E. Jean Carroll Lawyer Undermines Alina Habba With One Question: Attorney

E. Jean Carroll's lawyer destroyed an argument from Alina Habba, counsel for former President Donald Trump, with "one question" in court on Thursday, according to former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance.

Carroll, a former Elle columnist, was questioned by Habba during Trump's ongoing civil defamation trial in New York City on Wednesday and Thursday. Trump was already found partially liable for defamation in the case, with the trial determining additional claims and damages owed to Carroll.

Trump was previously ordered to pay Carroll $5 million in damages after being found liable for defaming and sexually abusing her in a separate lawsuit. In the current trial, Carroll is seeking at least $10 million.

Habba asked Carroll during cross-examination on Thursday if she agreed that online harassment and violent threats she has received, which are part of her defamation claims, were "not necessarily tied to" disparaging remarks from the ex-president.

Carroll disagreed, saying that some of the harassment she received was "definitely" tied to the ex-president, arguing that his supporters "follow president Trump and they want to emulate him."

Carroll's attorney Robbie Kaplan, who is unrelated to presiding U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, later asked her client if any of the harassment she received before Trump's remarks called her "a Democratic operative" or said that she "should be raped."

Vance said in a post to X, formerly Twitter, that Kaplan's question had completely "cut out" the "legs" of Habba's suggestion that Carroll's harassment was unrelated to the former president's actions.

"Alina Habba spent much of her cross-ex trying to establish that Carroll's damages happened before Trump called her a liar," Vance wrote. "Carroll's lawyer Robbie Kaplan cut out that argument's legs with one question."

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

Carroll sued Trump for allegedly defaming her in 2019 while denying her claim that he sexually assaulted her at New York's Bergdorf Goodman store in the 1990s. Trump has denied any wrongdoing and claims that his remarks were covered under presidential immunity.

Habba has faced merciless mockery from online critics over a series of perceived blunders during the trial, including several tense exchanges with the judge that included her being told to "sit down" at multiple points.

Conservative lawyer and frequent Trump critic George Conway dismissed both the ex-president and Habba as "dumb" on Wednesday after Habba asked Carroll in court if he had "planted the seed to sue President Trump."

Vance wrote in a Substack post this week that Habba, who worked in real estate law before being hired by Trump, appeared to be "in over her head" during the trial and had displayed a "lack of courtroom experience."

"[Trump] is so toxic that most of the good lawyers won't touch him," Vance wrote. "It's shocking that a former president is represented by a lawyer who doesn't seem to know her way around a courtroom."