Trump calls $50m contract for ex-lawyer ‘not acceptable’

US President Donald Trump has said it was “unacceptable” for one of his former lawyers, Alina Habba ​Mildon, to secure a $50 million contract for herself while working ‌at the US Department of Justice.

“I thought it was totally obnoxious and outrageous, and it’s not acceptable,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, on Saturday. “Not ​acceptable at all.”

The New York Times reported last week that the ​family of Julio Herrera Velutini, a Venezuelan banker facing US felony ⁠bribery charges before striking a plea deal in August 2025, guaranteed ​Habba Mildon more than $50 million over four years.

The deal, according to the ​newspaper, would pay $10 million a year plus bonuses.

Trump said he told Habba Mildon he did not want her to be paid and called the episode “terrible.”

Habba Mildon was serving as the ​acting US attorney in New Jersey when she signed the contract with ​Herrera’s family company, Concord Partners, days after it was registered in late October 2025, ‌the ⁠New York Times reported.

By the time she started her employment with the Herrera family, a court had disqualified her from serving as US attorney.

She resigned on December 8 and was appointed a senior adviser to the attorney general ​the same day, ​and was still ⁠in that role when, according to the New York Times, she started at Concord on January 1.

Trump pardoned Herrera ​on January 15, 2026, according to the Justice Department’s ​website.

Habba Mildon ⁠last week said she was never paid for a pardon, never met with anyone at the White House or Justice Department about a pardon, and never ⁠did ​any work for a pardon for anyone.

The ​Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.