Donald Trump’s attorney Alina Habba was caught flat-footed during an appearance on CNN Sunday night when host Don Lemon grilled her on a new report about Trump hiding classified documents from the FBI after he has been subpoenaed for them, and whether she saw those documents when she searched “every box and file cabinet” at Mar-a-Lago.
After discussing Trump’s indictment over his hush payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels, host Don Lemon brought up a Washington Post report stating that the Department of Justice has evidence that the former president went through the boxes of documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate — and that some of the files were labeled as confidential — with security camera footage backing up the new accusations.
“I want to turn now to the DOJ case in the classified documents at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort,” the CNN host prompted. “This is, according to the Washington Post: the Washington Post is saying that federal investigators have gathered new and significant evidence that after the subpoena was delivered, that Trump looked through the content of some of the boxes of documents in his home, apparently out of a desire to keep certain things in his possession.”
“Do you know whether he reviewed certain classified documents after receiving the subpoena?” he pressed.
‘No, I have nothing to do with that case. I do not know'” Habba shot back.
“You don’t know if he did because you actually looked through some of the documents, correct?” he followed up.
The question caught Habba by surprise. After a tense few seconds, she tersely replied: “No, that’s inaccurate. I did a search for the attorney general case.”
“But you look at the office in the residence and you did not see any documents?” Lemon interrupted.
“No. I wasn’t looking for classified documents, no,” she nervously smirked. “And I think you could read my affidavit. It’s public record. No, I was looking for tax documents and another garbage case by [New York Attorney General] Leticia James.”
Lemon pressed her once again by asking: “Okay, so even if they were there, you don’t think that you would have recognized them, is that what you’re saying?”
“I don’t know, but I know that I’m not in a deposition right now and I’m not going to continue with this conversation,” Habba snapped.
Watch the exchange below from CNN.
