Donald Trump lawyer Alina Habba celebrated a judge lifting a gag order on her client as she accused New York Attorney General Letitia James of “extortion” and “fighting for Deutsche Bank.”
The fiery Trump lawyer said the former president won’t be “sad” if he can’t do business in New York when the trial is over, but insists the Trump Organization has done “no harm.”
Meanwhile, Habba suppressed speculation that the case was nearing a settlement.
“It would be a very difficult position for me to be in at this point in time to advise my client to pay for what is effectively extortion,” Habba told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview. ‘Letitia James fights for Deutsche Bank.’
Habba suppressed speculation that the case was nearing a settlement
“Death threats are a normal part of my life at the moment,” she told DailyMail.com
The attorney general has alleged that the Trump Organization used Deutsche Bank, the largest lender, by inflating the value of Trump’s companies to secure favorable loans for his hotels.
‘What damage has the Trump Organization done? They have created 1,000 jobs. They pay hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes… they have single-handedly changed the city skyline,” she continued.
The punishment for Trump could be that he is no longer allowed to do business in New York.
“I don’t think he’ll be too sad to leave at this point,” Habba said of her client. ‘I know he has fond memories of it. I just don’t think the city is what it used to be.”
Judge Arthur Engoron last week rejected Trump’s demands for a mistrial after his lawyers argued that Engoron had shown political bias. The Trump team had cited Engoron’s close consultation with his legal clerk Allison Greenfield, along with his articles on the case in a high school alumni newsletter.
But an appeals court has at least temporarily lifted a silence order that Engoron imposed on Trump and his legal team over threats made against Greenfield in the first place.
“The Appellate Division saw this for what it was: it was an unconstitutional exercise of a silence order without due process.”
Habba said she and her team also face constant threats.
“Death threats are a normal part of my life at the moment,” she told DailyMail.com. “It just is what it is and that’s okay. Because that’s part of being in front of the camera, and I’m not going to blame Jack Smith and Letitia James.”
A member of the Trump team shared a death threat against Habba from a man in prison for rape, harassment and stalking.
Habba will appear in court with former President Trump on November 6. Trump is expected to appear in court again before the trial concludes
“If you don’t get the authorities to investigate the information I have given you, when I get out of jail I will come and kill you,” wrote inmate Brian Gann.
Habba dismissed the threats and said extra security measures are included.
“Think about the people who do that at two o’clock on a weekday, you know, they’re trolls.”
She also denounced Hunter Biden’s “ridiculous” request to subpoena Trump in the case against the president’s son for tax and gun crimes.
“I’m not sure why Hunter would want to draw more attention to this terrible case where he committed his actions to be solely his own doing,” Habba said.
“How President Trump would ever be involved is beyond me. But you know what, the Biden family lacks accountability.”
Biden’s lawyers argue that there were “certain instances that appear to suggest that Trump exerted relentless, inappropriate and partisan pressure on his then-Attorney General William Barr and two top deputies, Jeffrey Rosen and Richard Donoghue.”
Charges against Hunter were not filed until this year, but the investigation into his taxes and a gun purchase began in 2018, while Trump was president.
Meanwhile, Trump’s lawyers will parade expert witnesses this week to testify on behalf of the former president as the trial drags on for a month.
Judge Engoron ruled before the trial began that Trump and his co-defendants were liable for fraud, and he will determine the sentence when the trial ends.
James has asked that Trump be fined $250 million and banned from doing business in New York.
Trump, who has denied any wrongdoing, instead insisted the assets had no objective value and that varying valuations are standard in real estate.