Alina Habba, attorney for former President Donald Trump, told NTD’s “Capitol Report” host Steve Lance that the former president should legally be protected from several of the cases he now faces due to presidential immunity.
“The president should be immune whenever he is acting in his capacity from the Oval Office, from the White House, on the front lawn, and he should have immunity for any basic act that’s within the scope of his employment,” Ms. Habba said in an interview that will air 5 p.m. ET on Dec. 19.
This is a defense President Trump has lodged in several of his cases, and had dismissed several times. But it is now up for review at the U.S. Supreme Court, tied to a case special counsel Jack Smith is prosecuting against President Trump for allegedly trying to overturn the 2020 election.
Just recently, the high-profile case that had been set for trial a day before Super Tuesday was paused, and taken up for review in the appeals court and Supreme Court.
“I think it’s honestly very important for every president because you have to be able to do your job without fear that you'll be persecuted and prosecuted like President Trump,” Ms. Habba said. Most of the things President Trump is currently being charged for had occurred while he was the sitting president, she added.
‘Lawfare’
Ms. Habba, award-winning lawyer and managing partner of Habba Madaio & Associates, is also President Trump’s legal spokesperson and general counsel for his Save America PAC. Her title alone shows how politics has become intertwined with “lawfare,” Ms. Habba added.
It’s also evident in the use of gag orders, she added; two have been imposed on President Trump, and one extended to Ms. Habba as his attorney as well. Political speech is protected under the First Amendment, and the lengths to which multiple courts are going to restrain it is “frightening,” she said.
“When you’re the leading candidate for the Republican Party, the fact that you’re gagging them so they can’t talk about injustice that they see is incredibly frightening to me,” she said. “The fact that I’ve been gagged in court and out of court so that I can’t even make a record for the appellate division, it’s quite frightening for me.”
“That is lawfare and that’s what we’re seeing day in and day out.”
It’s impacted public perception of the legal system, she added.
“I think they’re afraid. I think it’s scary times for our country, it’s not supposed to be corrupt, we’re not supposed to do that,” she said.
Ms. Habba said that if there was a silver lining, it was that many people recognize what is happening to President Trump is a perversion of the justice system.
“Especially with a lot of the minority vote that we’re seeing. They’re coming from countries that they fled because they were banana republics. And now to see America turn into a banana republic is a very frightening thing,” she said. “Don’t think that just because your state is red you don’t have to get out and vote.”
President Trump has now been charged in four separate criminal cases, pleading not guilty to 91 counts, and is a defendant in several more ongoing civil suits as well. In spite of the legal action against him, pollsters and his campaign alike have noted that his numbers continue to rise, and many Americans share in his belief that the prosecutions are politically motivated.
Ms. Habba said that President Trump has been “strong and resilient,” handling dual campaign and court schedules. “If you didn’t have President Trump’s energy, you couldn’t do it,” she said. “But he is so motivated.”
“He’s not afraid, and if anything it makes him want to get back in there and clean up house,” she said.
