Alina Habba (Photo by Evelyn Hockstein for Reuters)
A new bombshell corruption story published by The New York Times on Tuesday detailed how the family of a billionaire seeking a pardon from the Trump administration gave a $50 million deal to Alina Habba, a far-right lawyer involved in many of the president's personal dealings and who had briefly headed up the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey before being disqualified by federal courts.
The revelation, which came amid a broader power struggle within the Trump orbit between Habba and MAGA loyalist Ric Grenell over Kennedy Center funding, drew astonishment from legal and political observers — some of whom said it was orders of magnitude greater than the scandal that just brought down Trump's Ambassador to Greece, Kimberly Guilfoyle.
"Alina Habba was an advisor to the Attorney General, was interim US Attorney in New Jersey, and all the while was negotiating a massive bribe to get a Venezuelan billionaire a pardon," wrote Obama administration staffer and podcaster Tommy Vietor.
"Corruption endemic in the admin. Republicans refuse to self police, and are complicit," wrote American Bridge chief Pat Dennis.
"Oh, so there’s a pardon scandal at the center of the Kennedy Center grift fight between Ric and Alina," wrote former Ted Cruz staffer turned anti-Trump activist Amanda Carpenter. "The corruption wonders never cease."
"Pay to play corruption is so rampant with the Mar-a-Lago Mafia you can’t keep up..." wrote former Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-VA).
"Kimberly Guilfoyle out here begging for $100k to set up meetings while Alina Habba cashing $50M checks," wrote San Francisco based entrepreneur Deva Hazarika.
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