'Dislike her intensely': Legal experts say Trump's jury has already turned on Alina Habba
Donald Trump's lawyer Alina Habba is drawing criticism from legal analysts as the second day of the E. Jean Carroll defamation damages trial unfolds.
At the start of the day, Habba clashed with Judge Lewis Kaplan, who was forced to tell her that in court she stands when speaking to the judge.
"Taking, no, sh-t. No sh_t at all," posted Elizabeth Cronise McLaughlin, the CEO of an executive coaching firm. "And by the way, every first-year lawyer knows you stand when you address a judge. This is profoundly disrespectful. Habba is a total hack."
"To call Alina Habba a hack is a horrible thing to say about hacks," quipped lawyer George Conway.
It only got worse when Habba did stand to issue another demand. Kaplan scolded her to "sit down" after she asked, for a third time, that the court be adjourned for Trump to attend his mother-in-law's funeral, which is on Thursday.
"I don't like to be spoken to that way! Please refrain," she ordered the judge.
She was denied again.
"Never, ever, ever talk to a judge this way," explained former federal prosecutor Elizabeth de la Vega on X.
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It got worse as Habba randomly objected to statements but failed to explain why she was objecting.
Carroll spent the morning on the stand and Habba will cross-examine her, but legal analyst Harry Litman said that likely won't go well either.
"It takes a very deft touch to cross-examine a sexual assault victim so as to call her credibility into question without coming off as an aggressive bully and generating more sympathy for her," he said.
"Somehow I don’t think Alina Habba has that touch."
"Habba might think she's doing a great job by performing for Trump, but she's already succeeded in making the jury dislike her intensely," De la Vega explained. "(I am 100% certain of that.) Since the jury will be deciding the amount of damages, it would be a lot smarter to be as charming as hell."
Before the lunch break, the judge clashed with Habba again. Trying to speak during the witness testimony, but without it being an objection.
"If it's not an objection, it's out of order," Kaplan told her.
Tuesday afternoon, the New Republic's Tori Otten wrote, "Trump's idiot lawyer may already have sunk his E. Jean Carroll defense."
While legal analysts on MSNBC warned that Judge Kaplan was different from Judge Arthur Engoron, who is overseeing Trump's business fraud trial and is more lenient, ABC News explained Tuesday that Kaplan has a reputation for being a "no-nonsense" judge.