One of former President Donald Trump’s go-to lawyers once called New York Attorney General ‘that black b****’ and has sang raps songs with the N-word in the office, a lawsuit alleges.
A black former legal assistant who used to work for New Jersey-based attorney Alina Habba claims she made a series of racist remarks over the years, and began singing sexually-explicit songs with the N-word in the office.
And at one point, Na’syia Drayton claims, Habba angrily shouted, ‘I hate that black b****’ after suffering a legal defeat to New York Attorney General Letitia James in April.
‘Plaintiff Na’syia Drayton was appalled about the racist remarks made about the Attorney General, Letitia James, and felt astonished that her supervisor felt comfortable and entitled to make such statements in the workplace, in her presence,’ the lawsuit, filed Tuesday in New Jersey Superior Court, says.
It allegedly came after New York State Supreme Court Justice Arthur F Engoron ruled that Trump would be held in contempt of court and forced to pay a $10,000 fine for every day he fails to turn over financial documents to the New York Attorney General’s Office.
That daily fine eventually added up to $110,000 before it was dropped last month.
Habba is now set to represent the former president and the Trump Organization in a trial next week that seeks to prove he directed security guards to attack protesters outside his Manhattan offices.
She has previously spoken out against Letitia James and her investigation into the Trump Organization, saying she ‘better have good justification for her investigation.’
![New York State Attorney General Letitia James is investigating the Trump Organization's finances](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/07/21/18/60542423-11036479-afa-m-52_1658424703539.jpg)
Alina Habba, who is representing former President Donald Trump and the Trump Organization in New York State Attorney General Letitia James’ investigation into the organization’s finances, allegedly once called the black attorney general ‘that black b****’
![The allegation came in a lawsuit that Na'syia Drayton, a former legal assistant, pictured, is filing against Habba, alleging racist and sexually inappropriate behavior](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/07/21/18/60543807-11036479-image-m-50_1658424597105.jpg)
The allegation came in a lawsuit that Na’syia Drayton, a former legal assistant, pictured, is filing against Habba, alleging racist and sexually inappropriate behavior
According to the lawsuit, filed in Middlesex County, Drayton was a legal assistant and was the only black employee at Habba Madaio and Associates, a small law firm based in Bedminster – near Trump’s Golf Course.
She started working with Habba at her previous firm, the suit says, but was let go during the early part of the COVID pandemic.
After Habba left to start her own law firm, though, the lawsuit says, she hired Drayton as a legal assistant in November 2021.
At first, the suit claims everything went well at the office.
But soon, Habba and her new partner, Michael Madaio, would blast hip hop music before court appearances, and would loudly sing along to raunchy songs that regularly use the N-word.
On January 26, the suit says, Habba and Madaio ‘played and loudly sung several songs in the office with sexually explicit lyrics’ that Drayton felt were ‘both racially offensive and sexually inappropriate within the office setting.’
Among those songs were DMX’s Ruff Ryders Anthem, Kanye West and Jay Z’s N***** in Paris and Lil Wayne’s Rich Ass F***.
On at least one occasion, the lawsuit states, Habba and the other employees would call her out as they sang – suggesting that they were singing for her.
Every time Habba sang the N-word, the lawsuit claims, Drayton ‘felt demeaned and violated,’ and songs ‘that portrayed women as objects of male sexual gratification’ made her feel ‘humiliated, embarrassed and uncomfortable in the office.’
But the lawsuit suggests the turning point really came after Habba referred to James as ‘that black b****.’
After that, the lawsuit says, Drayton started having panic attacks at work and soon started withdrawing from the company socially, spending more time working from home.
When Habba noticed her change of behavior, the lawsuit says, she confronted Drayton and suggested that if Drayton did not become more engaged, she would have to fire her.
Drayton then said she just did not do much in the office because it was too cold.
As the days went by, though, the suit says she figured nothing would change until she spoke out. So on June 9, Drayton sent her bosses an email entitled ‘Workplace environment feeling uncomfortable.’
In it, she wrote that the songs and Habba’s alleged statement about James.
‘At that moment, I felt that you held a hatred for African American people, specifically women,’ Drayton wrote in the email, a copy of which was attached to the lawsuit.
She also wrote that it reminded her of another interaction she had with Habba years earlier, in which she suggested Drayton order the fried chicken meal at a staff luncheon because it was good and because ‘you people like fried chicken.’
Soon, the lawsuit says, Drayton was called into the office to meet with Habba and Madaio without the firm’s human resources director available.
At that meeting, the suit claims, Habba ‘criticized and attacked Plaintiff for being combative, hyper-sensitive and ungrateful.’
She allegedly claimed she could not be racist because ‘I am a f****** minority myself.
‘I’m not white,’ Habba allegedly told Drayton. ‘I used to be bullied because I am Arab.’
By June 14, Drayton tendered her resignation.
She is now claiming she suffered a loss of income, humiliation, mental anguish, emotional pain and suffering as a result of Habba’s acts – and is suing for back pay, front pay and punitive damage.
But Habba has dismissed the claims, telling the Daily Beast: ‘Na’syia is someone we love and care about, and have for years.
‘Na’syia had never made a single complaint to anyone until she had decided to quit and ask for an exorbitant amount of money in return.
‘I am disappointed by this lawsuit, and the allegations, which are simply not true.’
![Habba has become a go-to lawyer for Trump amid James' investigation into his finances](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/07/21/20/60543463-11036479-Habba_has_become_a_go_to_lawyer_for_Trump_amid_James_investigati-m-28_1658432372418.jpg)
![She is now set to represent the former president and the Trump Organization in a trial next week that seeks to prove he directed security guards to attack protesters outside his Manhattan offices](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/07/21/20/60544897-11036479-She_is_now_set_to_represent_the_former_president_and_the_Trump_O-a-26_1658432368852.jpg)
Habba has become a go-to lawyer for Trump amid James’ investigation into his finances
Habba is now set to represent Trump as he testifies in the New York state probe into his family real estate business.
She had previously tried to halt the disposition, but last month the state Court of Appeals dismissed the appeal because ‘no substantial constitutional question is directly involved.’
James is investigating whether the Trump Organization misled lenders and tax authorities, by inflating real estate values to get better loan terms and lowering those values to save on taxes.
The Trumps had argued that testifying would violate their constitutional rights because their words could be used against them in a related criminal investigation led by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Trump, a Republican, has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.
He has also called James’ probe a politically motivated witch hunt, and James a racist.
![She tweeted last week that the revelations from the House January 6th Committee hearing were 'disturbing' and said it's her 'duty to investigate allegations of fraud or potential misconduct'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/07/21/18/59054441-11036479-James_tweeted_about_the_hearings_Monday_night-a-51_1658424695281.jpg)
She tweeted last week that the revelations from the House January 6th Committee hearing were ‘disturbing’ and said it’s her ‘duty to investigate allegations of fraud or potential misconduct’
Meanwhile, James jumped on ‘disturbing’ revelations from the House January 6th committee hearing earlier this month, suggesting she will use her office to pursue new information about the insurrection.
‘The new details revealed tonight related to January 6 are disturbing,’ the AG tweeted last week.
‘It’s my duty to investigate allegations of fraud or potential misconduct in New York. This incident is no exception,’ she said.
Her tweet did not otherwise specify which ‘incident’ she was referring to.
But the panel had released new information about the extent of the Trump camp’s fundraising haul pegged to the president’s election fraud claims, which former campaign and government officials repeatedly undermined in their own testimony.
Former Attorney General Bill Barr called them ‘bulls****.’
The panel said its investigators found Trump raised $250 million for his election ‘defense’ fund, but just a tiny fraction went to actually fighting to raise election claims in court.
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