New York, NY – Alina Habba, one of Donald Trump’s attorneys, has retracted a recent claim regarding a judge’s alleged conflict of interest in E. Jean Carroll’s defamation case against the former president. The claim, which suggested an “insane” and “incestuous” conflict, was based on the judge’s prior association with one of Carroll’s lawyers at a major law firm. However, Habba quickly rescinded her statement after realizing that she herself had briefly worked at the same firm as one of Carroll’s attorneys.
The connection between Judge Lewis Kaplan and Roberta Kaplan, who represented Carroll, was brought to light by an anonymous former partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in a New York Post article. According to the former partner, Judge Kaplan had served as a mentor to Roberta Kaplan during their two-year overlap at the firm from 1992 to 1994.
Habba’s retraction comes just one day after a jury awarded Carroll a massive $83.3 million judgment against Trump in her defamation case. This is the second courtroom loss for Trump in recent months, further bolstering Carroll’s allegations.
In a letter addressed to the court, Habba acknowledged the many clashes between the judge and defense counsel during the underlying defamation case and subsequent damages trial. She expressed concerns over the court’s rulings, tone, and demeanor, which she believes displayed preferential treatment towards Carroll’s counsel. Habba indicated that this information would be used in the appeal against last week’s verdict.
Responding to the allegations, Roberta Kaplan strongly denied the claims, calling them “utterly baseless” in her own letter. She also threatened to seek sanctions against Habba for attempting to discredit the court. Emphasizing the brief period in which she worked at the law firm, Kaplan stated that she had no recollection of ever interacting with Judge Kaplan during that time.
Following Kaplan’s response, Habba swiftly backed off her claims in another letter, stating that her filing was simply meant to inquire about the validity of the New York Post’s reporting. She concluded that since Kaplan had denied any mentor-mentee relationship with the judge, the matter had seemingly been resolved.