Alina Habba's two-day effort to discredit E. Jean Carroll's defamation case collapsed Thursday under the weight of a single question from the former journalist's attorney, an ex-prosecutor said.
Habba hoped to prove the damages Carroll contends she suffered occurred before then-President Donald Trump publicly accused her of lying about his sexual abuse in the 1990s, writes Joyce Vance.
"Carroll's lawyer Robbie Kaplan cut out that argument's legs with one question," Vance wrote.
The question, as per Inner City Press, was this: "Did any of the tweets before Donald Trump's statement call you a Democratic operative or say that you should be raped?"
"No," Carroll reportedly replied. "Neither."
Vance said the answer demolished Habba's argument that the damage to Carroll's reputation had already been done before Trump defamed her in 2019.
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This is just one instance showcasing what Vance has described as Habba's '"embarrassing" efforts to defend Trump in the New York City civil defamation trial. Carroll claims Trump defamed her when he denied sexually abusing her, an attack he was found liable for in a separate trial last year.
Trump denies wrongdoing, but federal Judge Lewis Kaplan has already found him liable for defaming Carroll in 2019 — meaning the ongoing trial is largely to determine damages.
Last year, Trump was also found liable for the sexual abuse and defaming Carroll on a different occasion.
Legal experts say Trump's hostile behavior and Habba's repeated courtroom incompetence will do little to impress the jury.
"I would liken him to the Titanic," Dave Aronberg said on MSNBC Thursday morning. "But at least the Titanic had a band."
