Alina Habba Back in Trouble for (Allegedly) Lying While Lawyering
One reason — I laid out a week ago — I was interested in the ways that Trump’s DOJ keeps getting caught in false claims, is because they create, “the possibility that these prosecutions will backfire, not just by creating sympathetic political martyrs, but also by further exposing [Pam] Bondi and her top aides as liars violating legal ethics.”
Which Ras Baraka is attempting to facilitate by suing Alina Habba for false arrest and malicious prosecution.
There are several key details about the lawsuit that might sustain it beyond what would normally be prosecutorial immunity, at least far enough to get discovery (discovery that might also sink the prosecution against LaMonica McIver).
First, Baraka showed that even before she was sworn in, Habba made clear that she would abuse the office for political gain.
13. Days before being sworn in, Habba announced on Fox News that she would be “investigating” New Jersey’s Democratic Governor and his appointed Attorney General, claiming New Jersey’s lawful Immigrant Trust Directive is thwarting Trump’s immigration policies. Habba claimed that New Jersey’s Governor and Attorney General were interfering with her effort to take “all criminals out of the country” — apparently except for her former client, convicted felon Donald Trump.
Along with including all the other false claims made about Baraka (an interview Habba did with Fox, a CNN interview DHS propagandist Tricia McLaughlin did, as well as false claims in the arrest affidavit), he included the tweet that Habba sent from her personal Xitter account even before Baraka was charged.
And he described the exceptional efforts to exacerbate Baraka’s arrest, not just by arresting him rather than citing him, but by subjecting him twice to fingerprinting and a mugshot.
One thing Baraka doesn’t mention, however, is the imminent primary for New Jersey’s gubernatorial race. He Baraka was well behind in polls before his arrest, but he will be able to make a plausible claim that the arrest harmed his chances — all the more so given that Pam Bondi’s own DOJ dismissed the charges against Eric Adams precisely because of the damage it would allegedly do to him in the upcoming primary.
As Liz Dye noted on Bluesky, Baraka is represented by the same lawyer, Nancy Smith, who forced Habba into a settlement on behalf of a Bedminster staffer whom Habba tricked into a hush payment in conjunction with being sexuallly harassed. She knows Habba’s tricks well.