Alina Habba Spotted At Trump Victory Party After Delaying Defamation Trial Over Illness
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Donald Trump’s attorney, Alina Habba, was spotted rubbing elbows with Republicans in New Hampshire on Tuesday, just the day after asking for a delay in the ex-president’s defamation trial because she was feeling under the weather.
On Monday, one of the nine jurors considering writer E. Jean Carroll’s second defamation suit against Trump was excused for being ill.
Though Judge Lewis Kaplan and Carroll’s lawyers agreed to continue the trial with eight jurors, Trump’s legal team requested a delay, saying Habba had been exposed to COVID and had a fever. She was not wearing a mask during the hearing.
The next day, however, Habba was sighted celebrating Trump’s win in the New Hampshire primary by NBC News’ Garrett Haake.
Haake’s report appeared to be confirmed by a tweet from former Trump aide Dylan Quattrucci, who shared a photo with Habba taken at the victory party.
Donald Trump's lawyer, Alina Habba, speaks outside a New York City courthouse on Nov. 6, 2023. She was seen at a New Hampshire campaign party after requesting a delay in Trump's defamation trial due to feeling ill.
“Just arrived at President Trump’s NH primary victory party and ran into the wonderful Alina Habba,” he posted to X, formerly Twitter. “Alina is President Trump’s rockstar attorney & a huge inspiration of mine!”
While it looked like Habba may have been playing hooky, NBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin said the lawyer could have been being honest about feeling unwell.
“I am not insinuating Habba lied. At all. I take her at her word,” Rubin wrote on X on Tuesday. “She said she had been exposed and was feeling feverish over the weekend; she also represented on Monday that she tested negative that morning.”
Rubin added, “What I am suggesting, however is that *someone else* who has been a regular courtroom presence has COVID, without which there would be little reason for a three-day delay.”
The trial is set to resume on Thursday.
