“Doesn’t know how to act in front of a judge”: Legal experts school Trump lawyer over meltdown

Trump attorney Alina Habba unleashed a torrent of frustration directed at New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron during a break in Monday’s testimony in Trump’s $250 million civil fraud case. “‘I’m not here to hear what he has to say,'” Habba quoted the judge as having said about Trump’s meandering tangents. “Then why exactly am I being paid as an attorney?” she asked. “The answer is very clear,” Habba added. “Because [NY Attorney General Letitia James] wants to stand right here like she did this morning and call my client a liar.” Habba continued: “And if we don’t stop corruption in courtrooms where attorneys are gagged, where attorneys are not allowed to say what they need to say to protect their clients’ interests, it doesn’t matter what your politics are. But I was told to sit down today. I was yelled at, and I’ve had a judge who is unhinged slamming a table… Let me be very clear, I don’t tolerate that in my life. I’m not going to tolerate it here.”

Legal observers criticized the lawyer’s complaints. “Spoken like a lawyer who: (1) doesn’t try cases and (2) doesn’t know how to act in front of a judge,” quipped MSNBC legal analyst Katie Phang on X, formerly Twitter. Georgia State University Law professor Eric Segall mocked Habba’s outrage over being told to sit down. “What a terrible look for this lawyer,” he tweeted. Attorney Bradley Moss cited his own experience being chastized by judges to illustrate that Monday’s exchange was not unusual. “Get over it,” he wrote.