Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Law with June Brusso from Bloomberg Radio. Well,
Speaker 1: she's a very good person. You have many lawyers, I
Speaker 1: have any lawyers, uh, and I've had many lawyers. But
Speaker 1: she's said somebody that I think it's done a very
Speaker 1: very good job. One couplic cases, and we have numerous
Speaker 1: cases that never happened. You know, I'm always a target,
Speaker 1: unfortunately and very sadly as it's very it's a very
Speaker 1: unfair situation. Former President Donald Trump is singing the praises
Speaker 1: of the attorney who's using an aggressive legal strategy to
Speaker 1: counter attack in some of his highest priority legal fights.
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Legal reporter Eric Larson profiled Trump's new lawyer, Elena Habba,
Speaker 1: and spoke to the former president to get his take
Speaker 1: on her. Eric start by telling us a little about
Speaker 1: Elena Habba. So, Elena Habba is a thirty eight year
Speaker 1: old lawyer from New Jersey. She founded a small law
Speaker 1: firm that now has five lawyers total. She is a
Speaker 1: member of Donald Trump's Bedminster golf Club. She's fairly well
Speaker 1: to do. She's originally from New Jersey, and she told
Speaker 1: me that she wanted to help Trump out because she
Speaker 1: is a true believer in his legal causes. She's not
Speaker 1: a high profile name. Why did Trump go with her?
Speaker 1: I had heard from her and separately from Trump, that
Speaker 1: other members that the Bedminster Golf Club had told Trump
Speaker 1: about her legal work for them. So she had represented
Speaker 1: other members at the club, done some legal work here
Speaker 1: and there, and they liked I guess the results, and
Speaker 1: they knew that Trump is always in need of legal help.
Speaker 1: So she was recommended and it basically he had someone
Speaker 1: at the club reach out her, get her business card.
Speaker 1: Then several interviews followed with him in person and then
Speaker 1: also with the Trump organization legal team. In general. She
Speaker 1: has an aggressive legal strategy, which Trump likes. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: she's been very aggressive in court. You know, Trump says
Speaker 1: this was his idea to get more aggressive, and I
Speaker 1: think that in Elena Habba he found someone willing to
Speaker 1: carry out this aggressive strategy. So it started out with
Speaker 1: your call that Trump had two lawsuits against him by
Speaker 1: different women Ee Gene Carroll, New York advice columnist and
Speaker 1: a former Apprentice contestant Summer Reservos. They both claimed that
Speaker 1: they were sexually assaulted by him and that he defamed
Speaker 1: them by denying it. So those cases had been going
Speaker 1: on for a while, and Elena Habba took over his
Speaker 1: defense and basically threatened counterclaims against them under the anti
Speaker 1: slap laws. And you know, alleging bad faith lawsuits had
Speaker 1: been filed against Trump sum Reservos. The apprentice contestant dropped
Speaker 1: her lawsuit after that, and in the case of Eging Carroll,
Speaker 1: a judge ruled that the claim was coming too late.
Speaker 1: But Trump was real happy about that Zervos case going away.
Speaker 1: He congratulated her on that. He printed out a news
Speaker 1: article and signed it, and she has a framed copy
Speaker 1: of that hanging on her wall. So at any rate,
Speaker 1: he gave her some more matters to handle, and then
Speaker 1: she went on the offense against his other courtroom foes. Right,
Speaker 1: She's filed some lawsuits that seemed designed to get headlines
Speaker 1: and also looked like they could be easily dismissed. I mean, certainly,
Speaker 1: I spoke with legal experts at the time that these
Speaker 1: lawsuits were filed who said that they seemed pretty weak,
Speaker 1: that they were frivolous perhaps, So yeah, we'll see what happens.
Speaker 1: These are three separate lawsuits, one filed against the new
Speaker 1: York Attorney General Leticia James, claiming that her investigation into
Speaker 1: Trump's company is politically motivated in bogus and seeking an
Speaker 1: injunction to force the investigation to end. The other was
Speaker 1: filed more recently against Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Party and
Speaker 1: several others, alleging a big conspiracy to undermine Trump while
Speaker 1: he was in office in regards to the Russia investigation
Speaker 1: and things like that. And then another lawsuit filed against
Speaker 1: his estranged niece Mary Trump and The New York Times,
Speaker 1: seeking a hundred million dollars in damages for her acting
Speaker 1: as a source for the newspapers award winning article about
Speaker 1: his finances. Our track record on Trump cases hasn't been
Speaker 1: all wins, No, definitely, not so far. We've seen a
Speaker 1: few big setbacks. She had tried to fight against subpoenas
Speaker 1: that were issued by the New York Attorney General to
Speaker 1: prevent Trump and two of his children, Don Junior and
Speaker 1: Ivanka from having to testify under oath. They really wanted
Speaker 1: to avoid that, and she argued really hard against it,
Speaker 1: but a judge upheld those subpoenas back in February. She's
Speaker 1: appealing that, but she lost on that and in regards
Speaker 1: to the subpoena for Trump's records that was also upheld,
Speaker 1: and Trump agreed to abide by it with Alena Habba's help,
Speaker 1: but instead he didn't follow through, and she basically went
Speaker 1: to the court on the day that the documents were
Speaker 1: due and said, actually, we object to this subpoena. The
Speaker 1: judge was not happy. He held Donald Trump in contempt
Speaker 1: of court and find him ten thousand dollars a day,
Speaker 1: which was just lifted the other day. Provisionally, they're trying
Speaker 1: to get him out of contempt, but he owes the
Speaker 1: court a hundred and ten thousand dollars now. And frankly,
Speaker 1: this is a result of the way that Elina Habba
Speaker 1: handled it. They both fought the judge for this, by
Speaker 1: the way, and Trump does not think that miss Habba
Speaker 1: did anything wrong in her representation. Drop in the bucket
Speaker 1: for Trump. Let's listen to what Trump told you about
Speaker 1: that ruling. It's just a very unfinished situation. But I
Speaker 1: think she's done a very good job and she'll continue
Speaker 1: to do. A story in The Daily Beast in March
Speaker 1: described other members of Trump's legal team complaining about hob
Speaker 1: and mocking her. Yes and that was one of probably
Speaker 1: several pieces in the legal news world that had some
Speaker 1: negative things to say about miss hobb And, and frankly,
Speaker 1: that's part of the reason I wanted to write this profile.
Speaker 1: I got a chance to email with her in covering
Speaker 1: these cases and then finally met her in person in
Speaker 1: court during that contempt hearing, and you know, regardless of
Speaker 1: the cases and how strongly are I felt like she
Speaker 1: deserved a little bit more of a fair shake in
Speaker 1: terms of making her a little more three dimensional and
Speaker 1: and showing what she she's like because some of those
Speaker 1: pieces I'm not going to call anyone out specifically, but
Speaker 1: she said that made her feel like she was being
Speaker 1: portrayed as having no experience, some podunk lawyer in New
Speaker 1: Jersey who had some personal connection to Trump and got
Speaker 1: this work. She says that that's just not true, and
Speaker 1: I said, fine, you know, I want to learn more
Speaker 1: about you. So that's what the pieces about. Final question,
Speaker 1: Trump is known for stiffing some of his lawyers. Is
Speaker 1: she being paid? I did ask her that and she
Speaker 1: said yes, she said that she is being paid, and
Speaker 1: and I believe her so great profile. Thanks so much, Eric,
Speaker 1: That's Bloomberg legal reporter Eric Larson coming up next on
Speaker 1: the Bloomberg Law Show, How to Spot Dishonest Lawyers. They're
Speaker 1: probably playing a game. I'm June Grosso and you're listening
Speaker 1: to Bloomberg