Alina Habba accuses E. Jean Carroll lawyers of interfering with Trump defense preparation

In a letter to Judge Lewis Kaplan on Sunday, attorney Alina Habba accused the legal team representing defamation victim E. Jean Carroll of trying to put up roadblocks for Donald Trump's defense in the trial scheduled to begin on Tuesday.

In the letter, posted to X by MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin, Habba contended that the move by Carroll's attorneys to keep the former president from lashing out in court as he did during closing arguments in his $370 million financial fraud trial last Thursday is hindering the former president's defense.

In her first paragraph, Habba wrote, "This letter [from Carroll's attorneys] , which is the second letter motion that Plaintiff has filed in a two-day period leading up to trial, is nothing more than another desperate attempt to pigeonhole President Trump’s defense and to prevent his legal team from preparing for the upcoming trial."

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She later added, "Finally, while completely hamstringing President Trump’s ability to discuss virtually anything related to Ms. Carroll’s narrative, the Court, for whatever reason, has left open the issue of whether Jessica Leeds and Natasha Stoynoff can testify and has admitted the Access Hollywood tape into evidence, President Trump should certainly be allowed to differentiate, and testify those purported incidences from Ms. Carroll’s allegations. Those incidents are not barred by res judicata or collateral estoppel, and if the Court is so inclined to admit such evidence, including the Access Hollywood tape, which the Court has already admitted, President Trump has the right to rebut those accounts and provide his version of the events."

MSNBC's Rubin added, "While her response features many Trumpian turns of phrase, note what she never says: that he will abide by the court’s orders regarding what evidence and arguments are admissible."

"Instead, she insists 'President Trump cannot and should not be made to testify under oath in any particular affirmative manner.' Again and again, Trump accuses others of unlawful persecution while he flouts the rules by which every other American plays," she added.