Defense attorney Alina Habba earned the ire of a federal judge for a second consecutive day in the civil defamation trial against her boss, former President Donald Trump.
One day after U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan rebuked Habba 14 times during proceedings, according to Business Insider, day three of the trial in a Manhattan courtroom didn't get much better.
Habba cross examined columnist E. Jean Carroll on Thursday and made an attempt to show that Carroll benefited from a book about allegedly being raped by Trump in a department store in 1990s. The trial will determine what damages, if any, Trump owes for remarks he made about Carroll when he was president.
At one point, Habba asked Carroll if she "makes a good amount of money" from her Substack writing platform.
"Come on, this is Evidence 101!" Kaplan told Habba.
Habba then asked how many subscribers Carroll had.
"That was definitely asked yesterday," Kaplan said. "1,800. Move on."
Kaplan later assailed Habba for being "repetitious" for reciting Twitter posts from 2019 about Carroll.
Habba was trying to show that Carroll at least achieved more fame since her allegations against Trump, saying her social media followers increased "exponentially."
"I've been invited to two parties," Carroll said at one point. "Yes, I'm more well known and I'm hated by a lot more people."
Trump, who had attended the first two days of the trial, was not in the courtroom Thursday in order to attend the funeral of his mother-in-law, Amalija Knavs.
Trump had his own tussles with Kaplan on Wednesday, but Habba's performance has drawn ridicule and scorn from onlookers, including an alum of Trump's legal team. Former White House attorney Ty Cobb called Habba's performance "embarrassing."
"She did a sort of minor league job of trying to introduce some evidence, and the judge was very patient with her," Cobb told CNN on Wednesday. "He gave her sort of two recesses or two opportunities to try to guide her through it himself, called a halt, and took a break with the hope that one of her colleagues could help her figure out how to do what it was that she intended."
In May, a jury in the same courtroom awarded Carroll $5 million in damages after concluding Trump sexually abused her in a Bergdorf Goodman store across the street from Trump Tower in spring 1996 and then defamed her with statements in October 2022.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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