'This is bogus': Alina Habba's latest stunt pulled apart by CNN legal analyst

There may be many ways Donald Trump might appeal Carroll's $83.3 million award, but taking on the judge for his ties to the alleged victim's attorney some three decades ago isn't going to be one of them, one legal expert said.

Former federal prosecutor Elie Honig, appearing on CNN, explained, "There's nothing there."

"This is a bogus motion by the Trump team," he said.

He was referring to a letter sent by Trump's attorney, Alina Habba, citing a Jan. 27 article in The New York Post describing U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan's ties to Carroll's attorney, Roberta Kaplan. (They are not related.)

In it, an unnamed partner of the former law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkin, Wharton & Garrison, reflected on their work relationship as being close.

“Lew was like her mentor,” the person said.

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Habba is hoping the nugget will help make their case to overturn the writer's $83.3 million award, after a jury made up of two women and seven men in New York City decided the former president had damaged Carroll's reputation.

Indeed, both the judge and attorney worked nearly two years at the law firm in the early 1990s until Judge Kaplan was appointed to the federal bench in 1994. The incident between Carroll and Trump happened in the spring of 1996, she testified.

Habba said she learned about their connection to the law firm from The Post.

“This is news to us,” she said. “We are going to include this in our appeal and take appropriate measures. The fact it wasn’t disclosed is an ethics violation.”

Honig differs.

"Every judge in that courthouse knows, socializes with, has worked with, maybe mentored, dozen dozens, hundreds of attorneys in the city," he said. "I used to practice in that courthouse in front of judges who used to be my colleagues and supervisors. That is not enough for a conflict of interest."

He continued: "If you look at the motion, it's self-defeating because Trump's team cites this rule of ethics that says, 'Well, it could be a conflict of interest if the judge worked with the attorney on this matter or while the attorney was working on this matter' — the relationship they're talking about was at a law firm, professional relationship that goes back 30 years. Judge Kaplan has been on the bench 30 years."

For him, this is a nothing burger.

"They have their appeal issues," he concluded. "This ain't one of them."

See the full conversation in the video below or at the link here.