Trump Lawyer Alina Habba Undercuts the US Judicial System — Calls Executive Branch the ‘Ultimate Authority on Federal Issues’

Alina Habba, attorney and counselor to President Donald Trump, claimed Tuesday the executive branch is the “ultimate authority on federal issues.”

In an interview on Fox News’ The Story with Martha MacCallum Tuesday, Habba blasted a court ruling from U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer — which, Habba claimed, restricted Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent from having access to Treasury data. (Many legal scholars were skeptical that was ever the case, but an additional court ruling Tuesday clarified Bessent is not restricted from accessing the data.)

“A man that was confirmed as Secretary of the Treasury who answered tough questions, who went through the vetting process, who was appointed and confirmed, and now he can’t do his job,” Habba said. “That’s called a violation of something I like to call the separation of powers.”

Habba added, “Our founding fathers created a document, the Constitution. There’s a separation of powers for a reason. The executive branch is the ultimate authority on federal issues. And we have rogue judges who are trying to stop members like DOGE team, Bessent, from doing their job — and that’s to protect taxpayer dollars.”

It’s unclear what Habba believes the point of the U.S. judicial system is — if indeed the executive branch has the “ultimate authority” on federal issues. Fox News anchor Martha McCallum pressed on that point by playing a clip from Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) — which cited comments from Vice President JD Vance challenging U.S. judicial rule.

“Every president, including Donald Trump in his first term, complied with court orders,” Lieu said. “If this administration is going to start ignoring court orders, they’re essentially eliminating the entire judicial branch. Because why even have judges if you’re not going to follow their court orders? So we expect this administration to follow the court orders. And then what JD Vance said, which is clearly insane. If he really wants to eliminate the third branch of government, I think there’s going to be enormous pushback from both Republicans and Democrats.”

Here’s how Habba responded:

That guy should get a degree in spinning. Number one, he’s probably not a lawyer because that made zero sense to me. Number two, JD never said that he wanted to eliminate the judicial branch. What he said is you have to respect the executive branch and that is the branch that President Donald Trump runs and he is running it. He is it. And he has to be able to do his job.

Watch above, via Fox News.