Alina Habba attempted to get the E. Jean Carroll verdict overturned by filing an unfounded attack on Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, who responded by threatening to pursue sanctions against Habba.
Habba said a mentor-mentee relationship existed between the judge and Carroll’s attorney.
Roberta Kaplan submitted a letter to the judge rejecting this allegation: “We write in response to the letter submitted yesterday by Alina Habba on behalf of her client, defendant Donald J. Trump, which contains false allegations of a “mentor-mentee relationship” between “Your Honor and I date back to the brief time we crossed paths at Paul Weiss more than thirty years ago. As Ms. Habba knows, these allegations are completely unfounded.”
Roberta Kaplan explained why the accusations are unfounded and highlighted Trump’s motives: “From the beginning of the recently concluded trial, Donald Trump and Ms. Habba have spread a false narrative of judicial bias so they could
characterize any jury verdict against Trump as the product of a corrupt system. While this strategy has now entered the post-verdict phase, the time has come to put an end to the defendant’s false and vexatious claims of bias or unfairness.”
Kaplan concluded his letter by threatening to pursue sanctions against Habba, “While Ms. Habba concludes her letter by characterizing this as a ‘matter of concern,’ what is actually concerning is both the substance and timing of her false allegations of incorrectness on his part, on the part of E. Jean Carroll’s lawyer or on the part of the Court. Consequently, while we wanted
to send our response to Ms. Habba’s letter as soon as possible, we reserve all rights, including but not limited to the right to seek sanctions under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11.”
Trump is trying to discredit the Carroll ruling for political and financial reasons. Trump has so many potential civil judgments pending against him that he could face bankruptcy.
The aim of the game is to discredit Carroll, his lawyers, the judge and to recover damages.
Donald Trump is still trying to play politics with the courts and the result could be sanctions for Alina Habba.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a member of the White House press pool and a congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a bachelor’s degree in political science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and professional memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and the American Political Science Association