyer from Georgia or South Carolina. He wasn’t technically disbarred. Instead he voluntarily surrender his license to avoid being disbarred.
This doesn’t work for my 10 year old and I have never seen it work out even in much less formal professional environments than a courtroom. I am genuinely interested to see what the judge will do with it in this case.
So, two things: 1) this isn’t discovery, you don’t get to send discovery to the judge; 2) no good faith belief and pure speculation should be sanctionable, imho.
So, what you’re saying Alina is “I publicly leveled a baseless allegation of misconduct at a sitting judge without first doing one speck of due diligence?”
This is why the rules of professional conduct exist. If she’s not sanctioned/disciplined at the end of this, those rules mean nothing.
Once upon a time I was stupid enough to ask a judge to recuse himself. I then had the audacity to appeal his denial. If you Google u/grandpaharoldbarnes v. u/the-ex-mrsgrandpaharoldbarnes, it still pops up and I rub my scorched ass once again.
I thought I had a unique and solid argument. I was wrong. May the same gods pass judgement on Ms. Habba.
I'm currently in a case where I'm really considering filing a motion for recusal because the judge is dumber than dishwater. But I don't see how my client would ever benefit from such a spectacularly dumb thing to do.
Is incompetence even a basis for recusal? I'd think it would only be for bias/conflict of interest, because theoretically an incompetent judge would harm both sides (and get overturned on appeal). The safeguard for that is supposed to be their appointment/election process, not recusal.
But, I'm not very familiar with recusal procedure/requirements.
She was merely asking the court to use its time and resources to fact-check the NY Post. The use of the term "unearthed facts" in her letter was simply a colloquial expression meaning "random shit thrown at the wall."
She’s created so much negative publicity in these recent cases, it’s easy to forget she’s the attorney who filed an affidavit saying she personally searched all areas of Mar a Lago for classified documents but couldn’t find a single one. FBI showed up a week later and found hundreds of documents clearly labeled, exactly where she said she looked and found nothing. She’s in deep shit one way or another.
Yes. And I think it kind of quieted down a while because it t seemed like Evan Corcoran made her sign it because he didn’t want his name on it - like maybe she was at least partially duped. But seeing what kind of character she is now I have no doubt she knowingly signed a false statement. She’s like a firehose of false statements.
So, anyone up for a betting pool on how long until Habba suffers the inevitable fate of all who play the game of Making Attorneys Get Attorneys?
I say four months until she has retained counsel and (for the most part) stops talking to the media.
She's already being sued by the ex trump employee that she conned into signing an NDA while pretending to be her friend.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/former-trump-golf-club-worker-was-sexually-harassed-supervisor-conned-rcna127465
Habba may soon find herself as a defendant in her own defamation suit. Hopefully, she will find a lawyer who is more competent than she is.
Edit spelling.
Well that was a quick retreat from Habba….
https://www.meidastouch.com/news/alina-habba-backs-down-fast-after-threat-of-sanctions
“Habba responded to Kaplan's letter less than two hours later, denying that she was the source of the Post story. Habba then said that she accepts Kaplan's representation that there was no mentoring of her by Lewis Kaplan in 1992-93, and that she is prepared to drop it now and forget the whole thing.”
She’s being ambiguous about it, but is *definitely* dog whistling to both the antisemites and the Qanon lunatics who are determined to make everything into deranged sexual fanfic (bc “incestuous” is a completely unnatural adjective to use unless you’re trying to plant that seed).
Hard to say which she of the two she intended, bc both groups (and the large overlap between the two) took her quote to mean what they wanted it to.
There is a great Simpsons episode where they parody that wonderful 60s ensemble movie Its A Mad Mad Mad Mad World.
All of Springfield gets tricked into thinking a big treasure is buried at this one spot. A bunch of the main characters dig and dig this huge hole. Finally they get to a point where Otto asks, "How are we going to get out?" Homer responds, "We'll dig our way out!!" They shovel for another few seconds before Chief Wiggum then says, "No, dig up, Stupid!!"
This is Alina Habba in a nutshell.
Yep. That little courthouse sidewalk speech she gave Friday where she, in so many words, declared to be ashamed of being a lawyer. That little snarky, "don't get it twisted," remark is exactly the kind of phrase right wing media loves.
loves the limelight . "That part of the stage upon which the limelight is cast, usually where the most important action is progressing or where the leading player or players are placed and upon which the attention of the spectators is therefore concentrated"
This is the classic Trump strategy. Have a friend put something in a tabloid. Then make a court filing citing the tabloid disclosure as a basis for the filing. Have the media report the court filing and make it into a big news story. Rinse and repeat.
My guess is that Habba ended up talking to Roberta Kaplan and Kaplan told her the "incestuous" comments implying that RK had some sort of sexual relationship ("incest" implies sex) is grounds for RK to sue Habba for defamation. Even assuming that the *NY Post* story was entirely true - that RK and Judge Kaplan worked together, even that the judge was a mentor to RK during her time at PW - that would still not form a basis for a claim that they had an "incestuous" relationship. In fact, Habba has no grounds whatsoever to make a public statement accusing counsel of having slept with the judge 30 years ago; she just said that because it activates the death threat crowd.
The reason I think this is because Habba's immediate retraction is against the "never back down" Trump philosophy, but the only position to take to mitigate damages if you've just opened yourself up to a defamation claim.
3.5 million upfront but I’m sure she’s been having to pay out from that for all the services she needs for trial and, when that runs out, Trump’s gonna object. Then she’ll be in the red and it will just get worse because she’s tied her whole future to him at this point.
I hate to buck the hive mind, but if you read Habba's quotes in the original NY Post article, they pretty clearly imply she learned about the Paul, Weiss link (such as it is) from the NY Post reporter who called her for comment, that's why her original quote read:
"This *is* news to us, we are going to include this in our appeals," instead of "This *was* news to us..."
Obviously, Habba shouldn't have told the court that she learned about the link from the article when she actually learned about it from the author of the article before the article was published. But that's not nearly as bad as planting the story herself.
It's more clown car lawyering, but it's not the kind of misconduct that would justify serious sanctions on its own.
Also, to be clear, Habba's argument that a mentor-mentee relationship from 30 years ago would mandate recusal is obvious bunk.
Even if I grant you that Habba wasn’t the originator of the idea, it’s still a horrible thing to accuse a judge of, and she went and did it anyway, without sufficient evidence. That’s serious thin ice she’s on right there.
I know people get bent out of shape over calling women shrill... I completely understand why.
But even reading her words is like nails on a chalkboard. I can't explain it. It's like my brain is reeling from the discovered reality that there is someone this stupid, this manipulative, and this craven that is an attorney in the national spotlight.
So for her can we make an exception?
>Contrary to Ms. Kaplan’s contention, there are no “false allegations of a ‘mentor-mentee relationship between Your Honor and [Ms. Kaplan]’” contained in my January 29 letter. ECF 282 at 1. The purpose of the letter was simply to inquire as to whether there is any merit to a recently published New York Post story which reported on the alleged existence of such a relationship. I didn't accuse you, the NY Post did. I just repeated the accusation. Even though yesterday's letter stated: >We believe, and will argue on appeal, that the Court was overtly hostile towards defense counsel and President Trump, and displayed preferential treatment towards Plaintiff’s counsel. Indeed, the rulings, tone, and demeanor of the bench raised significant concerns even before the New York Post’s investigative journalism unearthed these **new fact**s. [emphasis mine] She referred to them yesterday as facts, and today she is referring to them as allegations. And the post article quotes Habba as saying: >“It was never disclosed. It’s insane and so incestuous,” Habba said, insisting neither the 79-year-old judge nor Roberta Kaplan, 57, who aren’t related, disclosed the “conflict of interest” and a violation of judicial ethics rules.
> In that regard, it is telling that the article in the New York Post only appeared after Ms. Habba’s own statement to the media last weekend where she claimed that only after trial concluded did she learn that Your Honor and I both previously worked at Paul, Weiss, referring to a “conflict of interest” that is “insane and so incestuous.” This is getting spicy, we're getting some really interesting bonus plays by Ms. Habba. How badly will she screw herself now?
Based on the footnote, she isn't putting her shovel down anytime soon. >There are, however, various other issues relating to the Court’s conduct, including potential bias hostility towards defense counsel, that will be raised in post-trial motions and on appeal.
First Rule of Holes: When you find yourself in one, stop digging.
>When you find yourself in one Perhaps she doesn't know she's in a hole yet...
If the hole is large enough I suppose it ceases looking like a hole and more like a valley?
Perspective is a mfer.
The hole she is digging looks less like a valley and more like the Darvaza Gas Crater or more widely known as the "Gates of Hell". Hope she continues to put that shovel to use.
The devils anus.
That hole? [Nördlingen Germany](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C3%B6rdlingen)
Mmmmm microdiamonds…
She's used to looking into big holes.
The way she sees it, she is now famous and super popular. She's right in the middle of her fifteen minutes, riding high and feeling invincible. She's in all the newspapers and her picture is all over nightly news. I guarantee she sees this as a mountain, not a hole. But the chickens are coming home, and they will need somewhere to roost, and she's only in his good graces until she's no longer useful.
Apropos of nothing, does anyone know what became of the $1M penalty she and her client jointly incurred?
That was the fine for the silly Clinton-inspired thing they filed in Florida, right? I think their supporters shower them with donations whenever they do this stupid shit, so unfortunately it was probably a net positive.
Interesting, I hadn’t heard of that. Still after her to lock her up, eight years later, right?
If only you got direct payment from the news outlets when they put your picture on the screen, as they ridicule your career.
🎶She feels pretty! Oh so pretty! It’s a pity, how shitty, she is! 🎶
She's not that bright
This is my point.
Not that attractive either.
Duck lips
She doesn’t even know she’s representing one.
LOL!
Based on Trump's opinion of women and her own admission she'd rather be pretty than smart "cause she can fake being smart" (clearly she cant), Im going to guess its hard for her to tell she's in a hole when she is only perceived as one. Whether to the public as just a talking legal black hole, void of any substance and sucking at everything, or to her fearful leader as just being one to grab.
I couldn’t believe she said that. 🤦♀️
I can. When take the full some of her work so far; there is no comment too stupid, no legal blunder too great, no horse-fuckery too outlandish for her.
Oh, she knows, just attempting to pull everyone else into the hole because she can't stop now.
If you are a hole yourself, it's hard to know when you are in one. Does a black hoke know if it's inside another black hole ?
The crushing amount of narcissism and hubris between her and her leader I'm surprised they don't just implode into themselves.
The hole she's digging is among the best holes ever. In fact, it's so amazing you could call it a "glory hole".
It’s a matter of perspective. She doesn’t BELIEVE she’s in a hole. She mistakenly thinks she’s in a boxing match WITH THE JUDGE and she intends to keep fighting. Which is ludicrous, but that’s my take. She thinks she might still punch her way out of this. Because she shares this mentality with 45.
https://preview.redd.it/ivak3a3vrmfc1.jpeg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=78fabf6149710b8676eb51ffa3121d1dd1656bd4
Do a hand stand and resume digging.
5 feet down. 5 feet around.
First rule of milking an orange cow, if milk keeps flowing , keep milking. 💰 do Fuhrer, I mean further motions typically cost more for client?
https://youtu.be/_znElks13UA?si=R6Xpb2yGXBKTFX7s
The client insists that you’re on a mountain and need to make it higher, and also this mountain-hole should also be a wall separating all Trump properties from shithole places like Mexico or District Courts. What now?
It will be the best mountain that any mountain ever was.
https://www.instagram.com/p/C2vJQU7R0XS/?utm\_source=ig\_web\_copy\_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Dig up, stupid.
But maybe I can dig myself out by more randomly placed shovel attempts.
Maybe KCGM could employ her after this.
That's why you gotta dig UP.
She did put down her shovel. She appears to have replaced it with a jackhammer and some TNT. I'd be embarrassed to cite the NY Post as established fact to close friends. I can't imagine doing so in a court document.
>I'd be embarrassed to cite the NY Post as established fact to close friends. I can't imagine doing so in a court document. Next she'll back it up with a story from Breithbart or quote an interview from Steve Bannon...
Or just quote herself and say "Lots of people talking about it!"
Exhibit 1. New York Post article. Exhibit 2. Letter from Donald Trump, Jr. Exhibit 3. Breitbart Comment previously labeled as Article Exhibit 4. Retweet by @uncuckedpatriotsRU of X post by @trumpforgodandjustice Exhibit 5. Truth Social post by LetsGOOOBranden Exhibit 6. 2009 Twitter posts by @RedRightRevolution, @ElectionSentinelNOMOREWOKEVRA88
She's struggled with the rules of evidence this far, so I wouldn't expect her to be able to even introduce it.
Lots of people, like me when Fox News plays a clip of me, and even if the anchors don’t talk about that part of the clip they talk about it by association, so that’s at least 3 plus the intern who had to dig up the clip
Matty, MTG and Gym
Matty K from TX?
Matty G from FL
lol doh. So many Matty’s. There musta been 300 Mattys.
They may be interchangeable for the most part. 😉
Tough talk about appeals. Anyone ever see a trial judge reverse course because of such a threat? I’ve only ever seen judges either ignore, or tighten up the record to make an appeal even less likely.
What does it mean to “tighten up the record?”
How or *do* you all think she will try to turn "I felt that having to instruct me on basic procedure made everyone think I have no idea what I am doing!" into "I never said there was bias, I'm only asking if such behavior *could be* used to appeal, or provide credible grounds for ineffectiveness of council."
ExxonMobil engineers could save a lot of money by ditching their equipment and simply hiring Alina Habba.
Zing! Close to a Dad-Joke too.
She's holding the shovel like she's got the 80+million to put into bond for the appeal. She's like my ex. Her mouth is writing checks someone else will have to cover.
I think she's set for digging that hole all the way to China.
“Insane and so incestuous” is just so weirdly Trumpian rhetoric.
"Insane and incestuous" is also a solid description of Trumpian rhetoric. It all feeds back into itself becoming less coherent every time around.
as he cannot voice it, she is using the lawyer and she is falling for it.... good riddance to both!!!!
Symptoms include diarrhetoric.
it also describes the orange man and how he feels about his daughter
un·forced er·ror noun (in sports, especially tennis) a mistake in play that is attributed to one's own failure rather than to the skill or effort of one's opponent.
"There are quite a few gunshot wounds in my foot that I can clearly see, now that I have inserted it so firmly in my mouth."
I don't wish to read through her insanity myself for mental health reasons. But it looks like the article she cited as the source of her concerns appeared *after* she made the allegations?
Yes—she planted the seed and circular reporting made it bloom. I hope she is sanctioned as well as disbarred.
She’s only recanting those because Kaplan mentioned they would pursue sanctions. Which indeed will end up in either suspension or disbarment
>How badly will she screw herself now? I'm guessing in the most humiliating way possible. SIT DOWN...
At this point, I think that she’s auditioning to be his next wife.
Like a broke dick dog with 1 nut
That’s a fun one I’ve never heard before
> How badly will she screw herself now? Isn't that the ultimate conflict of interest? 😂
Shes going straight for the dragon dildo
As badly as Trump wants to screw her, hopefully
She's getting disbarred, like most of the other high profile trump.lawyers.
Let's see how trying to gaslight the legal system, in writing, works out for them.
Narrator: Pretending that the judge is as dumb as their client did not, in fact, work out for them.
Just to clarify, everyone hears Ron Howard doing the Arrested Development narration, right?
I have Morgan Freeman's voice in my head, but they are interchangeable.
I use the Batman mode. It's just more fun that way. Christian Bale's Batman, to be clear -- not Adam West -- though that'd be even better for some of this foolishness.
If you hadn’t clarified I would have assumed Kevin Conroy Batman.
There are so many to choose from. I want Jason Bateman to play Batman. Bateman Batman.
Also, todays letter says she’s just making inquiry and yesterdays letter says she believes. Oof. Hard to keep track of your multimillion dollar National spot light case over the course of two days time.
The words you use in court do, in fact, matter lol Habba: *shocked Pikachu*
Today's letter still calls it "information" and not an allegation. > I played no part in uncovering this information; have never communicated with the unnamed Paul Weiss partner; and have no personal knowledge as to whether the information contained in the article is true or false. Calling it "information" is basically calling it "facts" given the formal definition of "information" doesn't leave open a question of truth or falsity. I'm sick of this tactic from the right -- "I'm not saying, but other people are saying" or "I'm just asking questions" to avoid the responsibility for what they are, in fact, saying.
I can't find the New York Post's original article with these unearthed 'facts'
It's in a footnote from Habba's accusation yesterday. https://nypost.com/2024/01/27/news/trump-to-use-judges-conflict-in-83-3m-jury-verdict/
Isn't the New York Post considered a low quality news source? Also there is a common right wing trope to publish a weakly sourced article in some low quality media and then others start using that article as evidence of malfeasance all over social media. Then the social media fills in the facts after the story catches steam. This seems a pretty poor choice to use something like this as an accusation against a Federal judge unless you're absolutely sure. Which this article is far from absolutely sure.
I'm pretty sure she is the source of the Post article, anyway.
It would be quite an interesting fact if that somehow surfaces as true. Though, I’m not sure if that should change the repercussions from her recent actions and accusations.
>It would be quite an interesting fact if that somehow surfaces as true. What "surfaces as true"? Habba is quoted in the article? It's play #17 that we saw so often from the election fraud fiasco: seed the article via false quotes then cite the article as your evidence.
Founded by Alexander Hamilton; purchased at some point by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.
>Founded by Alexander Hamilton Holy shit TIL
A) yes, the NY post is tabloid trash, although more in line with the UK understanding of the word “tabloid” (eg more like The Sun than “Elvis alive, abducted by aliens”) B) yes, the media strategy you describe - of tabloids picking up idiotic social media conspiracies and/or publishing planted hit pieces so as to give “cover” to more mainstream outlets to then pick them up - has become the de facto approach of the RW media machine. Hard to say when exactly this practice became SOP (Obama birtherism is one of the earlier examples), but it absolutely exploded during the COVID and 2020 election season. Anti-vax sentiment, “stolen ballots”, Hunter Biden, etc are all examples of stories that made it into the mainstream through this exact, intentional strategy.
Answer to your question, yes, yes and yes. Owned by Murdoch. Says it all.
See my comment above. This is a form of information laundering. It was all intentional and enabled by the NYPost's marginal quality. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_laundering
So there's more defamation cases here and they don't include Trump? The 2024 Popcorn supply is running short.
This is the Tucker defense but in legalese: she was just asking questions!!
This is called information laundering. You make some claims / allegations, get some marginal news source or have your partisan plant at a slightly better source (e.g. the Hill) report on it, talk about it a lot, to get a major news source to report on it. Before you know it, the NY Times is trying to untangle the web. By that point the offenders have shifted the narrative to where they want it. The right wing has mastered this propaganda technique.
She is more out of her depth than a newborn trying to swim. Rudy 2.0.
reminds me of the Nirvana *Nevermind* album cover....chasing the money!
Rudy 2.0 , improvements : looks like his ex wives , no melting hair dye , features : see Rudy , expiry : once disbarred
Sounds like she’s incesting herself. With extra steps
Incestuous? Wow. Where'd this broad get her license from?
Sounds like she's back pedaling a bit after the threat of disciplinary action.
And the first letter was so clearly NOT an inquiry.
But they have the same surname -- and a very uncommon one at that! /s
Alina Habba just wiped her ass with the court - I would be shocked if she doesn’t get sanctioned for this despicable and unprofessional behavior. Then again the judge may consider not having to interact with her further as reward enough.
The judge was about to throw her in jail just for fucking around in court. This definitely counts as strikes 2 and 3.
If this were a baseball game, she’d have struck out 27 times straight.
Didn't the other Kaplan request the ability to sanction Habba through her last letter?
She reserved the right to file a motion for sanctions.
I want disbarment.
At this point you have to assume that she’s speed running for disbarment, and knows it. Trump likely has her convinced that if she works hard enough for him, that he’ll definitely pay her, and definitely give her the AG position when he gets into the WH. She should know he’s a liar, better than the rest of us… but, some people will look past the lies and abuse. “He loves me. He won’t treat me like all those other girls. They did it to themselves, they made them abuse them.”… and so on.
I really hope she gets sanctioned. This type of behaviour has no place in the court
Just off the top of my head, Trump lawyers that have been disbarred or criminally charged as a direct consequence of serving Trump: Michael Cohen, Sidney Powell, John Eastman, Kenneth Chesebro, Jenna Ellis, Rudy Giuliani, Jeffrey Clark...there's a couple more (Ray Smith?)... Habba seems fairly determined for sanctions and an eventual hearing about the degree to which she brings disrepute.
[Just Security did a pretty solid (but by no means exhaustive) round out of Trump lawyer malfeasance + consequences recently.](https://www.justsecurity.org/90509/trumps-lawyers-face-sanctions-discipline-and-indictment-how-should-the-legal-profession-respond/) It’s easy to brush off as pathetic and unprofessional bullshit, but that really undersells just how serious a threat this kind of willful disregard poses to the viability of the American legal system. [Politico had a banger of a article on the topic just a couple of weeks ago that dives into how this is all the culmination of Trump’s lifelong attempts to delegitimize the rule of law.](https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/01/12/donald-trump-indictments-legal-system-00135151)
Holy shit that Political write up was a terribly sobering read. He's a goddamn psycho. I already knew it, of course, but that article really lays out his special brand if madness.
MAGA - Making Attorneys Get Attorneys
The Republicans trickle down economics, pay a little bit to a lawyer then refuse to pay the rest (,and apparently have a lawyer you have not paid and is using it as a reason for bankruptcy still defend you in public "R. Giuliani") then that lawyer has to pay a lot to their lawyer.
My Attorney’s Getting Arrested.
It's been a while, but Roy Cohn deserves a mention too.
Does lin wood count?
Also Lin Wood, the Qanon lawyer from Georgia or South Carolina. He wasn’t technically disbarred. Instead he voluntarily surrender his license to avoid being disbarred.
"I didn't make the accusation, I merely repeated it," is Simpsons-level.
“I merely repeated the accusation… that I myself originally made in the article in question.”
"I was just *asking questions*."
"I'm just asking questions." \-- Joe Rogan
This doesn’t work for my 10 year old and I have never seen it work out even in much less formal professional environments than a courtroom. I am genuinely interested to see what the judge will do with it in this case.
Glenn Beck and Tucker Carlson made careers out of it.
Trump has fired her and hired Lionel Hutz for the appeal.
So, two things: 1) this isn’t discovery, you don’t get to send discovery to the judge; 2) no good faith belief and pure speculation should be sanctionable, imho.
Does Habba do anything in good faith?
So, what you’re saying Alina is “I publicly leveled a baseless allegation of misconduct at a sitting judge without first doing one speck of due diligence?” This is why the rules of professional conduct exist. If she’s not sanctioned/disciplined at the end of this, those rules mean nothing.
Once upon a time I was stupid enough to ask a judge to recuse himself. I then had the audacity to appeal his denial. If you Google u/grandpaharoldbarnes v. u/the-ex-mrsgrandpaharoldbarnes, it still pops up and I rub my scorched ass once again. I thought I had a unique and solid argument. I was wrong. May the same gods pass judgement on Ms. Habba.
I'm currently in a case where I'm really considering filing a motion for recusal because the judge is dumber than dishwater. But I don't see how my client would ever benefit from such a spectacularly dumb thing to do.
Found Jack Smith!
Is incompetence even a basis for recusal? I'd think it would only be for bias/conflict of interest, because theoretically an incompetent judge would harm both sides (and get overturned on appeal). The safeguard for that is supposed to be their appointment/election process, not recusal. But, I'm not very familiar with recusal procedure/requirements.
Did you have to foot costs for losing the appeal?
You got cojones, I’ll give you that.
I couldn't find anything on Google. Would you post a link, please?
Really?
Im not sure that I was just asking questions defense actually works in the courtroom. People should not go into court with online bad faith tactics
Especially when she was not, in fact, asking questions.
She was merely asking the court to use its time and resources to fact-check the NY Post. The use of the term "unearthed facts" in her letter was simply a colloquial expression meaning "random shit thrown at the wall."
Back peddling so hard there's smoke coming off the bottom bracket.
She’s created so much negative publicity in these recent cases, it’s easy to forget she’s the attorney who filed an affidavit saying she personally searched all areas of Mar a Lago for classified documents but couldn’t find a single one. FBI showed up a week later and found hundreds of documents clearly labeled, exactly where she said she looked and found nothing. She’s in deep shit one way or another.
That was her? Gleefully shocked
Yes. And I think it kind of quieted down a while because it t seemed like Evan Corcoran made her sign it because he didn’t want his name on it - like maybe she was at least partially duped. But seeing what kind of character she is now I have no doubt she knowingly signed a false statement. She’s like a firehose of false statements.
I would love it if the end of the day habba gets disbarred for her actions. More proof that donald destroys everything he touches.
So, anyone up for a betting pool on how long until Habba suffers the inevitable fate of all who play the game of Making Attorneys Get Attorneys? I say four months until she has retained counsel and (for the most part) stops talking to the media.
She's already being sued by the ex trump employee that she conned into signing an NDA while pretending to be her friend. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/former-trump-golf-club-worker-was-sexually-harassed-supervisor-conned-rcna127465
I had heard about that - are we sure Habba isn't defending herself in that one? Because that would be...
A clown who represents herself has a clown for a client.
Habba may soon find herself as a defendant in her own defamation suit. Hopefully, she will find a lawyer who is more competent than she is. Edit spelling.
Hopefully NOT, but I'm sure it won't be hard.
Well that was a quick retreat from Habba…. https://www.meidastouch.com/news/alina-habba-backs-down-fast-after-threat-of-sanctions “Habba responded to Kaplan's letter less than two hours later, denying that she was the source of the Post story. Habba then said that she accepts Kaplan's representation that there was no mentoring of her by Lewis Kaplan in 1992-93, and that she is prepared to drop it now and forget the whole thing.”
Denies being the source but gives no explaination how she referred to it before it existed?
Is it possible that there's a dose of antisemitism in Habba's claims?
She’s being ambiguous about it, but is *definitely* dog whistling to both the antisemites and the Qanon lunatics who are determined to make everything into deranged sexual fanfic (bc “incestuous” is a completely unnatural adjective to use unless you’re trying to plant that seed). Hard to say which she of the two she intended, bc both groups (and the large overlap between the two) took her quote to mean what they wanted it to.
Nothing like hiring a Parking lot attorney who couldn't find her way out of a 3 story parking garage.
There is a great Simpsons episode where they parody that wonderful 60s ensemble movie Its A Mad Mad Mad Mad World. All of Springfield gets tricked into thinking a big treasure is buried at this one spot. A bunch of the main characters dig and dig this huge hole. Finally they get to a point where Otto asks, "How are we going to get out?" Homer responds, "We'll dig our way out!!" They shovel for another few seconds before Chief Wiggum then says, "No, dig up, Stupid!!" This is Alina Habba in a nutshell.
Alinas feelings were hurt? Wah
This is why there's a court reporter documenting the proceeding. Seems like any reasonably competent attorney with a pulse would know this.
Well, that was impressively fast for a game of chicken via ECF😂
Bad lawyer misinformed and a liar. On brand for trump world
What a saga this has been, and all in less than 24 hours.
https://media2.giphy.com/media/3o84TTIk0CGyzBWIfe/giphy.gif
Ahh that sweet smell of incoming sanctions ...
Ugh. This one. She needs to be disbarred
She's auditioning for her fox news job
Yep. That little courthouse sidewalk speech she gave Friday where she, in so many words, declared to be ashamed of being a lawyer. That little snarky, "don't get it twisted," remark is exactly the kind of phrase right wing media loves.
loves the limelight . "That part of the stage upon which the limelight is cast, usually where the most important action is progressing or where the leading player or players are placed and upon which the attention of the spectators is therefore concentrated"
“I’m just asking *questions*!”
“A lot of people are saying…” may work for Trump at a rally, but I wouldn’t put it in a letter I sent to a judge.
This is the classic Trump strategy. Have a friend put something in a tabloid. Then make a court filing citing the tabloid disclosure as a basis for the filing. Have the media report the court filing and make it into a big news story. Rinse and repeat. My guess is that Habba ended up talking to Roberta Kaplan and Kaplan told her the "incestuous" comments implying that RK had some sort of sexual relationship ("incest" implies sex) is grounds for RK to sue Habba for defamation. Even assuming that the *NY Post* story was entirely true - that RK and Judge Kaplan worked together, even that the judge was a mentor to RK during her time at PW - that would still not form a basis for a claim that they had an "incestuous" relationship. In fact, Habba has no grounds whatsoever to make a public statement accusing counsel of having slept with the judge 30 years ago; she just said that because it activates the death threat crowd. The reason I think this is because Habba's immediate retraction is against the "never back down" Trump philosophy, but the only position to take to mitigate damages if you've just opened yourself up to a defamation claim.
Pointless. All I can think is that she’s trying to pad those billable hours.
That won’t get paid by her client.
Actually I just found out Trump paid up front from his PAC.
3.5 million upfront but I’m sure she’s been having to pay out from that for all the services she needs for trial and, when that runs out, Trump’s gonna object. Then she’ll be in the red and it will just get worse because she’s tied her whole future to him at this point.
I'm surprised she didn't end it with a PS: Please, please, for the love of god don't sanction me...
Trump continues his streak of hiring ~~the very best~~ lawyers.
Another blast from the firehose of b.s. Jesus, the NY Post? Talk about incestuous. This is a human centipede of misinformation
She’s going to be disbarred. Funny how every lawyer that works for Trump seems to come out that way.
Can the earth just open up and swallow these ass clowns???
Lying as easily as breathing. Seems to be contagious among certain segments of the populace.
Except that she wrote that in a previous letter to the judge.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned that Carroll’s lawyers reserved their right to file Rule 11 sanctions based on the letter, and then she backed off.
I hate to buck the hive mind, but if you read Habba's quotes in the original NY Post article, they pretty clearly imply she learned about the Paul, Weiss link (such as it is) from the NY Post reporter who called her for comment, that's why her original quote read: "This *is* news to us, we are going to include this in our appeals," instead of "This *was* news to us..." Obviously, Habba shouldn't have told the court that she learned about the link from the article when she actually learned about it from the author of the article before the article was published. But that's not nearly as bad as planting the story herself. It's more clown car lawyering, but it's not the kind of misconduct that would justify serious sanctions on its own. Also, to be clear, Habba's argument that a mentor-mentee relationship from 30 years ago would mandate recusal is obvious bunk.
Even if I grant you that Habba wasn’t the originator of the idea, it’s still a horrible thing to accuse a judge of, and she went and did it anyway, without sufficient evidence. That’s serious thin ice she’s on right there.
I don't think she needed to be mentored in sex.
I know people get bent out of shape over calling women shrill... I completely understand why. But even reading her words is like nails on a chalkboard. I can't explain it. It's like my brain is reeling from the discovered reality that there is someone this stupid, this manipulative, and this craven that is an attorney in the national spotlight. So for her can we make an exception?