Trump Calls Ex-Lawyer Alina Habba Mildon's $50 Million Contract Unacceptable

President Donald Trump said on Saturday, at a Halloween party at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, that it was unacceptable for his former lawyer Alina Habba Mildon to secure a $50 million contract. Trump told Fox News he did not want her paid, that she used her relationship with him to get the deal, and that the amount was far too much. Habba, 42, signed on as general counsel for Concord Partners, a company started by the daughter of Venezuelan billionaire Julio Herrera Velutini. The four-year contract formally began on January 1. Reports said she was working at a US government department when she secured it. According to aides and allies cited by the New York Times, Trump told at least one ally the Herrera family should not pay the rest of the contract, and that Habba should donate part of the money to his future presidential library or another Trump-related entity.

The New York Times, on the left, leads with Trump's reaction and puts his words in the headline, calling the deal obnoxious and outrageous. It sets the scene at a Halloween event in Florida and says the work was for someone seeking a pardon, a detail the other excerpts do not include. The right-leaning Daily Mail also leads with Trump's condemnation but frames it as a secret deal signed without his blessing and behind his back. It adds Habba's age, the Concord Partners role, the Herrera family, the Fox News interview and the demand that she hand over part of the money, citing the Times for that. Both sides agree on the $50 million figure and on Trump's disapproval. They differ in emphasis: the Times stresses the pardon connection, while the Mail stresses secrecy and the money-sharing demand. Reuters' independent report closely mirrors the Times' framing.