Former President Donald Trump continues to face legal scrutiny following his departure from office, making him the first former commander-in-chief to be charged with a criminal offense.
Despite this, a spokeswoman for the former president seeks to put a positive spin on his situation in an interview with Newsmax over the weekend.
Alina Habba argued that despite being indicted by Special Counsel Jack Smith in Washington D.C., which typically leans Democrat, all is not lost for Trump.
Alina Habba spoke to Newsmax TV ahead of a court appearance by former President Donald Trump in Washington D.C. before U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, an Obama appointee who has previously imposed harsher punishments on those accused of involvement in the January 6th Capitol riot.
Special counsel Jack Smith had charged Trump with four felonies associated with his alleged actions that day earlier in the week.
During the interview, host Rob Schmitt initially aired a clip featuring former federal prosecutor Joe diGenova predicting that due to factors such as Chutkan’s background, the potential jury pool, and Trump’s political affiliation, it was likely he would be found guilty.
“I don’t necessarily believe that, and maybe that’s only because I’m a product of a little bit more internal knowledge,” Habba told Schmitt. “I’m not as concerned based on the facts [of the case]. Am I concerned about a D.C. jury? Of course, nobody can get in front of a D.C. jury as a Republican.”
“There are processes that we can go through if we do believe that this judge is compromised or won’t be able to give a fair shake,” Habba said. “It’s a motion for recusal.
“The only issue with recusal motions — and I’m not familiar with the criminal court system — but in civil law, the judge decides whether they can be impartial … so, we’ll see how it works. I’ll leave that to our criminal attorneys, but that’s typically what you do,” she said.
“I can’t see how you could possibly be a person who donates to the Democratic Party, a person who sat on the board with the [son of the] current president and political opponent to President Trump … and then sit and oversee this case,” Habba added. “That just doesn’t make sense to me.”
WATCH:
On Monday, Smith responded to Trump’s lawyer John Lauro in a new court filing after the attorney had made multiple appearances on media outlets.
Following Lauro’s defense of his client on all five Sunday shows this week, Smith sought a protective order against the former president as reported by Mediaite.
In reply to the special counsel’s request for a protective order limiting what Trump and his legal team can say publicly about evidence in the case, Smith provided a response on Monday.
“The central purpose of criminal discovery is to provide the defendant with materials necessary to prepare for a fair trial. To facilitate the efficient production of discovery to the defense, the Government proposed a reasonable protective order consistent with current practice in this District. The defendant instead proposed an order designed to allow him to try this case in the media rather than in the courtroom. To safeguard witness privacy and the integrity of these proceedings, the Court should enter the Government’s proposed protective order,” the special counsel said.
The special counsel went on to quote the Trump attorney from his television appearances in his request.
“The defendant’s proposed order would lead to the public dissemination of discovery material. Indeed, that is the defendant’s stated goal; the defendant seeks to use the discovery material to litigate this case in the media. But that is contrary to the purpose of criminal discovery, which is to afford defendants the ability to prepare for and mount a defense in court—not to wage a media campaign. The Court should instead enter the Government’s proposed order,” Smith’s filing added.
