Alina Habba, the lawyer representing former President Donald Trump in his defamation lawsuit brought by writer E. Jean Carroll, has been accused of making up a fake person to support her claim of a conflict of interest involving the trial judge.
Habba had alleged that U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan had a mentor-mentee relationship with Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, when they worked at the same law firm in the early 1990s. Habba cited a New York Post article that quoted an unnamed former partner of the firm as the source of this information.
However, Carroll’s lawyer denied the allegation and challenged Habba to produce the name of the alleged witness. Habba then identified the witness as “John Smith”, a pseudonym she said she used to protect his privacy. She also provided an affidavit from “Smith” that corroborated her claim.
But Carroll’s lawyer was not convinced and filed a motion to compel Habba to reveal the true identity of the witness, arguing that the affidavit was suspicious and lacked credibility. Carroll’s lawyer also threatened to seek sanctions against Habba for making false statements to the court.
Habba has not yet responded to the motion, but she has previously indicated that she plans to appeal the $83.3 million verdict that the jury awarded to Carroll, who accused Trump of raping her in the 1990s. Trump has denied the allegation and called Carroll a liar, prompting her to sue him for defamation.
