'Big scoop': Trump lawyer spins out over 'October surprise' scandal exposed by NYT

Alina Habba, President Donald Trump’s former lawyer, is pushing back hard on a New York Times report about her work for the family of a billionaire who was seeking a pardon. She blamed the paper, the “radical left” and the calendar.

The Times reported Tuesday that the family of Venezuelan billionaire Julio Herrera gave Habba a deal worth $50 million while he was trying to win a pardon from the Trump administration. Habba had served as an adviser to the attorney general and briefly led the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey before federal courts ruled she was serving unlawfully.

Habba, who now goes by her married name, Alina Mildon, answered on X with a sarcastic “Big Scoop.”

“After leaving public service, I’ve gone back to doing what I have done for my entire career: being a lawyer,” she wrote.

She said the Times had already credited “another capable attorney for what he successfully did without me and took credit for.” She called any suggestion that her employment “had anything to do with securing a pardon” “false and defamatory.” She also said the work had been “vetted and disclosed to the D.O.J.”

She saved some of her fire for the reporter, whom she called an “activist ‘journalist’” who allegedly used her old name on purpose.

“Even though I’ve told this activist ‘journalist’ at The New York Times for each of his many hit pieces on me and my family to refer to me as Alina Mildon, my actual name, they can’t help but do what they have always done- use my old name for clicks,” she wrote. “Intentional, pathetic and obvious.”

Then she pointed to the timing.

“We are 14 days away from the election - this is just another October surprise,” Habba wrote. “Do not let left wing media distract you from the amazing work this President and administration has done. I know this game all too well.”

The report landed in the middle of a public feud between Habba and Trump loyalist Ric Grenell, the former head of the Kennedy Center. Habba and her new husband have accused Grenell of misallocating a $5.6 million donation meant for the center. Critics were quick to compare the Times story with the scandal that just cost Kimberly Guilfoyle her nomination as ambassador to Greece.

“Pay to play corruption is so rampant with the Mar-a-Lago Mafia you can’t keep up,” former Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.) wrote after the story broke.

Big Scoop: After leaving public service, I’ve gone back to doing what I have done for my entire career: being a lawyer. If the New York Times simply went back and looked at their own reporting, they have already credited another capable attorney for what he successfully did without me and took credit for. Any insinuation that my employment — all of which has been vetted and disclosed to the D.O.J. — had anything to do with securing a pardon is false and defamatory. What’s more, even though I’ve told this activist “journalist” at The New York Times for each of his many hit pieces on me and my family to refer to me as Alina Mildon, my actual name, they can’t help but do what they have always done- use my old name for clicks. Intentional, pathetic and obvious. I have stayed silent while the media attacked my husband, my friends, and me over the past week. My entire public career has been dedicated to calling out the radical left and the fake news. Anyone who thought that would change hasn’t been paying attention.We are 14 days away from the election - this is just another October surprise. Do not let left wing media distract you from the amazing work this President and administration has done. I know this game all too well.
— Alina Mildon (@AlinaHabba) October 20, 2026