Donald Trump’s lawyer, Alina Habba, demanded on Monday that the judge presiding over E. Jean Carroll’s defamation case against the former president provide “all relevant facts” regarding an alleged conflict of interest she has with the advice columnist’s lead attorney.
A jury awarded Carroll $83.3 million in damages from Trump last week, before The Post learned from sources that Manhattan federal Judge Lewis Kaplan had been a “mentor” to Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan, when the two worked together in the early 1990s at Paul, Weiss Rifkin, Wharton & Garrison law firm in Midtown.
“If your Honor is indeed working with Ms. Kaplan in any capacity — especially if there is a mentor/mentee relationship — that fact should be disclosed before any case involving these parties is allowed to proceed,” Habba wrote in a letter to Judge.
“This issue is of particular concern because the Plaintiff’s other lead attorney, Shawn Crowley, serves as Your Honor’s law clerk, and we were previously advised that Your Honor officiated his wedding.”
Habba was not aware of the potential conflict of interest prior to The Post’s report. ZUMAPRESS.com A spokesman for Kaplan downplayed his relationship with the judge when they both worked at the same law firm in the 1990s. Reuters
Habba argued that the judge may be able to provide information about her alleged relationship with Kaplan that could impact Trump’s expected appeal of the defamation judgment and the previous $5 million judgment in Carroll’s favor for sexual abuse.
“Here, without knowing more information (or having a specific factual denial by your Honor that you had a mentor-mentee relationship with Ms. Kaplan), we cannot complete our position on the specific relief that should be requested,” Habba wrote.
“However, this Court should provide the defense counsel with all the relevant facts. At the very least, this information could certainly prove relevant to President Trump’s upcoming Rule 59 motion,” he added, referring to Trump’s expected request for a new trial or reconsideration of the court’s decision.
“Lew was like his mentor,” a former partner of Paul Weiss told The Post of the dynamic between Lewis Kaplan and Roberta Kaplan when they worked together at the firm.
Spokesperson Roberta Kaplan downplayed any relationship the couple may have had.
“They overlapped for less than two years in the early 1990s at a large law firm when he was a senior partner and she was a junior associate and he never worked for her,” the spokesperson told The Post.
Trump plans to appeal the verdict in Carroll’s defamation and sexual abuse case. AP
Habba stated that even before he was informed of the alleged conflict of interest, it was clear to him that the court was “openly hostile” to Trump and his team.
“We believe, and will argue on appeal, that the Court is openly hostile to defense counsel and President Trump, and exhibits preferential treatment of Plaintiffs’ counsel,” Habba wrote. “Indeed, the court’s decision, tone and attitude raised significant concerns even before the New York Post’s investigative journalism uncovered these new facts.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
