It was New Year’s Eve and Alina Habba was on sparkling form. Having just shelled out $9.6 million on a Palm Beach mansion, Donald Trump’s former lawyer and her businessman husband were in a mood to celebrate.
The couple welcomed old friends from her native New Jersey and more newly acquired White House allies to the palatial property.
The 30 or so guests raised a glass to the New Year, the new home, and Habba and Gregg Reuben’s fifth wedding anniversary.
A few weeks later, on January 31, the gang gathered again. This time the setting was the president’s Doral golf course, for the wedding of Trump 2024 consultant Alex Bruesewitz.
A smiling Habba, glamorous as ever in a floor-sweeping olive-green gown, struck a pose beside Meghan Bauer, an assistant to the president, and perennial MAGA partier Mike Tyson.
Habba’s husband stood behind her, tucked very firmly in her shadow.
And for Habba, it seems, there was no looking back. Two days later she called time on her own marriage. Court documents seen by the Daily Mail show the couple signed a separation agreement on February 2.
Ten days later, on February 12, the divorce documents were filed in New Jersey, on the grounds of irreconcilable differences. Sources have told the Daily Mail that the uncontested divorce has now been granted.
Alina Habba is pictured (far right) with fellow New Jersey-Florida friends Siggy Flicker, Vicki Rocco and Danielle Boudria at her New Year’s Eve party. The 30 or so guests raised a glass to the New Year, the new home, and Habba and Gregg Reuben’s fifth wedding anniversary
Habba is pictured with Mike Tyson and his wife, and Meghan Bauer, an assistant to the president, at the January 31 wedding. Her husband Gregg Reuben is standing behind her
Habba is pictured celebrating her 40th birthday with her two children from her first marriage to Matthew Eyet, Chloe and Luke, and the older son of Reuben from his previous relationship
Habba’s two young children – Luke, 12 and 10-year-old Chloe – are still in school in New Jersey, and likely to remain there until the end of the school year, living with their father, Habba’s first husband, Matthew Eyet.
So what happened? Was this divorce the product of a rapid rupture or a slow, sad unravelling, with the final separation timed for the benefit and ease of all?
Neither Habba nor Reuben responded to Daily Mail’s request for comment. Certainly not all Habba’s friends seem inclined to grieve the relationship’s passing – quite the opposite.
Instead, they are celebrating the 41-year-old’s new ‘freedom,’ with one cattily telling Page Six that Habba was better off without him, dismissing 53-year-old Reuben as ‘a man not worth sharing a life with.’
All described Habba as a feisty, powerful woman who needs a man who can keep up with her.
One told the Daily Mail: ‘She’s a self-made lawyer who fought her way to the top; a devoted mom; and someone who refuses to dim her personality to satisfy critics, even when life throws personal challenges her way.’
Neither Reuben nor Habba have commented on their split, though this week sources close to her suggested to the Daily Mail they had been separated for some time and living in different states for many months.
How that squares with the New Year’s Eve party, and the January wedding, is unclear.
But another friend told us that she is ‘a star in her own right,’ noting it’s ‘hard to live in that shadow.’
And Reuben seemed quite often to be there – standing in the background of Habba’s Instagram posts, smiling apparently contentedly behind his scene-stealing wife.
While she dazzled, his time was devoted to his parking lot business and his blog about car parks.
Reuben, the millionaire founder of New York City-based parking management company Centerpark, is a Harvard Business School graduate, a father of one, chair of the Transportation Department’s Advisory Board, and now the second ex-husband of Habba
Reuben ‘isn’t political,’ as one source close with Habba described but said they don’t think that’s the reason for the divorce. The couple is pictured with Donald and Melania Trump during her 40th birthday party at Mar-a-Lago
A rare blog post not discussing parking lots was focused on New England skiing, and where to find the best sweet treats. He enjoyed video games; supported a Jewish children’s summer camp and volunteered at a Manhattan homeless shelter.
Politics, sources told the Daily Mail, was not Reuben’s bag. But the Harvard Business School graduate supported his wife’s passion.
For a while, at least, the couple appeared to thrive together.
In December 2024, shortly before his inauguration, Trump announced that Habba would serve as ‘counselor to the president’ – a role held, in his first term, by Kellyanne Conway.
On January 13, 2025, Habba shared a photo of herself with Conway, posting it on Instagram with the caption: ‘Just one week until I step into her shoes. Big heels to fill, but I’m ready!’
That July Reuben was appointed chair of the newly created Department of Transportation Advisory Board, created that year by Trump.
On September 9, the couple were both inside the Oval Office, chatting to the president across the Resolute Desk. Habba was pictured leading the conversation.
And on December 6, Habba shared a photo of herself and Reuben at a White House Christmas party, beaming in front of a festive tree.
Reuben looked at ease, but a source told the Daily Mail he was not a natural fit in uber-competitive MAGA-land.
‘He’s more of just a normal business guy,’ the source said. ‘He’s not hyper obsessed with “Trump World” status, or the endless stream of social activities.’
Habba, by contrast, was in her element.
Striding in her stilettos across the tarmac to Air Force One or sitting beside Donald Trump Jr and Joe Rogan at a UFC contest, Habba documented every power-hungry minute. A Mar-a-Lago regular, she posted frequent photos of herself hanging out with the president and his family, late conservative luminary Charlie Kirk and FBI director Kash Patel.
Indeed, Patel and his country singer girlfriend Alexis Wilkins were among the Trump administration officials opting to ring in the New Year at Habba and Reuben’s party, after having shown their faces earlier at their boss’s Mar-a-Lago gathering.
Habba insisted, however, that despite her fierce image she was a traditional woman at home.
‘I’m not a feminist – I believe in strong women, but I want my door opened,’ she told a podcast in January 2024. ‘I’m very much an – my parents are Middle Eastern – an old school woman.
‘When I’m at home, I cook. I have a husband I respect. I know how to turn it off.’
The MAGA firebrand emerged on the scene as Trump’s lawyer between his first and second terms, and quickly became a vocal supporter on the 2024 campaign trail
Born in Summit, New Jersey, Habba is the middle child of Saad Habba, a gastroenterologist, and his wife Janan.
The Habbas, both Chaldean Catholics – followers of an offshoot of Roman Catholicism, headquartered in Baghdad – left Iraq in the 1980s, fleeing persecution from Saddam Hussein.
Their first born, Fuad, now 46, works in finance in New York City; their youngest child, Nicole, 40, is in insurance: the three siblings are close and frequently photographed together.
Alina graduated from Lehigh University in Pennsylvania in 2002 with a BA in political science, remaining in the state to study law at Widener University, where she met her first husband.
Habba and Matthew Eyet married in September 2011 and moved to Bedminster to run their own law firm, specializing in tax and real estate law. They split in 2019 after having two children together.
Habba joined Trump’s country club and met him there the same year as her divorce. She first became part of his legal team after former Apprentice contestant Summer Zervos sued him for defamation. Zervos claimed in a January 2017 lawsuit that Trump kissed and groped her in 2007 after she had sought career advice.
He called her claims a hoax. Zervos dropped her case in November 2021, a month after Habba filed a countersuit against her claiming that she was trying to stifle Trump’s freedom of speech.
Impressed by her performance, Trump hired Habba again – this time to sue The New York Times and his niece Mary Trump for $100 million over publication of his tax records. In January 2024 the claims against the paper and its three reporters were dismissed by a judge, who ordered Trump to pay nearly $400,000 in legal fees. The case against Mary Trump is ongoing; she denies any wrongdoing.
Next, Habba sued Hillary Clinton and the Department of Justice over their Russia investigation. A judge dismissed the suit as ‘completely frivolous’ and ordered Trump and Habba to pay nearly $1 million in legal costs – a decision upheld on appeal in November 2025.
Perhaps most famously, Habba was part of the legal team that lost Trump’s case against Elle magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll, who sued him for defamation and for sexual abuse. Trump was ordered to pay Carroll first $5 million in damages for sexual abuse and defamation and then $83 million in damages for defamation: he is appealing both decisions.
Habba has repeatedly said Trump hires her because she wins cases, despite the evidence to the contrary.
She admitted, however, that her looks play a part.
Habba has repeatedly said Trump hires her because she wins cases, despite the evidence to the contrary
Habba is seen with Donald Trump in December 2023, at a hearing for the E. Jean Carroll case
‘I don’t think I’d be on TV or sitting here if I didn’t look the way I look,’ she told The PBD Podcast in January 2024. ‘I think I caught attention.’
She added: ‘Someone asked me – would I rather be pretty or smart? And I said, oh, easy: pretty. I can fake being smart. You have to be honest – it doesn’t hurt to be good looking.’
A Wall Street Journal profile of the president published in June 2025 noted that Trump ‘adores’ Habba, admiring her gutsiness and loyalty.
In July 2025 she was named acting US attorney for New Jersey – an appointment that raised eyebrows for her lack of prosecutorial experience.
Ty Cobb, a lawyer who worked for Trump on the Russia investigation during his first term, was scathing.
‘He hired her for his own amusement,’ he told Vanity Fair at the time. ‘This is not somebody who you get a résumé and you go, ‘This person really deserves to be in a position of authority.’ I wish her well, but she’s so far out of her depth.’
He added: ‘It’s not a question of hating her. It’s a question of her being grossly unfit for the job.’
The role, in any case, was short-lived: in August the appointment was ruled unlawful.
She resigned in December and returned to Washington DC as an assistant to the attorney general, Pam Bondi.
In July 2025 she was named acting US attorney for New Jersey – an appointment that raised eyebrows for her lack of prosecutorial experience. A month later her hiring was ruled invalid
‘Do not mistake compliance for surrender,’ she said, announcing her resignation. ‘Make no mistake, you can take the girl out of New Jersey, but you can’t take New Jersey out of the girl.’
That may be true, but for now Florida seems to be her new home. The seven-bedroom mansion, with over 6,000 square feet of space, is less than two miles from Mar-a-Lago.
A double height living room looks out onto the pool and palm trees: from her balcony, she can see the water and perhaps even the Winter White House just up the coast. It is unclear where Reuben is living, but Habba’s friends say she is relishing life in the Sunshine State.
‘She’s super happy in Florida so far and looking forward to situating her kids there, similar to a lot of MAGA world,’ a friend told the New York Post.
‘I think it’s a positive new chapter and I’m excited to see what’s she’s going to do.’
