Latest / GNN Daily Breaking News / Trump calls $50 million contract for ex-lawyer Habba Mildon 'not acceptable'

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Trump calls $50 million contract for ex-lawyer Habba Mildon 'not acceptable' · GNN Daily Breaking News

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: A federal judge in San Francisco issued an emergency court
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  Speaker 1: order directing the Department of Justice to immediately stop threatening
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  Speaker 1: state and local election officials with criminal prosecution. Issued late
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  Speaker 1: Friday by U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson, the preliminary injunction
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  Speaker 1: bars federal prosecutors from a President Donald Trump publicly rebuked
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  Speaker 1: former personal attorney Alina Habba-Mildon on Saturday, characterizing a reported
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  Speaker 1: four-year sentence. $ 50 million legal retainer contract signed with the
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  Speaker 1: family of a foreign financier as not acceptable. Speaking with
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  Speaker 1: advisers and allies, Trump expressed sharp frustration over the lucrative
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  Speaker 1: agreement between Mildon and entities connected to Venezuelan banker Julio Herrera-Valutini,
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  Speaker 1: who has been seeking a presidential pardon. The presidential criticism
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  Speaker 1: marks a notable public rift between the White House and
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  Speaker 1: one of Trump's most prominent former legal defenders. The multimillion-dollar contract,
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  Speaker 1: first disclosed in investigative reporting, was arranged through a corporate
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  Speaker 1: entity registered by Herrera-Valutini's family shortly after Mildon served in
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  Speaker 1: federal administrative roles. Federal records and court filings indicate that
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  Speaker 1: the four-year retainer guaranteed over $ 12. 5 million annually to represent
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  Speaker 1: the interest of the Venezuelan national. Administration aides revealed that
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  Speaker 1: President Trump privately voiced anger upon learning of the size
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  Speaker 1: of the contract, arguing that high-profile legal retainers connected to
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  Speaker 1: executive clemency applications harmed the administration's public standing. Reported details
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: indicate that Trump suggested Mildon direct a significant portion of
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  Speaker 1: the retainer funds toward his future presidential library or associated
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: charitable foundations to mitigate potential ethical concerns. Additionally, administration officials
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  Speaker 1: reportedly conveyed messages to the Herrera family advising against dispersing
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  Speaker 1: the remaining balances under the agreement. Mildon and her legal
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  Speaker 1: team have denied any wrongdoing, maintaining that the legal services
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  Speaker 1: contract represented standard, professional legal representation for complex multi-jurisdictional matters
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  Speaker 1: unrelated to official White House actions. The dispute over the
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  Speaker 1: $ 50 million legal retainer arrives just 48 hours before the
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  Speaker 1: November 3rd midterm elections. amplifying ongoing political and legal debates
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  Speaker 1: over presidential pardon procedures and ethics regulations governing former government personnel.
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  Speaker 1: Democratic lawmakers and ethics watchdog organizations have seized on the disclosures,
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  Speaker 1: calling for immediate congressional inquiries into federal clemency lobbying practices.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: As campaigns execute their final voter turnout drives, The high-profile
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  Speaker 1: conflict underscores how legal ethics controversies continue to shadow White
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: House operations in the final sprint to the polls dot
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  Speaker 1: coercing election workers into altering voter registration dockets or isolating
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  Speaker 1: ballots in the final. 48 hours before the November 3rd
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  Speaker 1: midterm elections. The judicial order forces a sharp halt to
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  Speaker 1: the administration's aggressive legal strategy targeting local election administrators nationwide.
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  Speaker 1: The federal lawsuit was brought by a coalition of labor
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  Speaker 1: unions and civil rights organizations, including the Service Employees International Union, SEIU,
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  Speaker 1: the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, AFSEM,
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  Speaker 1: and Protect Democracy. Plaintiffs argued that recent Justice Department warning
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: letters sent to state officials contained explicit threats of federal
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  Speaker 1: criminal charges meant to intimidate local election workers. Under Judge
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  Speaker 1: Thompson's order, the Department of Justice must formally notify affected
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  Speaker 1: state and local administrators that all prior threats of prosecution
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  Speaker 1: have been enjoined by federal court order. The ruling explicitly
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  Speaker 1: forbids the Justice Department from demanding that election officials remove
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  Speaker 1: individuals from voter rolls using unverified lists or isolate ballots
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  Speaker 1: cast by voters whom federal authorities claim are noncitizens. Judge
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  Speaker 1: Thompson wrote that the public holds a paramount interest in
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  Speaker 1: ensuring election personnel carry out their duties free from federal coercion,
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  Speaker 1: noting that attempts to pressure workers just days before Election
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  Speaker 1: Day risk severe voter disenfranchisement and administrative paralysis. Justice Department
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  Speaker 1: litigators defended their actions as standard enforcement of federal voting
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  Speaker 1: eligibility laws. The court order arrives as state election directors
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  Speaker 1: prepare for millions of voters to cast ballots across competitive
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  Speaker 1: congressional and state battlegrounds on Tuesday. Civil rights leaders praise
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  Speaker 1: the decision as a decisive victory for election infrastructure, reassuring
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  Speaker 1: local poll workers that state voting procedures remain protected under
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  Speaker 1: federal law. As federal agencies adjust to the court's restrictions,
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  Speaker 1: Local election offices are continuing standard ballot processing protocols across
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  Speaker 1: the nation.