New Jersey-based lawyer Alina Haba hit the country's radar in 2021, becoming… President-elect TrumpA fierce legal advocate and then spokeswoman for the United States as he battled an onslaught of legal cases and criminal charges before his decisive victory over Vice President Kamala Harris last month.
Now, Haba is preparing to take on a new role: advisor to the president under the second Trump administration.
“Alaina has been a tireless advocate for justice, a fierce advocate for the rule of law, and an invaluable advisor to my campaign and transition team,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post last week, announcing her new role. “She has been unwavering in her loyalty, and unparalleled in her resolve – standing with me through many ‘trials,’ battles, and countless days in court.”
Following the former and future president's announcement, Fox News Digital takes a look at Hapa's legal career and her meteoric rise in Trump's orbit, and now in the White House.
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President-elect Trump appointed attorney Alina Haba in 2021 while fighting a host of court cases.
Habba is the managing partner of Habba Madaio & Associates LLP, a law firm based in Bedminster, New Jersey, which also practices in New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut. Haba, 40 years old, is a native of New Jersey, born to Iraqi immigrant parents from the Chaldean Catholic community. She attended Lehigh University in Pennsylvania as an undergraduate before earning her Juris Doctorate from Widener University.
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“As a devout Catholic, a proud first-generation Arab-American woman, and a feisty Jersey girl tired of the corruption of the far-left in Washington – President Trump championed my journey, and empowered me to become who I am today. His unwavering support not only shaped My career but has inspired other young women who have big dreams,” Haba declared in her RNC speech in July from Milwaukee.
Before joining Trump's legal team, Haba litigated cases involving neglected nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. She also received recognition on the Super Lawyers Rising Stars list between 2016-2022, as well as a spot on the “100 Best Lawyers in America” list, and has supported a number of charitable efforts, including a charity that benefits homeless pregnant women. Birth haven.
Former President Trump returns from his lunch break for his silent financial trial in Manhattan Criminal Court on May 28, 2024, in New York City. (Julia Nickinson-Pole/Getty Images)
Hapa has seen a rapid rise to national prominence in recent years, after Trump appointed her in 2021 to help bring a series of cases against him ahead of the 2024 election. His legal spokesman And a trusted advisor.
Haba came to Trump's legal scene when she led a lawsuit against the former and incoming president's niece, Mary Trump, and the New York Times for “violating and/or interfering with his contractual rights and maliciously conspiring against him” to obtain and publish his tax records in 2018.
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Hapa's legal successes for Trump include having former “Apprentice” contestant Summer Zervos drop her defamation suit against Trump in 2021, and dismissal of another case involving New York state charges over allegations Trump and the Trump Organization were involved in a fraudulent marketing company. It also scored a win earlier this year when the Supreme Court rejected former lawyer Michael Cohen's appeal to revive a lawsuit against Trump in which he sought financial damages over his 2020 imprisonment in connection with lying to Congress and his past work for Trump.
“Michael Cohen has exhausted all avenues in his pathetic attempt to drag my client to court over and over again. As expected, the Supreme Court has correctly rejected Michael Cohen's petition and he must finally abandon his frivolous and desperate claims,” Haba said. Fox News Digital in a statement in October.
Alina Haba served as Trump's legal advisor. (Getty Images)
Hapa national name recognition grew as Trump fought E. Jean Carroll's cases.
Carroll, who previously worked as a columnist for Elle magazine, has filed two lawsuits against Trump since 2019, when she first accused him of raping her in an excerpt from her book, “Why Do We Need Men? A Modest Proposal.” Trump vehemently denied the allegation, saying, “It never happened,” which eventually prompted Carroll to sue 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 allegation.
The jury will eventually find that Trump sexually assaulted Carroll and, by denying it, defamed her, awarding her $5 million. But while that case was tied to the appeal, with Trump continuing to deny the Carroll interview, she filed another suit in 2022 alleging defamation and rape. She was able to do this because earlier that year, New York had passed law Which allowed sex abuse plaintiffs to bring a one-time civil case even though the statute of limitations had expired.
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Haba joined Trump's legal team in the second case in which the former president was accused of rape and defamation due to posts on social media in which Trump denied these accusations and accused Carroll of promoting a “hoax and lie.”
Trump was never criminally charged with sexual assault, and the initial jury found him liable for sexual assault — but not rape. The jury specifically said Carroll did not prove that Trump raped her.
As for the second case, she sought compensation of more than $10 million for damage to her reputation caused by Trump’s comments in 2019, when he was still president. Ultimately, the jury awarded her $18.3 million in compensatory damages and $65 million in punitive damages.
“I've sat on trial after trial for months in this state, the state of New York, Attorney General Letitia James and now this. Weeks, weeks. Why? Because President Trump is leading in the polls and now we see what she's going to get. New York,” Haba said earlier in the This year after the ruling was issued.
She continued, “So don't mess with it,” and described the case as evidence of “a violation of our judicial system.” “I'm very proud to stand with President Trump. But I'm not proud to stand with what I saw in that courtroom.”
Trump lawyer Alina Haba has been appointed Trump's advisor to the president in his second administration. (Fox Digital)
Haba also fought a civil fraud lawsuit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, one of the most high-profile Trump cases that the attorney general declined to dismiss after Trump's electoral victory.
James announced an investigation into the Trump Organization, claiming there was evidence suggesting the president and his company wrongly valued assets to obtain loans, insurance coverage and tax cuts.
Whether inside the courtroom, during press conferences or in media interviews, Haba defended Trump against James' case.
Alina Haba speaks at a campaign rally for former President Trump at the PPL Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on October 29, 2024. (Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)
“Letitia James sticks her nose into the business of private companies and individuals, and that's not what should happen, and the law she's using is the consumer fraud statute. Until she can create some way to control, we don't have a jury to do certain things in this case that don't make sense and shouldn't.” That happens, and we've been fighting it all the way. The problem we have is that the judge is the one who's going to make those decisions and he's proven himself to be quite the payer “on the other side,” Haba said on “Sunday Morning Futures” with host Maria. Bartiromo last year.
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Trump and his legal team accused James of conducting a “witch hunt” against him after she openly campaigned on the platform to impeach the president. Trump and his family have denied any wrongdoing, and the former president has said his assets are undervalued.
Alina Haba arrives in court to give her opening statements at the trial of former President Trump in Manhattan Criminal Court on April 22, 2024, in New York City. (Brendan McDiarmid-Pole/Getty Images)
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron ruled in September last year in a non-jury trial that Trump and his organization deceived lenders by overstating his assets and exaggerating his net worth. Trump's team called on James to drop The issue after his last election The month I rejected it on December 10th.
Former President Trump speaks during a campaign event, September 25, 2024, in Mint Hill, North Carolina. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
After it was announced that Hapa would serve as an advisor to the president, conservatives and Trump supporters praised Hapa's fiery defense of him over the past few years.
“I've sat with President Trump for years now while he's been targeted by lies and with judges and the district attorney and the prosecutors who specifically ran in this city and others to get Trump,” Haba said during a January news conference after Carroll. The ruling brings together a collection of the judicial cases that Trump faced after his first administration.
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“The Trump administration is going to fix this problem. We're going to stop the Kamala Harris regime — because she was there, and let's not forget that, and still is — from using officials from the White House, putting them in prosecutors' offices and prosecutors' offices, and attacking your political opponent,” she continued.
Hapa also gave a powerful speech at the Republican National Committee in July — in the wake of Trump's first assassination attempt — that was revived this month for her emotional tone when describing her close relationship with Trump.
“For my husband, whose family survived the Holocaust, (Trump) is a hero of the Jewish faith,” she said from the Republican National Committee. “For my Iraqi parents, he is a mentor to their daughter.”
“But to me he is my friend.”
Former President Trump and Alina Haba during trial at the New York State Supreme Court in New York, on October 17, 2023. (Doug Mills/New York Times/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
In Trump's first administration, the position of advisor to the president was filled by Kellyanne Conway, a Fox News contributor. The role entails advising the President on all legal matters relating to the Office of the President and the White House.
Haba joined Fox News Channel's Martha MacCallum last week, where she explained that her new role will focus on “all the things we need to do to fix this country.”
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“First of all, asking anyone to serve this country in such an honorable role or any role, frankly, it's a responsibility I take very seriously, but it's an honor. I've told the president, I'm there to do whatever you need me to do.” This is the truth, but I will say what Great honor to be there to advise. I'll be there to help with important policies. I know that for me, obviously the legal war and all the things that Pam Bondi is going to focus on are top of mind because of what we've lived through for the last three and a half years. “But I will tell you that I am ready to work, and this is about all the things we need to do to fix this country,” Haba said.
Fox News Digital's Anders Hagstrom, Brooke Singman and Greg Weiner contributed to this report.
