(Photo
by
Spencer
Platt/Getty
Images)
Fresh
off
her
appearance
at
the
RNC,
the
former
president’s
lawyer
Alina
Habba
got
some
good(?)
news
about
her
own
legal
troubles.
Yesterday
NOTUS’s
Jose
Pagliery
reported
that
Habba
had
settled
with
Alice
Bianco,
a
former
waitress
at
Trump’s
Bedminster
Golf
Club.
The
confidential
settlement
arose
out
of
an
extremely
ugly
episode
where
the
then-21-year-old
server
was
repeatedly
coerced
into
sex
with
her
supervisor,
a
situation
she
alleges
was
known
to
the
management,
which
took
no
action.
In
November,
Bianco
sued
the
club,
alleging
that
Habba
had
first
convinced
her
to
fire
her
lawyer,
and
then
hoodwinked
her
into
accepting
a
paltry
$15,000
settlement.
The
document
included
a
non-disclosure
clause
which
was
void
as
a
matter
of
New
Jersey’s Civil
Rights
law,
particularly
a
liquidated
damages
provision
which
would
have
fined
Bianco
$1,000
ever
time
she
spoke
about
the
underlying
events.
When
she
negotiated
and
drafted
the
deal,
Habba
was
not
officially
Trump’s
lawyer.
But
almost
immediately
after,
she
was
hired
to
represent
him
in
multiple
civil
suits,
including
the
E.
Jean
Carroll
defamation
cases,
the
New
York
civil
fraud
trial,
and
the
RICO
LOLsuit
in
Florida
against
Hillary
Clinton,
James
Comey,
and
half
the
Democrats
in
DC.
If
Trump
is
pissed
about
Habba
steering
him
into
half
a
billion
in
judgments,
plus
a
million
dollars
in
sanctions
for
which
they’re
jointly
liable,
he
hasn’t
showed
it.
But
when
the
club
settled
the
complaint
in
March,
it
explicitly
did
not
release
the
lawyer
from
liability.
That
settlement
merely
voided
the
original
hush
money
agreement,
while
allowing
Bianco
to
keep
the
measly
$15,000.
She
was
free
to
pursue
claims
against
the
club
and
Habba,
with
the
organization
signaling
that
it
was
not
taking
responsibility
for
Habba’s
conduct
in
the
matter.
It’s
not
clear
where
negotiations
stand
with
the
club,
but,
according
to
NOTUS,
Bianco
and
Habba
have
come
to
a
monetary
settlement.
Whether
that
settlement
is
coming
out
of
Trump’s
PAC,
which
pays
legal
bills
for
favored
lackeys,
or
her
D&O
policy
is
unclear
and
likely
to
remain
so
—
Habba’s
firm
has
already
received
millions
in
legal
fees
from
the
PAC,
and
Trump’s
campaign
routinely
hides
expenditures
by
routing
them
through
a
third-party
processor
known
as
Red
Curve.
Nor
is
it
clear
whether
this
will
settle
the
matter
with
the
New
Jersey
Office
for
Attorney
Ethics
(OAE).
The
original
complaint
requested
that
Judge
Joseph
Rea
refer
Habba
to
the
OAE
for
“fraudulently
induc[ing]
Ms.
Bianco
to
give
up
her
rights
and
to
enter
into
a
settlement
which
is
illegal
and
unconscionable.”
In
a
handwritten
note
on
a
show
cause
order,
Judge
Rea
wrote,
“If
this
court
receives
reliable
information
indicating
a
substantial
likelihood
that
a
lawyer
has
committed
a
violation
of
the
Rules
of
Professional
Conduct
or
gains
knowledge
that
raises
a
substantial
question
as
to
the
lawyer’s
honesty,
trustworthiness,
or
fitness
as
a
lawyer
in
other
respects,
then
the
court
will
take
appropriate
action
in
accord
w/
R.
3.15(b)
of
the
Code
of
Judicial
Conduct.”
That
was
nine
months
ago,
and
ongoing
attorney
ethics
investigations
are
sealed.
But
perhaps
the
outcome
of
any
ethics
referral
is
immaterial,
since
Habba’s
“real”
job
now
is
as
a
Trump
surrogate,
flogging
lies
about
election
fraud
and
wooing
Arab
voters
in
Michigan.
Disbarment
would
make
her
a
martyr
and
free
her
up
for
even
more
Fox
hits.
When
you’re
a
star,
they
let
you
do
it!
Trump
Lawyer
Alina
Habba
Quietly
Settles
With
Ex-Bedminster
Waitress
Involved
In
Hush
Money
Deal
[NOTUS]
Liz
Dye lives
in
Baltimore
where
she
produces
the
Law
and
Chaos substack and podcast.