No, Alina Habba did not claim Judge Lewis Kaplan took a $5 million bribe | Fact check

The claim: Alina Habba said Judge Lewis Kaplan took a $5 million bribe to convict Trump

A Jan. 28 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) contends Donald Trump’s attorney made a serious allegation of impropriety against the judge overseeing the former president’s civil defamation trial.

“Breaking news: Alina Habba: Judge Kaplan took $5,000,000 bribe to convict Donald Trump,” reads text included in the post, which shows images of Trump attorney Alina Habba and Judge Lewis Kaplan.

The post was liked more than 3,000 times in a week.

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Our rating: False

There are no credible reports of Habba making such a claim. Kaplan also did not “convict” Trump in the case, as it was a civil trial, and the verdict is decided by a jury.

No record of bribery allegation by Habba

Habba represented Trump in a defamation suit filed by writer E. Jean Carroll, who said the then-real estate mogul sexually assaulted her in the mid-1990s in a department store dressing room. A civil jury in May 2023 found that Trump had sexually abused and defamed Carroll and ordered him to pay $5 million in damages.

An additional trial that concluded this year addressed whether Trump also defamed her with statements he made while president in 2019. A different jury on Jan. 26 concluded he did and ordered him to pay another $83.3 million in damages. Kaplan presided over both trials.

Habba and Kaplan sparred often in court, with the judge rebuking her at least 14 times on one particularly confrontational day. He also threatened to jail Habba for her conduct. At one point, Habba briefly suggested Kaplan had a mentoring relationship with Carroll’s attorney before withdrawing the claim.

But there are no credible news reports about Habba stating or suggesting publicly or privately that Kaplan was bribed. She has made multiple appearances in the media since the jury verdict was announced but has not accused Kaplan of taking a bribe in any of those appearances.

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The Instagram post is also false in its claim that Kaplan "convicted" Trump. The legal battle was a civil trial, where no one can be "convicted," which refers to someone being declared guilty of a criminal offense. Civil cases do not involve criminal charges.

The case was also decided by a jury, not Kaplan. Under federal court rules, the presiding judge has a pathway to set aside the jury’s decision and substitute their own judgment, but Kaplan did not use this power in the case.

The trial has been the subject of other false claims, including the claim that it was paused to interfere with the New Hampshire presidential primary. USA TODAY debunked that claim, clarifying that the trial was delayed because of a juror's illness.

Another claim debunked by USA TODAY involved a screenshot of a purported Truth Social post from Trump saying, “Maybe next time I’ll choose a law firm and lawyer that has some more practical experience.” The screenshot was fabricated, although Trump is considering hiring new attorneys for an appeal.

USA TODAY could not reach the social media user who shared the claim for comment. Habba did not respond to a request from USA TODAY for comment.

Lead Stories also debunked the claim.

Our fact-check sources:

• Cornell Law School, accessed Feb. 9, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: False claim Alina Habba accused judge of taking bribe | Fact check