Alina Habba has reacted to claims Attorney General wasn’t “tough enough” in prosecuting her boss, President-elect Donald Trump, insisting the incoming president had it “so rough.”
“He wasn’t tough enough? Was it not tough enough when we spent three and a half years with indictments, shams and hoaxes with cases?” Habba said while speaking to Fox News on Monday.
“He had it rough. He had it so rough. But he came out on top because America saw what they did.”
The Department of Justice (DOJ) was tasked with investigating Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents after a cache of them were found at his Mar-a-Lago home in 2022. The incoming president was hit with 40 criminal counts related to the federal government’s case. He pleaded not guilty before the case was dropped shortly after his re-election.
Habba, who has been tapped to serve as counsel to the incoming president, told a network host her boss “had it so rough” but managed to come “out on top because America saw what they did.” She was referring to the efforts of federal and state prosecutors to convict Trump.
Habba, Trump’s personal attorney, added that Garland “should be ashamed of himself” for bringing the federal case forward against the president-elect.
“It wasn’t just about President Trump. It was about our Constitution. It was about the foundation of this country. And they wanted to turn us into a third-world country,” she said. “And they failed.”
According to The Washington Post, Biden has expressed regret over appointing Garland to his position, stating the DOJ was slow to prosecute Trump but aggressive in pursuing charges against his son, Hunter Biden.
Habba said the president’s reported statements were moot. “Him saying things like, I could have beat Trump. It’s a joke,” she said. “You couldn’t have beat him. You didn’t beat him… We won majorly.”
Trump faced several legal challenges after leaving office in 2020 but it’s unclear what will happen in the cases. In May, he was convicted of falsifying business records in New York. The judge in that case has upheld the conviction. Georgia prosecutors charged Trump with trying to change the outcome of the 2020 election in the state.
He is now asking an appeals court to dismiss the case. The DOJ filed similar charges against Trump in 2023, but the case is not likely to result in a conviction now that Trump will take office at the end of this month.
Habba, 40, represented Trump in his New York hush money case in which he was convicted of paying off adult film actress Stormy Daniels and then concealing the sum. The attorney began working for Trump after meeting him at his New Jersey resort in 2021.
Before joining Trump’s legal team, she owned a private practice and spent some time in the fashion industry working for Marc Jacobs.
The president would go on to choose her to serve as his most high-profile attorney. Habba will be stepping into some big shoes once she joins Trump’s administration. She will serve as presidential counselor, a role previously held by Kellyanne Conway during Trump’s first term.
