Trump Taps Personal Lawyer Alina Habba as White House Counsellor
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – US President-elect Donald Trump announced that his personal lawyer Alina Habba will join his White House team and serve as his counsellor.
“She has been unwavering in her loyalty, and unmatched in her resolve – standing with me through numerous ‘trials’, battles and countless days in court,” he said in a statement on Dec 8, Bloomberg reported.
Habba has risen in prominence in his legal circle, becoming one of his most high-profile lawyers and frequent defender on television.
The 40-year-old managing partner of Habba Madaio & Associates LLP represented him in a series of legal challenges, including a defamation lawsuit from a former Apprentice contestant, Summer Zervos, who accused him of sexual assault.
Habba established a case that led the contestant to drop her lawsuit.
Trump also tapped Habba when his niece, Mary Trump, sued him for cheating her out of an inheritance, a case that was dismissed.
In addition, Habba helped Trump sue his niece over her role in providing reporters at the New York Times with his financial documents.
Habba made headlines earlier in 2024 when she quarreled in court with US District Judge Lewis Kaplan during a civil lawsuit against Trump by advice columnist E. Jean Carroll over sexual assault in the 1990s.
She served as a senior adviser for the main super political action committee supporting Trump’s 2024 re-election bid, Make America Great Again. She became a reliable surrogate for the campaign, often appearing at events such as Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Separately on Dec 8, Trump named Christopher Landau as Deputy Secretary of State.
“Chris will work closely with our great Secretary of State nominee, Marco Rubio, to promote our nation’s security and prosperity through an America First Foreign Policy,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform. “Chris served as my ambassador to Mexico, where he worked tirelessly with our team to reduce illegal migration to the lowest levels in history.”
Michael Needham, a former senior Rubio aide, will serve as counsellor at the State Department. Michael Anton, an alumnus of the first Trump administration, will serve as director of policy planning at the same department.
