Former President Trump suggested late Tuesday night he may be shopping for new lawyers to represent him in an imminent appeal of the damages verdict in a case brought against him by writer E. Jean Carroll.
A New York City jury last week ordered Trump to pay Carroll $83.3 million for defaming her in 2019 when he denied the longtime advice columnist’s accusation that he sexually assaulted her decades earlier.
Trump said Tuesday he is “in the process” of interviewing several law firms to represent him in his appeal.
“Any lawyer who takes a TRUMP CASE is either ‘CRAZY,’ or a TRUE AMERICAN PATRIOT,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I will make my decision soon!”
The former president was represented in the initial trial by attorney Alina Habba, a New Jersey-based lawyer who also represented Trump and his company during his New York civil fraud trial that ended earlier this month.
It’s not uncommon to seek different representation when handling an appeal, and the post doesn’t make clear that Habba was removed from the case or Trump’s broader legal team. The Hill requested comment from representatives for Habba and Trump.
Habba and U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who oversaw the case, repeatedly butted heads throughout the trial.
At one point, while discussing threats sent to Carroll, Habba said that she had also received threats during the trial. The judge scolded her, saying the comment was “inappropriate.”
In another exchange, Kaplan threatened to send Habba to jail after she interrupted him to make record of her argument over a slide presentation.
“You are on the verge of spending some time in the lockup. Now sit down,” Kaplan told Habba.
Trump also berated the judge in his Tuesday night Truth Social post, calling him a “Clinton appointed, highly partisan, Trump Hating Judge” and “one of the most partisan and out of control activists that I have ever appeared before.”
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