Trump taps personal lawyer Alina Habba as White House counselor

Jenny Leonard and Stephanie Lai, Bloomberg News on Dec 8, 2024

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

President-elect Donald Trump announced that his personal lawyer Alina Habba will join his White House team and serve as counselor to the president.

“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 Sunday.

Habba has risen in prominence among Trump’s legal circle, becoming one of his most high-profile lawyers and his frequent defender on television.

The 40-year-old managing partner of Habba Madaio & Associates LLP represented him in a series of legal challenges, including in 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 this year when she quarreled in court with U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan during a civil lawsuit against Trump by advice columnist E. Jean Carroll over sexual assault in the 1990s.

She also served as a senior adviser for the main super PAC supporting Trump’s 2024 reelection bid, Make America Great Again Inc. Habba become a reliable surrogate for the campaign, often appearing at events such as Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Separately Sunday, Trump named Christopher Landau to be his 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 counselor at the State Department and Michael Anton, an alum of the first Trump administration, will serve as director of policy planning at the State Department.