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An attorney and spokeswoman for former President Donald Trump attacked the New York justice system and, in particular, those involved in prosecuting her client in a so-called “hush money” case involving a years-old payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
In an interview last week with Newsmax TV’s Rob Schmitt, lawyer Alina Habba alleged that there is a “coordinated effort” between officials in the Democratic super-majority state and the Biden administration to legally hamstring the current president’s political rival.
Habba has also accused U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland of being the “puppeteer” behind President Biden’s Justice Department. She claims that the Department is working with Democratic Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office to revive the case against Trump, which had been dropped five years ago by the federal Southern District Of New York.
“[Garland’s] the puppeteer, effectively, and so is the current president, or resident, as I call him, in the White House. Truly, there is obviously a coordinated effort. There’s no question about that,” Habba told Schmitt.
“Back in the day, this case was looked at, it was investigated, charges were not brought. Indictments were not made because they knew the case was not real,” Habba said. “Then [Trump] ran for office. They bring the charges. If you look at that timeline alone, I wanna know how they’re gonna wipe this story away because it speaks volumes. You didn’t bring the charges. You said there was no story.”
Trump was still president when the Southern District opted not to pursue charges.
“And then he runs for office, and they bring an indictment on this case,” Habba added. “And that case that’s going forward in April is another disgrace and shows the demise of the state of New York, which I used to love.”
Meanwhile, Bragg has appointed Matthew Colangelo, a former senior official in Biden’s Department of Justice, as an assistant district attorney.
“It’s disgusting. Just look at the White House log,” Habba said. “If anybody wants to tell me something’s not coordinated, explain to me why a state official, who is supposed to be elected by their state and work for their state constituents, is now working with the White House administration.
“It makes no sense,” she added.
WATCH:
Meanwhile, the judge overseeing the case, Juan Merchan, this week declined Trump’s request to postpone the start of the former president’s criminal trial in Manhattan.
Bragg has charged Trump with 34 counts of falsifying business records that he says were intended to hide hush money payments made to hide the reality of his extramarital affairs.
The former president entered a not-guilty plea on every charge. Trump has attempted to postpone the criminal charges against him despite being indicted in four different jurisdictions.
The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether or not to grant Trump’s attorneys immunity from prosecution for acts he committed while serving as president, so they have asked Merchan to postpone the start of the Manhattan trial until April 15. Trump’s motion was deemed “untimely” by Merchan because it was filed after the deadline.
“Defendant’s motion is DENIED in its entirety as untimely,” the judge wrote.
“The U.S. Supreme Court said it would hear arguments on Trump’s immunity claims on April 25. Trump has claimed he cannot be prosecuted for anything he did while acting in his official capacity as president,” Mediaite noted.
Merchan has also placed an extended gag order on Trump to prevent the former president from publicly attacking witnesses like Daniels and court employees. The original order did not include Merchan or Bragg.
He extended it to protect his family better after Trump pointed out that the judge’s adult daughter, Loren Merchan, was making inflammatory and biased posts about him on social media, and that she is a Democratic operative.
