Alina Habba's Remarks on Donald Trump Trial Spark Mockery

Former President Donald Trump's lawyer Alina Habba's remarks about his criminal hush money trial sparked mockery across social media on Sunday.

Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee, became the first former president in U.S. history to stand trial in a criminal case last month. Following an investigation by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office, Trump was indicted in March 2023 on charges of falsifying business records relating to hush money paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels by his then-lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen during his 2016 presidential campaign. Daniels had alleged she had an affair with Trump in 2006, which he has denied. The former president has pleaded not guilty to all charges and said the case against him is politically motivated.

Closing arguments in the case are expected to take place on Tuesday.

In an interview with Fox News' Sunday Morning Futures With Maria Bartiromo, Habba spoke about the expected closing arguments and the jury instructions while she took aim at the case claiming "there are no facts that support" Trump's alleged crime.

"The concern with the instructions is frankly the most critical part, they have no facts, let's be clear...I'm not speaking now to posture for the president, but just generally as an attorney, as an American who understands the law and how to apply laws to facts, there are no facts that support this alleged crime," she said.

Habba continued: "We have to make sure the jury charges that Judge [Juan] Merchan who again we have said is severely conflicted for reasons I can't speak to because of the unconstitutional gag order, but this judge is the judge that determines the jury instructions. The jury instructions are the road map for non-attorneys and jurors to follow the law, it's going to be critical."

Newsweek has reached out to Habba's office via email for comment.

Since Habba's remarks on Sunday, some have taken to X, formerly, Twitter, to mock her.

MSNBC host and legal contributor Katie Phang wrote on X, "Siri: show me someone who doesn't know the first thing about a judge, a jury, or the law."

In response to Phang, X user Art Candee wrote, "Answer: Alina Habba knows nothing about judges, juries, or the law."

Editor in chief of MeidasTouch Ron Filipkowski wrote on X in response to Habba's comments, "The exact opposite is true."

"Witness testimony, text messages, checks, invoices, ledger entries, handwritten notes, and recordings are evidence of the crime of falsifying business records to conceal another crime (campaign finance and tax violations). The jury will decide whether the evidence proves guilt beyond a reasonable doubt," MSNBC legal analyst Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, wrote on X.

This comes as Habba, who represented Trump as his lead attorney in the E. Jean Carroll defamation lawsuit, is still among the leading voices for the former president. However, she's been taking her role outside the courtroom.

Last month, Habba, who was introduced as Trump's "legal spokesperson," told The Benny Show, a politically conservative podcast, that she couldn't represent Trump in his criminal case because she didn't practice that type of law, but that her absence in court gave her the opportunity to get his message out through other platforms

"Being a type A person, I wish I was a criminal attorney but I'm not," Habba said. "But the great news is that, then I can do this and let everybody know what is actually happening. "I plan, for the next six weeks, to truly just be spitting the truth and giving people facts they may not be hearing while he's in court."

Since then, she has been seen outside the New York courtroom. During the second week of the former president's hush money trial, she spoke on the case, but did not take any questions as she called Trump's trials a "disgrace to the American judicial system."

"The fact that we have two courts not one, criminal and civil, being used against one man because they cannot beat him in the polls is a disgrace to the American judicial system. You should not have two teams of lawyers here today. You should not even be here today, because you didn't know is the epitome of a witch hunt," she added.

Habba is not the first to criticize the trial, as Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett, a former defense attorney and author who is also known for his pro-Trump stances, previously called the trial a "sham case" on Friday, adding in his over four decades of legal experience that he's "never seen such a shameful abuse of the legal system."