White House adviser Alina Habba, who came under fire in January for applauding alleged sex-trafficker Andrew Tate, says she doesn’t feel sorry for DOGE-fired military veterans.
The former personal lawyer to President Donald Trump said that vets impacted by the federal layoffs may not be “fit to have a job at this moment.”
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has sent thousands of Americans to the streets after billionaire comrades Trump and Elon Musk swore to slash the federal workforce. But even with countless families facing lower incomes, Habba told reporters that she has no sympathy.
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“I really don’t feel sorry for them,” she said. “They should get back to work for the American people, like President Trump.”
Even military veterans, who Habba promised the president “has always cared about,” didn’t get her pity. “We are going to care for them in the right way, but perhaps they’re not fit to have a job at this moment, or not willing to come to work,” she said.
Veterans across the country have slammed Habba’s comments, including Army veteran Jesus Tony Ruiz, reported NBC.
“I lost my job in the VA thanks to Donald Trump,” he said, adding: “I served my country, and now they fired me.”
A slew of military veterans have joined the countless other unemployed federal workers who now return home empty handed. Potentially hundreds of thousands of probationary employees have been affected, and thousands of other permanent federal workers.
The public servants come from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Education Department, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Homeland Security, National Park Service, and so much more. In February, the VA terminated over 2,400 employees and fired over 500 other contracts on Monday.
It’s far from over. The heads of the Trump administration’s budget and personnel offices told federal agencies last week that they should prepare for far-reaching layoffs in the weeks or even months to come.
Even though Trump seeks to expand DOGE’s power, it’s unclear what’s actually permissible under constitutional law. One federal judge said that the warning memo from the Office of Personnel Management was “illegal.” But the ruling did not reinstate terminated employees. Other ex-employees and workers groups have launched lawsuits against Trump, but most haven’t succeeding in turning the tide.
Habba takes over Kellyanne Conway’s role as Trump’s counselor after years of being his personal lawyer. She famously got an Apprentice contestant to drop her sexual assault case against the president. She worked with him on a New York civil fraud case where he was ordered to pay hundreds of millions after inflating property values. Last year, she was part of his hush-money trial, during which he was convicted on nearly three dozen felony counts of falsifying business records. The 40-year-old was also the senior advisor for Trump’s Super PAC, MAGA Inc.
In early January, Habba was bashed by both the left and right for praising self-proclaimed misogynist Andrew Tate, who was arrested in Romania on charges of sexual assault, organized crime, human trafficking, sex trafficking, and rape. She told Tate she agreed with everything he said and had his back.
“I’m a big fan!” Habba told Tate on Benny Johnson’s podcast.
“I’m a fan!” replied Tate. “You’re the one saving Trump. You’re doing more important work than me!”
