President Trump delivered a blistering rebuke of former personal attorney Alina Habba on Saturday night, condemning her contract is worth more than $50 million with the family of a Venezuelan banker whom Trump later pardoned, as reported [1] by The New York Post.
“I thought it was terrible,” Trump told reporters after arriving at a Halloween party at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida. The president joked that he had dressed as himself for the occasion.
Trump said he told Habba that he did not want her to receive the money. He made clear that his objection went beyond the ordinary payment of legal fees to an attorney.
“You know, it’s one thing for a person to get paid legal fees or whatever. She’s a lawyer,” Trump said. “I thought it was totally obnoxious and outrageous, and it’s not acceptable. Not acceptable at all.”
Reporter: What did you make of Alina Habba attaining a more than $50M contract from a Venezuelan billionaire who then secured a full pardon from POTUS weeks later?
President Trump: “I thought it was terrible. I told her, and I said, I don’t want her paid. I thought we had somebody speak to the people that did it, and she used her relationship to do that. And it was far too much. You know, it’s one thing for a person to get paid legal fees or whatever. She’s a lawyer. I thought it was totally obnoxious and outrageous, and it’s not acceptable. Not acceptable.”
Reporter: Do you expect her to make a donation to [your] library?”
President Trump: “Not her. I expect maybe the people. I don’t know if anybody wants to make it, but it’s unacceptable what she did. Unacceptable.”
— RedWave Press (@RedWavePress) November 1, 2026 [2]
The family of billionaire banker Julio Herrera Velutini guaranteed Habba more than $50 million over four years, according to a New York Times report published last week. In exchange, Habba became general counsel of Concord Partners, a family company registered only days before she joined it.
Herrera previously faced federal bribery charges. By August 2025, his case had been reduced to a guilty plea involving a single misdemeanor campaign finance violation.
According to the Times, the family placed Habba on a $10 million annual retainer that also included bonuses. Habba, 42, reportedly arranged the position while she remained on the Justice Department payroll.
Habba had been working at Concord Partners for only two weeks when Trump pardoned her boss’ father. That timing quickly brought scrutiny, but Habba has insisted that the sequence of events was merely coincidental.
“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. The White House also denied that there was any connection, according to the outlet.
The Times reported that Trump “erupted” after learning about the lucrative contract. He then reportedly told aides and allies that some of the money should go to his future presidential library or another organization connected to Trump.
Speaking Saturday, Trump said he did not necessarily expect Habba herself to provide the money. Still, the president offered no escape from his central criticism, saying, “it’s unacceptable what she did.”
The public rebuke represents a dramatic reversal for Habba, who until recently ranked among Trump’s most stubbornly loyal allies. She became prominent as his personal attorney in 2021 and later served briefly as counselor to the president.
Habba subsequently took the leading position at the New Jersey US Attorney’s Office. She departed that office last December, before the reported arrangement with Concord Partners emerged.
The contract controversy follows several eventful weeks for Habba. She married Turkish billionaire Turhan Mildon on Sept. 26 at the Waldorf Astoria in a celebration that one source estimated cost around $10 million.
FBI Director Kash Patel, Attorney General Todd Blanche and boxer Mike Tyson attended the wedding. Less than two weeks later, Habba made another serious allegation during an Oct. 9 meeting in the Oval Office.
Habba accused Ric Grenell, the former executive director of the Kennedy Center, of failing to deposit $5.6 million that her new husband had designated for the center. The funds were allegedly part of a $17.6 million wire that Mildon sent to defense software company Texas Armament & Technology in May 2025.
Trump assigned the dispute to White House Counsel Will Scharf. Mildon’s lawyers have since produced a text in which Grenell allegedly promised Mildon access to the president.
Axios later reported that the $17.6 million originated not with Mildon, but with the finance ministry of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Grenell has denied wrongdoing and reportedly denied sending the text.
“Absurd. 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.
@beyondreasdoubt It’s absurd. 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. Make him give proof to what he is saying, not make these absurd allegations.
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) October 14, 2026 [3]
The latest controversy leaves Habba facing an unusually blunt repudiation from the president she once represented. Trump’s verdict on the reported agreement was emphatic, with the president repeatedly calling the arrangement unacceptable and objecting to the enormous sum involved.