New Jersey-based attorney Alina Haba gained national attention in 2021, becoming President-elect Trump’s fierce trial lawyer ahead of his decisive victory over Vice President Kamala Harris last month, and has since gone on to become a fierce trial lawyer for President-elect Trump. He became a public relations officer as he battled ongoing lawsuits and criminal charges.
Haba is currently preparing to take on a new role as an advisor to the president during the second Trump administration.
“Arena is a tireless champion of justice, a passionate defender of the rule of law, and a valued advisor to my campaign and transition team,” President Trump said in a post on Truth Social last week. wrote and announced his new role. “She was unwavering in her loyalty, unparalleled in her determination, and stood by me through numerous ‘trials,’ battles, and countless days in court.”
In the wake of the past and future president’s announcement, FOX News Digital looked back at Haba’s legal career, Trump’s trajectory, and his meteoric rise to the current White House.
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President-elect Trump hired attorney Alina Haba in 2021 to fight a series of lawsuits.
Mr. Haba is a managing partner of Haba Madaio & Associates LLP, a law firm headquartered in Bedminster, New Jersey, with additional practice in New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut. Haba, 40, is from New Jersey and was born to Chaldean Catholic Iraqi immigrant parents. She attended Lehigh University in Pennsylvania as an undergraduate and then earned her J.D. from Widener University.
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“As a devout Catholic, a proud first-generation Arab-American woman, and a spunky Jersey girl fed up with far-left corruption in Washington, President Trump has championed my path and helped me become who I am today. His unwavering support not only shaped my career, but inspired other young women to dream big,” Haba said in July. He made the announcement during his RNC speech in Milwaukee.
Before joining Trump’s legal team, Haba filed lawsuits related to nursing home negligence during the COVID-19 pandemic. She has also been named to the Super Lawyers Rising Stars list from 2016 to 2022 as well as the “America’s Top 100 Lawyers” list, and has several philanthropic endeavors benefiting pregnant and homeless women. I have supported charitable causes. Paradise of birth.
Former President Trump returns from his lunch break for his hush money trial in Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City on May 28, 2024. (Julia Nickinson Pool/Getty Images)
Haba has rapidly risen to national prominence in recent years since President Trump hired her in 2021 to help litigate a series of lawsuits filed against him ahead of the 2024 election. became a legal spokesperson and trusted advisor.
Haba is spearheading a lawsuit against Mary Trump, niece of the former president and president-elect, and the New York Times, alleging that Trump’s contractual rights were “unlawfully violated and/or interfered with and otherwise The lawsuit alleges that the company “maliciously conspired against Mr. Trump” by obtaining and posting information. His tax records for 2018.
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Haba’s legal successes against Trump include former “The Apprentice” contestant Summer Zervos dropping her defamation lawsuit against Trump in 2021, and Trump and the Trump Organization becoming a fraudulent marketing company. These include the dismissal of another lawsuit related to New York state-level charges over his alleged involvement. Also earlier this year, a Supreme Court appeal to reinstate the case against former lawyer Michael Cohen, who had sought financial damages for lying to Congress and his 2020 imprisonment related to previous activities against Trump, was filed. It was rejected, and he won.
“Michael Cohen has repeatedly tried to drag my client into court in a pathetic attempt at every possible means. As expected, the Supreme Court correctly denied Michael Cohen’s motion, so he is finally free. We must abandon frivolous and hopeless claims,” Haba said. Fox News Digital said in a statement in October.
Alina Haba is President Trump’s legal advisor. (Getty Images)
Mr. Haba’s national profile rose as Mr. Trump fought the E. Jean Carroll case.
Carroll, who previously worked as a columnist for Elle magazine, has twice accused Trump of rape since 2019, when she first accused him of rape in excerpts from her book “What Do We Need Men For? A Modest Proposal.” had filed a lawsuit. Mr. Trump vehemently denied the allegations, saying, “That never happened,” and Mr. Carroll ultimately sued Mr. Trump for defamation while he was still president. At the time, she was barred by the statute of limitations from suing him on the underlying rape charge.
The jury ultimately found that Trump sexually abused Carole, defamed her for denying it, and awarded her $5 million. However, that case led to an appeal, and as President Trump continued to deny even meeting Carole, she filed another lawsuit in 2022, alleging both defamation and rape. She was able to do this because earlier that year, New York passed a law allowing sexual abuse plaintiffs to file a one-time civil action, even though the statute of limitations had passed. Because it was passed in the state.
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Haba is defending Trump in a second lawsuit accusing him of rape and defamation over social media posts in which Trump denies the allegations and accuses Carroll of promoting “fabrications and lies.” I joined the group.
Trump has never been criminally charged with sexual assault, and the first jury found him liable for sexual abuse, though not rape. The jury specifically said that Carroll had not proven that Trump raped her.
The second lawsuit sought more than $10 million in damages to her reputation stemming from comments made by Trump in 2019, when he was still president. The jury ultimately awarded her $18.3 million in compensatory damages and $65 million in punitive damages.
“I’ve been going through trial after trial for months in this state, in the state of New York, Attorney General Letitia James. Week after week after week. Why? Because President Trump is leading in the polls. And now you know what you’re going to get.” New York,” Haba said earlier this year after the ruling.
“So please don’t misinterpret it,” she continued, calling the evidence in the case “a violation of our justice system.” “I’m very proud to stand with President Trump. But I’m not proud to stand by what I saw in that courtroom.”
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Trump lawyer Alina Haba was appointed as an advisor to the president in Trump’s second administration. (Fox Digital)
Mr. Haba also fought New York Attorney General Letitia James’ civil fraud case, one of President Trump’s highest-profile cases and dismissed by the attorney general even after Trump’s election victory. has refused.
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James announced an investigation into the Trump Organization, claiming evidence showed the president and his companies fraudulently valued assets to obtain loans, insurance coverage and tax breaks.
Haba defended Trump against James’ lawsuit in court, at press conferences and in media interviews.
Alina Haba speaks at former President Trump’s campaign rally at the PPL Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on October 29, 2024. (Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)
“Letitia James is in the business of private companies and individuals, and this is not something that should happen, and the law she is using is the Consumer Fraud Act. She could establish some method of control. In this case, there is no need for the jury to do something that is nonsense and should not be done. The issue we’ve been fighting for all this time is that it’s the judge who makes those decisions, and he’s on the other side of it, which is pretty motivating.” spoke on “Sunday Morning Futures” with host Maria Bartiromo last year.
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Mr. Trump and his lawyers accused Mr. James of conducting a “witch hunt” against him after he campaigned explicitly on a platform to indict the president. Trump and his family have denied any wrongdoing, and the former president said his assets were undervalued.
Alina Haba appears for her opening statement at the trial of former President Donald Trump at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City on April 22, 2024. (Brendan McDiarmid Pool/Getty Images)
Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron ruled in a non-jury trial last September that Trump and his organization defrauded lenders by overvaluing his assets and exaggerating his net worth. Trump’s team asked James to drop the lawsuit after last month’s election, but she refused on Dec. 10.
Former President Trump speaks at a campaign event in Mint Hill, North Carolina, on September 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
Conservatives and Trump supporters have touted Mr. Habba’s fierce defense of Mr. Trump in recent years, following the announcement that he would become an adviser to the president.
“I have sat with President Trump for years while he has been targeted with lies, especially in this city and other places to get Trump,” Haba said at a January press conference after the Carroll incident. “I have sat with judges, chief prosecutors, and prosecutors who have run for office.” The verdict culminates in a series of trials that President Trump faced after his first administration.
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“The Trump administration will solve this problem. We will stop the Kamala Harris administration — she was there before, remember, and is still there — by using White House officials to in the offices of prosecutors and DAs, and attack their political opponents,” she continued.
Mr. Haba also gave a powerful speech at the RNC in July in the wake of Mr. Trump’s first assassination attempt, but his emotional tone about his close relationship with Mr. Trump was revived again this month. .
“To my husband whose family survived the Holocaust. [Trump] A defender of the Jewish faith. To my Iraqi parents, he is their daughter’s mentor,” she said from the RNC.
“But he’s a friend to me.”
Former President Trump and Alina Haba during trial in New York State Supreme Court on October 17, 2023. (Doug Mills/The New York Times/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
During the first Trump administration, the role of advisor to the president was filled by Fox News contributor Kellyanne Conway. This role requires advising the President on all legal matters related to the presidential duties and the White House.
Haba joined Fox News’ Martha McCallum last week, where she predicted her new role would focus on “all the things we have to do to repair this country.”
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“First and foremost, anyone who has been asked to serve this country in such an honorable role or in any capacity, frankly, it’s a responsibility that I take very seriously, but it’s an honor. I told the president, “I’m there to do whatever you need.” But it’s great that I can be there and help with legislation and other important policy.” I can say it’s an honor. As Pam Bondi considers where her life has been over the past three and a half years, what she focuses on is a top priority. But I will say that I am ready to put in the work. That’s all we have to do to solve this problem. This country,” Haba said.
Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom, Brooke Singman and Greg Wehner contributed to this report.
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