The family of Venezuelan billionaire Julio Herrera Velutini reportedly guaranteed Alina Habba, President Trump’s former personal lawyer, more than $50 million over four years while Herrera was seeking a pardon from Trump. According to The New York Times, Habba started the job in January, and within weeks, Trump pardoned Herrera.
Habba responded to the Times report with sarcasm, “Big Scoop: After leaving public service, I’ve gone back to doing what I have done for my entire career: being a lawyer.”
Habba added: “Any insinuation that my employment — all of which has been vetted and disclosed to the D.O.J. — had anything to do with securing a pardon is false and defamatory.” The New Jersey attorney also suggested that the Times report was “just another October surprise,” as the midterm elections are just two weeks away.
Big Scoop: After leaving public service, I’ve gone back to doing what I have done for my entire career: being a lawyer.
If the New York Times simply went back and looked at their own reporting, they have already credited another capable attorney for what he successfully did without me and took credit for. Any insinuation that my employment — all of which has been vetted and disclosed to the D.O.J. — had anything to do with securing a pardon is false and defamatory.
What’s more, even though I’ve told this activist “journalist” at The New York Times for each of his many hit pieces on me and my family to refer to me as Alina Mildon, my actual name, they can’t help but do what they have always done- use my old name for clicks. Intentional, pathetic and obvious.
I have stayed silent while the media attacked my husband, my friends, and me over the past week. My entire public career has been dedicated to calling out the radical left and the fake news. Anyone who thought that would change hasn’t been paying attention.
We are 14 days away from the election – this is just another October surprise.
Do not let left wing media distract you from the amazing work this President and administration has done. I know this game all too well.
— Alina Mildon (@AlinaHabba) October 20, 2026
[NOTE: According to the Times, Habba was a senior adviser to Attorney General Pam Bondi at the Justice Department when she agreed to the new job. The company paying her, Concord Partners, was set up by Herrera’s daughter, Isabela Herrera, who gave $3.5 million to the pro-Trump super PAC MAGA Inc. Herrera hired Christopher Kise, a former member of Trump’s legal team, to press for clemency. Federal prosecutors had charged him with bribery in 2022, and he pleaded to a misdemeanor in August 2025.]
A Justice Department spokesperson told the Times that Habba did not discuss a pardon with anyone. A White House official told the paper she played no role.
[NOTE: When Trump pardoned Herrera and his co-defendants earlier this year, a White House official told CBS News the donations “had nothing to do with the pardon.”]
Critics of the Trump administration, including former Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-VA), are voicing skepticism over the narrative coming from Habba and the White House. Comstock wrote after the story broke: “Pay to play corruption is so rampant with the Mar-a-Lago Mafia.”
Pay to play corruption is so rampant with the Mar-a-Lago Mafia you can’t keep up….
— Barbara Comstock (@BarbaraComstock) October 20, 2026
Former spokesman for President Barack Obama and the U.S. National Security Council, podcaster Tommy Vietor, responded: “Alina Habba was an advisor to the Attorney General, was interim US Attorney in New Jersey, and all the while was negotiating a massive bribe to get a Venezuelan billionaire a pardon.”
[NOTE: Habba now goes by Alina Mildon after marrying Turkish businessman Turhan Mildon in September. She resigned as Acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey last year after a federal court ruled that Trump appointed her unlawfully. She is also in a public feud with Trump loyalist Ric Grenell over a $5.6 million donation to the Kennedy Center.]