Trump calls ex-lawyer Habba’s $50 million contract ‘not acceptable’
President Donald Trump has called it “unacceptable” for his former lawyer Alina Habba Mildon to sign a $50 million-plus contract while working at the US Department of Justice.
Speaking to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, on Saturday, 31 October, Trump said: “I thought it was totally obnoxious and outrageous, and it’s not acceptable.” He called it “terrible” and said he had told Habba Mildon he did not want her to be paid.
The New York Times reported the contract. The newspaper said the family of Julio Herrera Velutini, a Venezuelan banker, had guaranteed Habba Mildon more than $50 million over four years — $10 million a year plus bonuses — as general counsel of Concord Partners, a company set up by Herrera Velutini’s daughter Isabela in Florida in late October 2025.
Habba Mildon signed the deal while she was the acting US attorney in New Jersey, according to the Times. By the time she started at Concord on 1 January, a court had disqualified her as US attorney. She resigned on 8 December and was made a senior adviser to the attorney general, a role she still held when she started at Concord.
Herrera Velutini had faced US felony bribery charges before striking a plea deal in August 2025, and Trump pardoned him on 15 January 2026, according to the Justice Department’s website. Habba Mildon has said she was never paid for a pardon and never did any work for one. The New York Times reported that the White House also denied any connection between her job and the pardon.
Why it matters
The case raises questions about a senior Justice Department official taking a private payday from a family seeking a presidential pardon. Habba Mildon was one of Trump’s closest lawyers before joining his administration, and the timing — a deal signed while she held a top prosecutor’s job, followed weeks later by a pardon — is why the story has drawn attention. No wrongdoing has been established.
What happens next
Trump did not say what, if anything, he would do about the contract, and the Justice Department did not immediately answer Reuters’ request for comment. The next step to watch is whether the department or Congress asks how the job was approved.
This article is for general information and education only. It is not legal or financial advice.
Sources
- https://ktwb.com/2026/10/31/trump-calls-50-million-contract-for-ex-lawyer-habba-mildon-not-acceptable/ (Reuters, 1 November 2026)
- https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/20/us/politics/julio-herrera-pardon-alina-habba.html (The New York Times, 20 October 2026)
- https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/billionaire-received-pardon-after-family-company-hired-former-trump-lawyer-alina-habba (ABA Journal, 22 October 2026)
