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E. Jean Carroll mocked Alina Habba's "ludicrous confidence" during an interview on CNN Monday morning, just days after her civil defamation case against former president Donald Trump came to a close.
A New York City jury last May found Trump liable and ordered him to pay $5 million in damages for sexual abuse and defamation against Carroll, a former Elle magazine columnist who has accused him of assaulting her in a Manhattan department store changing room in the mid-1990s. Trump has denied assaulting her and maintains his innocence.
On Friday, a jury ordered him to pay an additional $83 million in additional damages for accusing her of lying about the assault. Habba represented Trump in the civil trial.
During her CNN interview, Carroll responded to a clip of Habba criticizing Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, who was tasked with overseeing the trial, for allegedly deciding that Trump's legal team could not raise "every single defense" he had. Ahead of the trial, Kaplan ruled that his attorneys could not argue he did not assault Carroll, pointing to an earlier ruling.
"Alina Habba is gloriously talented. She's very skilled. She has ludicrous confidence, and when you hear her speak, we understand most of what she just said was entirely made up. Entirely untrue," Carroll said on CNN.
Carroll's attorney, Roberta Kaplan, added that she understands "that's what she's saying because that's what she has to say," but that Judge Kaplan "followed the rules" of the trial.
Newsweek reached out to Habba for comment via email.
Carroll said on CNN that she was "flabbergasted" at the lack of power Trump showed during the trial, saying, "he was nothing, just no power. He was zero."
Trump responded to the verdict in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social.
"Absolutely ridiculous! I fully disagree with both verdicts, and will be appealing this whole Biden Directed Witch Hunt focused on me and the Republican Party. Our Legal System is out of control, and being used as a Political Weapon. They have taken away all First Amendment Rights. THIS IS NOT AMERICA!" he wrote.
He also criticized Judge Kaplan's handling of the trial in a series of Truth Social posts Friday afternoon, specifically criticizing Kaplan for not allowing his attorneys to play for the jury video of Carroll discussing peoples' perception of rape during a 2019 CNN interview.
The judge rejected it because he believed it "needlessly and confusingly would invite the jury to decide this case on the basis of defendant's view that those issues are open to discussion or reconsideration."
Habba's behavior during the trial drew criticism from some legal experts amid several tense exchanges with Judge Kaplan, including when she attempted to use evidence that was not submitted to the court, was told to stand up while addressing the court and was stopped from asking about the "believability" of Trump's alleged sexual assault on Carroll.
Update 1/29/24 9:20 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
About the writer
Andrew Stanton is a Newsweek weekend reporter based in Maine. His role is reporting on U.S. politics and social issues. ... Read more