Alina Habba, one of the attorneys representing former President Donald Trump in his New York civil fraud trial, said Sunday a plea is being filed for Judge Arthur Engoron to declare a mistrial, but she couldn't discuss the reasons fully because of a gag order in the case.
"We have a gag order currently against certain issues that we can't speak to, and we have seen this on many cases of [Trump's], Habba said on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures." "It's a First Amendment right. He's also a leading candidate. He has a right to speak. He should speak about anybody and anything that he sees that's corrupt. But even I have a limited gag order."
Trump and his attorneys have been complaining that Engoron and his clerk appear to be compromised, but Habba said she couldn't say if that is the reason for the plans to file for a mistrial, but "I can tell you that we will be filing papers to address all of those issues."
Habba added that the fact that she couldn't discuss the matter "and I'm his spokeswoman, I'm his attorney, says a lot about the state of our judicial system right now."
She didn't pin down a time when the filing would be made when show host Maria Bartiromo asked her if it would be Sunday.
"Soon," Habba said. "Very soon."
However, there is a problem with filing a motion for recusal, as Engoron, as the sole judge in the case, has to be the one who decides if he'll recuse himself or if he thinks there was a mistrial, said Habba.
"It's the same judge that issued the gag order that has to make those determinations, so at this point, I don't have any reason to believe he shouldn't after what we have learned if it's true," said Habba. "I will tell you that it's concerning when he is the arbiter and the decision-maker of some of these issues."
Trump is being tried on charges from New York Attorney General Letitia James over accusations that he and the Trump Organization overvalued properties while seeking favorable banking terms, and Habba pointed out that compilations carry a disclaimer that "everybody always puts on" informing businesses to do their own background checks.
"Remember, there was nobody harmed," she said. "These are sophisticated lenders, Deutsche Bank, major, major establishments, with all kinds of regulations. These people take somebody's numbers but they don't use them. They do their own due diligence, and they weren't harmed but paid on time. They were paid with interest."
But James, she said, "is putting her nose into private companies and private individuals' work, which is not what is meant to happen. The law she's using is a consumer fraud law so that she can establish some way to have control."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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