Alina Habba Referred to as AG Letitia James a ‘Black B*tch’: Lawsuit

Former President Donald Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba referred to New York Lawyer Common Letitia James (D) — who has been investigating her shopper for years for proof of suspected tax offenses — as a “Black bitch,” in accordance with a lawsuit filed by Habba’s ex-legal assistant.

The ex-legal assistant, Na’Syia Drayton, says that she was the one Black lady whom Habba employed and is now suing her on varied bias claims, together with harassment and discrimination primarily based on race, harassment and discrimination primarily based on gender, constructive discharge, constructive discharge, and illegal retaliation. Drayton additionally alleges negligent infliction of emotional misery and intentional infliction of emotional misery.

Within the lawsuit, Drayton paints a portrait of an workplace tradition the place Habba and her accomplice loudly sing rap lyrics with racial slurs and Habba allegedly makes informal racist and antisemitic remarks. Drayton calls for a jury trial and desires unspecified punitive damages.

The Every day Beast first reported the lawsuit, which was filed on Tuesday in Superior Court docket of New Jersey, the place Habba’s apply relies.

“Pump Themselves Up”

In accordance with the lawsuit, Drayton labored for Habba between 2017 and 2019 on the Sandelands Eyet in Bedminster, New Jersey, the place Habba served because the agency’s managing accomplice. Drayton says that she continued working for Habba between November 2021 and June 2022 on the Trump legal professional’s agency Habba Madaio & Associates LLP.

The difficulty began, in accordance with Drayton’s criticism, in the course of the second section of her employment. Drayton describes the primary couple of months contained in the workplace of Habba Madaio & Associates as a “honeymoon section,” however she says that got here to an abrupt halt because the agency’s named companions — Habba and Michael Madaio, who’s a co-defendant — selected to play and “loudly sing and repeat” rap music with sexually charged lyrics peppered with racial slurs.

Habba and Madaio “appeared to notably take pleasure in listening to, and rapping together with what is mostly perceived and labeled as gangster and hip-hop music, to energise, inspire and in any other case ‘pump themselves up’ prior to creating court docket appearances,” in accordance with the lawsuit.

Because the agency’s solely Black worker, Drayton says, she felt “shocked, embarrassed and humiliated.”

In accordance with the lawsuit, the songs they performed and sang included “Ruff Ryders Anthem” by DMX, “Niggas in Paris” by Kanye West and Jay Z, “Wealthy Ass Fuck” by Lil Wayne and “Lollipop” by Lil Wayne.

“In a few of the songs performed and sung by the defendants that day, the phrase ‘n***r’ (and its variations) was used so many instances that Plaintiff Na’Syia Drayton was unable to maintain rely,” the lawsuit says, with the uncensored model of the slur within the lawsuit. “The songs equally contained extremely sexual content material and portrayed girls as mere objects of male sexual gratification.”

Habba, who represents Trump in quite a lot of lawsuits, filed her first discover of look within the case involving the New York legal professional common’s investigation on Jan. 4 of this 12 months. The lawsuit means that her anger towards James flared inside months.

In April 2022, Drayton claims that Habba misplaced a authorized battle towards James’s workplace after which raged within the workplace: “I HATE THAT BLACK BITCH!”

The outburst is emphasised in block capital letters and boldface textual content within the lawsuit.

“You Individuals Like Fried Hen”

Although the criticism doesn’t establish the defeat that allegedly provoked the remark, it asserts that it was a loss earlier than the New York Court docket of Appeals, the state’s highest court docket. That court docket didn’t problem a ruling towards Trump in April 2022.

In a decrease court docket that month, nevertheless, Manhattan Supreme Court docket Justice Arthur Engoron discovered Trump in contempt and imposed a $10,000 per day advantageous for failing to adjust to James’s subpoena. Habba didn’t disguise her indignation towards the choose that day, telling reporters outdoors the courtroom that the ruling was “inappropriate” and the advantageous was “loopy.” She later accused the choose of turning the proceedings right into a “public spectacle.” Trump and Habba in the end resolved the matter by paying a $110,000 advantageous and supplying detailed affidavits related to their searches for the subpoenaed data.

The Court docket of Appeals dominated towards Trump in his struggle to keep away from testifying for a deposition months later in June.

No matter sparked the alleged remarks, Drayton claims it precipitated her to undergo “panic assaults.” The following month, Drayton says, Habba threatened her along with her job in a Could 2022 assembly.

“Through the assembly, defendant Alina Habba informed plaintiff Na’Syia Drayton that she sensed that plaintiff appeared sad, was isolating herself and had withdrawn from the crew,” the lawsuit states. “Defendant Alina Habba shared that she initially believed that plaintiff Na’Syia Drayton could be a ‘good match’ for the workplace, however primarily based on plaintiff’s lately modified demeanor, she was starting to suppose that she had made a mistake in recruiting her. Defendant Alina Habba even indicated that if issues didn’t enhance, she reluctantly must let plaintiff Na’Syia Drayton go.”

That’s when Drayton says that she despatched Habba an e-mail with the topic line “Office atmosphere feeling uncomfortable,” which refers to Habba’s alleged comment about James and the rap music performed within the workplace. The e-mail additionally claims that Habba advisable at a employees luncheon that Drayton order a rooster meal as a result of “you folks like fried rooster.”

After Habba obtained the e-mail, Drayton says, the Trump lawyer exploded that she couldn’t be racist as a result of “I’m a fucking minority myself” and “I’m not White.”

“I was bullied as a result of I’m Arab,” Habba stated, in accordance with the lawsuit.

In a footnote, Drayton took umbrage at Habba allegedly telling her she was “attempting to be offended.”

Drayton says she “not solely discovered this remark to be patently offensive, however felt that her supervisor was embracing pejorative racial stereotyping, particularly that African People are hyper-sensitive, lazy opportunists who sought out any alternative to file frivolous lawsuits with a view to keep away from work.”

In accordance with the lawsuit, Drayton didn’t really feel comfy taking the matter to the agency’s human assets supervisor Randee Ingram, who isn’t named as a defendant. Drayton claims that was as a result of Ingram took no corrective motion after Habba brazenly referred to as a fellow legal professional a “low cost Jew.”

Along with her alleged non-public remarks quoted within the lawsuit, Habba has attacked James on the right-wing channel Newsmax as “unhinged” and “obsessed” with the previous president. Trump has attacked James and Manhattan District Lawyer Alvin Bragg (D), who’re each Black and investigating him, as “racists.” Habba didn’t reply to Regulation&Crime’s e-mail requesting remark.

Learn the lawsuit right here:

(Screenshot by way of YouTube)

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