Trump lawyer Alina Habba brags about being hit with $1M fine from judge: report – Raw Story
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Donald Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba bragged to a crowd of conservatives Sunday about a $1 million fine she and the former president were hit with for filing “frivolous” lawsuits.
The lawyer was talking to a crowd at "AmericaFest," a conference sponsored by the right-wing Turning Point USA.
The fine in question was handed down by Florida Judge Donald Middlebrooks after he threw out lawsuits that claimed 31 defendants had conspired to push claims of Trump ties to Russia in an effort to ruin his chances of winning the 2016 election. The suits were dismissed in September 2022, with Middlebrooks sanctioning Trump and his lawyer for a "continuing pattern of misuse of the courts.”
In Phoenix Sunday, Newsweek reported, Habba said she and Trump paid the fine, while pointing out that Middlebooks was a Bill Clinton-nominated judge — the husband of Trump’s 2016 opponent.
"What do you think happened?” she asked the crowd.
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“Nobody's heard of the case, right? Because it's gone. I never met the judge. I never walked into the courtroom. There were probably 50 lawyers representing all of the radical left."
"One month, it got dismissed, and me and President Trump got sanctioned a million dollars for going against crooked Hillary."
She went on, "But guess what? We paid that million and we're going to keep on fighting."
Her comments confused legal experts.
"This is very strange,” Mark S. Zaid, a Washington attorney, posted on X. “Apparently she wants publicity about how unethical a lawyer she is."
Donald Trump on Tuesday was put on notice by his niece and an attorney in connection with the former president's latest legal loss in Colorado.
Mary Trump, who is never hesitant to be critical of her uncle and his purported means of accumulating his wealth, just recently highlighted issues in her uncle's "legal fund scam."
On Tuesday, she published an interview on Substack with Joe Gallina, an attorney from Call to Activism, in which Mary Trump says said she is celebrating "Fabulous news today from the Colorado Supreme Court."
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Mary Trump asked Gallina about the ruling, and the lawyer said "wonderful day for the rule of law, for democracy and the Constitution."
"We really do have a lot to celebrate," the lawyer wrote. "Obviously, tomorrow's another day you could end up before the Supreme Court, but today, I feel as someone who has been shouting from the rooftops about how terrible Donald Trump has been since the moment he announced, I feel a little vindicated that the Supreme Court of Colorado says that he was an insurrectionist and incited an insurrection. I feel very vindicated for that reason."
Gallina added that, when you go through the decision, "it really is amazing."
"And I want to read one sentence the court says, and I quote, we conclude that the foregoing evidence established that President Trump engaged in insurrection. I'm going to read that one more time. We conclude that the foregoing evidence established that President Trump engaged in insurrection," the lawyer wrote. "So I'm going to talk to Donald directly. I'm going to say, Donald, your gig is up. You're an insurrectionist. According to the Colorado Supreme Court, you engaged in insurrection, the question is answered. Everyone who's reading this should know that you are an insurrectionist. You deserve to lose in 2024, and I hope you are wiped off the ballot in every state of the union because you deserve it."
He further added that the decision puts constitutional conservatives in a tough spot as they battle hypocrisy.
"I think that this decision tonight was a landmark decision; it was a historic decision. It’s a huge, huge victory for the Constitution and a plain reading of the Constitution, which I'm sure we'll talk about. The Constitutionalists now who tend to be conservative have a nightmare tonight because this ruling is actually correct and when you read it, it makes sense. And so now they're going to be in the hot seat to approve it. However, I will say that this decision was the best that could have come, and it was also the most obvious one. And so we'll see how it plays out."
Trump may need to dazzle to win over the Supreme Court when attempting to show he didn't have a chance to deny he's an insurrectionist.
Former Solicitor General attorney Neal Katyal appearing on MSNBC's "The Last Word" with Lawrence O'Donnell Tuesday night made it clear that the Supreme Court won't be easily swayed should it consider an appeal by Trump to prove what he believes will be their main beef: that the former president wasn't afforded enough opportunity prove his case.
"Trump had every opportunity in the Colorado court to present his side of the case," Katyal said. "He presented it. He lost."
"And so at this point he has had, I think, his shot."
The Colorado court in a 4 to 3 ruling held that the U.S. Constitution forbids Trump, who remains the dominant leader to claim the GOP nomination in 2024, from appearing on the primary ballot as a consequence for allegedly inciting a mob to turn to violence at the Capitol as lawmakers were in the process of certifying the results of the 2020 election to then President-Elect Joe Biden.
"We do not reach these conclusions lightly," the majority justices wrote. "We are mindful of the magnitude and weight of the questions now before us. We are likewise mindful of our solemn duty to apply the law, without fear or favor, and without being swayed by public reaction to the decisions that the law mandates we reach."
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Trump's campaign called the court decision "undemocratic" and vowed to appeal it to the nation's highest court.
The lawsuit that was brought by local voters is part of a sprawling attempt in multiple states to scratch the 45th president off state ballots, citing section 3 of the Civil War-era 14th Amendment that was put into law to ward off those backing the Confederacy from serving in office.
The ruling sets the stage for the Supreme Court, whose 6-3 conservative majority includes three Trump appointees, to consider whether Trump is eligible to serve another term as president.
Katyal believes Trump attempting to argue that the presidency is somehow "exempt" from the 14th Amendment is a "pretty weak constitutional argument."
Watch the video below or click the link here.
The Supreme Court may have their work cut out for them.
A former House Jan. 6 investigator is convinced trying to overturn Tuesday's 4 to 3 ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court disqualifying former President Donald Trump from appearing on the 2024 presidential primary ballot will be a tall order.
"I think the Supreme Court will have to look seriously at this and I think this will be tough to overrule," said Temidayo Aganda-Williams during an appearance on CNN's "NewsNight" with Abby Phillip. "And the Supreme Court may take some off-ramps here.
He spoke to these briefly as possibly finding chinks in the case where either the voters in Colorado or their proxy plaintiffs being the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) may lack standing or fail to have jurisdiction.
The state court's decision affects its March 5 Republican primary, however it could also jeopardize Trump's status in the state for next year's Nov. 5 general election.
After the announcement, Trump confirmed he would contest the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court and so the decision will be delayed until at least Jan. 4 to allow him to see that appeal through to the end.
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Whatever transpires when the Supreme Court takes up the case, Aranda-Williams believes there needs to be some serious effort put into the opinions that are generated to meet the moment and set a definitive answer to determine exactly what Trump's role was in the leadup to and on the day of the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol.
"I think what the American people are owed an opinion that goes to the heart and the merits of the case, which is, one, whether the former president engaged in insurrection against the Constitution.
"I think that's what the court has to answer here."
Watch the video below or click here.
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