President Trump tore into his former personal attorney Alina Habba on Saturday night, calling her reported $50 million contract with the family of a Venezuelan banker he later pardoned “totally obnoxious and outrageous.”
asserted
he → tear → banker
“I thought it was terrible,” Trump told reporters as he arrived at a Halloween party at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, where he joked he had come dressed as himself.
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he → think → himself
The president said he told Habba he didn’t want her to be paid.
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her → say → Habba
“You know, it’s one thing for a person to get paid legal fees or whatever.
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person → know → fees
She’s a lawyer,” Trump said.
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Trump → ’ → ?
“I thought it was totally obnoxious and outrageous, and it’s not acceptable.
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it → think → ?
The family of Julio Herrera Velutini guaranteed Habba more than $50 million over four years in exchange for serving as general counsel of Concord Partners, a family company registered just days before she signed on, the New York Times reported last week.
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Times → guarantee → Partners
Herrera, a billionaire banker, once faced federal bribery charges.
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Herrera → face → charges
By August 2025, his case had been whittled down to a guilty plea on a single misdemeanor campaign finance violation instead.
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case → whittle → violation
The family put Habba on a princely retainer of $10 million a year, plus bonuses, according to the Times.
uncertain
family → put → Times
The 42-year-old attorney teed the job up while she was still on the Justice Department’s payroll.
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she → tee → payroll
Habba was just two weeks into her new gig at Concord Partners when Trump pardoned her boss’ father.
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Trump → pardon → father
The lawyer, for her part, insists the timing is pure happenstance.
“Any insinuation that my employment — all of which has been vetted and disclosed to the DOJ — had anything to do with securing a pardon is false,” Habba told the Times.
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Habba → insist → pardon
The White House has also denied any connection, the outlet reported.
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outlet → deny → connection
Trump “erupted” when he learned of the contract, according to the Times, then told aides and allies that some of the money ought to find its way to his future presidential library or some other Trump-linked outfit.
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some → erupt → library
On Saturday, the president said he didn’t necessarily expect Habba herself to pay up.
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Habba → say → Saturday
He did not, however, let her off the hook: “it’s unacceptable what she did.”
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she → let → what
The rebuke marks a stunning fall from favor for a woman who, until recently, was among the most mulish loyalists in Trump’s orbit.
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who → mark → orbit
Habba rose to prominence as the president’s personal attorney in 2021 and parlayed that into a short stint as counselor to the president.
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Habba → rise → president
From there, she took the top job at the New Jersey US Attorney’s Office, which she left last December.
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she → take → which
Less than two weeks later, at an Oct. 9 Oval Office meeting, Habba accused Ric Grenell — the former executive director of the Kennedy Center — of failing to deposit $5.6 million her new husband had earmarked for the center.
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husband → accuse → center
The money was allegedly part of a $17.6 million wire Mildon sent to Texas Armament & Technology, a defense software company, in May 2025.
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Mildon → send → May
Trump then foisted the matter onto White House Counsel Will Scharf.
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Trump → foist → Scharf
Mildon’s lawyers have since produced a text in which Grenell allegedly promised Mildon access to the president.
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Grenell → produce → president
Axios later Axios later reported that the $17.6 million came not from Mildon but from the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s finance ministry.
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million → report → ministry
Grenell has denied any wrongdoing and reportedly denied sending the text.
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Grenell → deny → text
I’ve never asked for one cent to be sent somewhere else pretending it was for the Kennedy Center and I’ve never received any payment from him at all,” Grenell wrote on X.
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Grenell → ask → X.
The Aporia
