Alina Habba's Jury Claims Questioned on Fox News

Claims by one of Donald Trump's lawyers in his ongoing New York fraud trial that its lack of a jury was not due to a personal error on her part have been questioned by an attorney on Fox News.

Leo Terrell, who expressed his political support for the former president in 2020, reacted with incredulity to Alina Habba's insistence that the New York Attorney General's case will be decided by a judge alone because of the statute it is being tried under—rather than because Trump's legal team did not request a jury trial.

"I've been practicing law for thirty years," he told the network on Tuesday. "There are usually some forms where you have to make a check, a little 'x' there, saying you want a jury trial. But what I'm perplexed about is [that] the Trump team could have appealed this, could have challenged this before they commit the start of this proceeding."

Newsweek approached Habba through her law offices via email for comment on Wednesday.

On the first day of proceedings, on Monday, Judge Arthur Engoron told the Manhattan court that "nobody asked for" a jury trial. Multiple lawyers who are not involved in the case have argued that Trump's team only needed to check a box on a court filing to request a jury trial prior to the start of the hearing—something his team has repeatedly denied.

"It's incredibly easy to ask for a jury trial," former Deputy Assistant Attorney General Harry Litman posted on X, formerly Twitter. "You just check a box on a form."

Habba denied this was the case to multiple outlets, telling Fox News earlier on Tuesday: "There is no option to check a box."

She argued on Newsmax that the case was filed under New York Executive Law 63(12), which she described as a "very narrow, not appropriately used section of the law" for consumer protection where a jury is generally not required.

"The Attorney General filed this case under a consumer protection statute that denies the right to a jury," a Trump spokesperson previously told Newsweek. "It is unfortunate that a jury won't be able to hear how absurd the merits of this case are and conclude no wrongdoing ever happened."

The absence of a jury at the trial has been a source of anger for Trump supporters, while the former president and his team have portrayed the case—like the other legal challenges against him—as politically motivated.

Some Democrats have suggested that the supposed clerical error was a ploy to continue claiming the judge was solely responsible for the negative impacts on Trump's business empire. After Engoron ruled last week that Trump and his named associates had overvalued several of the former president's properties for financial gain, Trump called him "highly politicized."

However, this assertion was dismissed by lawyer Andrew Fleischman, who wrote on X: "I honestly can't believe that any lawyer hired on such an important case could make this mistake. But I also can't think of any strategic reason you'd want a bench trial in front of a judge who just sanctioned your lawyers for making frivolous arguments."

In his summary judgment, Engoron ordered that some of Trump's business licenses in New York be rescinded over the years-long fraud and that the companies that own his properties should be handed over to independent receivers. His lawyers have vowed to appeal the decision.

At trial, Engoron will hear arguments on charges including whether Trump and the other defendants falsified business records after fraudulently overvaluing his worth, issued false financial statements, and committed insurance fraud. Trump has denied any wrongdoing.