Alina Saad Habba (Arabic: ألينا حبة, born March 25, 1984) is an American lawyer who is currently serving as a Counselor to the President in the second Trump administration.
[1][2] She is also a managing partner of Habba, Madaio & Associates, a law firm based in Bedminster, New Jersey, with an office in New York City.
[10][17] She has served as lead counsel for three cases, including a federal class action suit against a New Jersey nursing home accused of various negligent acts and consumer fraud violations.
[18] She has represented clients in various legal cases including a man suing a nursing home in New Jersey,[19] and a student seeking a refund for college tuition after University of Bridgeport moved classes to an online format.
[20][21] In July 2021, Habba represented Siggy Flicker, a former member of The Real Housewives of New Jersey who alleged that Facebook had disabled her account for wishing Melania Trump a happy birthday.
[24] Also in July 2021, Habba represented Caesar DePaço, a vitamin supplement entrepreneur, in a federal court case where she filed a lawsuit against Portuguese journalists for revealing his close connections to the far-right Chega party in Portugal.
[30][31] Habba had never done legal work for Trump when, in September 2021, he hired her as part of his legal team, replacing several well-established lawyers who had worked for Trump for many years but had withdrawn their services, including: Marc Kasowitz, Charles Harder, Joanna Hendon, Marc Saroff Mukasey, Jay Sekulow, and Lawrence S.
[35] She unsuccessfully appealed a court order requiring Trump and his children to give sworn testimony about the valuations they signed for when filing those returns.
[36][37] In February 2022, Habba unsuccessfully attempted to prevent Trump from being required to give a sworn statement in an investigation led by New York Attorney General James.
[41] In September 2022, U.S. District Court Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks dismissed a 2022 suit brought by Habba for Trump against Hillary Clinton, John Podesta, Jake Sullivan, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and numerous other public officials, private citizens, and private entities that Trump sought damages against for alleged conduct surrounding the 2016 presidential election.
[42][43] Two months after issuing that decision, Middlebrooks sanctioned the Trump lawyers, including Habba, Michael T. Madaio, Peter Ticktin, and Jamie Alan Sasson.
[44] Later in January 2023, Middlebrooks ordered Trump, Habba, and her firm to pay $938,000 in legal costs for 31 defendants, including the Democratic National Committee, Hillary Clinton, and former FBI director James Comey.
[48] Speaking at a December 2023 Turning Point USA conference, Habba asserted no one had heard of the case, falsely alleging the "fake news" had not reported it.
She added that "me and President Trump got sanctioned a million dollars for going against Crooked Hillary" and "there were probably 50 lawyers representing all of the radical left", although the suit had named 31 defendants.
[53] The Second Circuit decision did not address the merits of Trump's claim that the comments constituted executive action as the President of the United States.
[57] Over the course of three days, presiding federal judge Lewis Kaplan repeatedly reprimanded Habba for her methods of cross-examining Carroll and introducing evidence.
[61] In January 2025, Alina Habba came under fire for appearing on a show as a guest and telling Andrew Tate, who is accused of rape, human trafficking, and other charges, that she is a "big fan".