Donald Trump’s legal spokeswoman Alina Habba last week expressed doubt about the former president’s chances in the New York hush money trial, suggesting that a jury in the heavily blue city would convict.
While appearing on Newsmax’s “Greg Kelly Reports” last Wednesday, Habba was asked by host Greg Kelly how she thought the trial was going so far.
Habba, who has cost Trump millions in civil judgments, expressed resignation, telling Kelly that she didn’t have high hopes that a New York court or jury would do the right thing.
The civil attorney suggested that everything about the case was “by design.” She noted that former Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance refused to prosecute Trump over the hush money claims and accused his predecessor Alvin Bragg of only pursuing the case after Trump announced that he was running for president.
Habba also slammed the judge in the case for imposing a limited gag order to prevent Trump from attacking potential witnesses and the family members of prosecutors or the court, calling it “very troubling” and claiming, “We’re in the fight of our lives at this moment.”
During the first week of the trial, jurors heard testimony from David Pecker, the former publisher of the tabloid National Enquirer.
Pecker outlined what he described as the tabloid’s “catch and kill” strategy of purchasing the rights to stories that were unfavorable about Trump to prevent them from being published.
Pecker recounted a 2015 meeting at Trump Tower when he agreed to be the Trump campaign’s “eyes and ears.” As part of that arrangement, Pecker paid $150,000 to former model Karen McDougal to acquire the exclusive rights to her story as part of the “catch and kill”
Following Pecker’s cross-examination by the defense, prosecutors last Friday called two additional witnesses to close out the first week of the trial.
Jurors heard from Trump’s former executive assistant Rhona Graff who told the court that she was responsible for maintaining Trump’s contact list, which included Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, the two women who claimed that they were paid for their silence ahead of the 2016 election.
Prosecutors also called First Republican Bank executive Gary Farro who told the jury that attorney Michael Cohen was his client at the time the Trump “fixer” wired the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels’ attorney.
