--- title: "Trump’s Lawyer Shows Up to Court With Glowing ROG Gaming Laptop" description: "Trump layer Alina Habba showed up to the former president's Monday court hearing with a light-changing gamer's laptop." date: "2023-10-03" modified: "2023-10-03" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/trumps-lawyer-rog-gaming-laptop" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "asus" - "donald trump" - "gaming" - "the digest" --- # Trump’s Lawyer Shows Up to Court With Glowing ROG Gaming Laptop ![Trump layer Alina Habba showed up to the former president's Monday court hearing with a light-changing gamer's laptop.]() *NEW YORK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 02: Former U.S. President Donald Trump (C) attends the start of his civil fraud trial at New York State Supreme Court on October 02, 2023 in New York City. Former President Trump may be forced to sell off his properties after Justice Arthur Engoron canceled his business certificates and ruled that he committed fraud for years while building his real estate empire after being sued by Attorney General Letitia James, who is seeking $250 million in damages. The trial will determine how much he and his companies will be penalized for the fraud. (Photo by Seth Wenig-Pool/Getty Images) \Image: Getty Images\* ## Interesting Choices Yesterday, former US president and current presidential candidate Donald Trump showed up to his $250 million fraud trial, which kicked off yesterday in New York City, with a [lot of words]() to say about the prosecution and a [self-inflicted lack of jury](). And one of his lawyers, Alina Habba, showed up with a garish, light-changing gamer's laptop, as any attorney representing a former US President in a multimillion-dollar fraud suit might. As [*Kotaku* reports](), the laptop was first noticed by an X-formerly-Twitter user named Ryan Rigney, who helms marketing for a sports anime game dubbed *Omega Strikers*. Referring to Habba as "gamer lawyer," Rigney [took to X]() to speculate on the make of the device, which appears to be one of consumer electronics manufacturer Asus' ROG — short for Republic of Gamers — models. https://twitter.com/RKRigney/status/1708887426469359641 ## Doing the Math It's unclear which specific model Habba's laptop is, but *Kotaku* speculates that it could be the ROG Strix G17 G712 model, which features a 17-inch screen and retails for roughly $1,700. It also boasts the color-changing Asus logo, which flashed from blue to orange during the hearing. Habba, whose other hobbies have included [threats to sue the Pulitzer committee]() over awards given to *The New York Times* and *The Washington Post*, has yet to confirm whether she indeed plays videogames — and if so, which ones — or if she just likes the laptop for aesthetic or functional reasons. But if she *is* a gamer, it wouldn't be entirely shocking, considering that she was [recently accused of being wildly racist](), a trait often associated with the [worst parts of the gaming universe](). In a [civil lawsuit]() filed in June of last year, a former employee accused Habba, who is Assyrian-American, of constantly dropping the N-word in the office while listening to rap music and yelling "I hate that Black b\*\*\*\*!" after losing a case to New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Black woman. (The case was [settled out of court]() in September 2022.) James, it's worth noting, also brought the current fraud case against the former president, with Trump [calling]() James a "deranged lunatic" on his social media platform, Truth Social, yesterday evening. We're not saying that everyone needs to rock uniform Macbooks in court. But bringing a color-cycling gaming laptop to court — to represent one of the most divisive figures in modern American history, no less — is an undeniably weird move, and one that certainly hasn't gone unnoticed. Anyway. If any gamers out there find themselves in conversation with a user who loves the term "[witch hunt]()," drops the N-word with abandon, and is more or less obsessed with New York's AG, be wary. **More on gaming:** [*Shocking Research Discovers That Gamers Are Overall Pretty Healthy*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()