After filing a letter with the court calling into question the judge’s objectivity based on an anonymous accusation published in the Trump-friendly New York Post, serial legal failure Alina Habba submitted a new letter to Judge Lewis Kaplan cartoonishly backpedaling from her claim that he once served as a mentor to her opposing counsel, Roberta Kaplan (no relation).

Roberta Kaplan herself quickly sent the judge a letter denying all claims made by Habba and suggesting Habba herself (or another of Trump’s minions) was the source of the anonymous tip to the New York Post, a move Roberta Kaplan pointed out, that could lead to sanctions for trying to defraud the court.

After seeing her opposing lawyer’s response, Habba quickly responded with a response saying she wasn’t making the claim; she was just asking about the report in the Post.  “The purpose of the letter was simply to inquire as to whether there is any merit to a recently published New York Post story which reported on the alleged existence of such a relationship. To be clear, this claim originated solely from the New York Post, where it was purportedly sourced from a ‘former Paul Weiss partner who asked not to be named.’ I played no part in uncovering this information; have never communicated with the unnamed Paul Weiss partner; and have no personal knowledge as to whether the information contained in the article is true or false. As I stated in my January 29 letter, I ‘learned for the first time’ about the purported mentor-mentee relationship from the New York Post.  Although I am quoted in the article, my statements were given in response to the reporter’s request for comment (which, per the article, was also sought from Kaplan Hecker & Fink).”