Trump: Judge Won't Let Me Go to Barron's High School Graduation

On Monday, following the 4:30 p.m. ET conclusion of the first day of his historic criminal trial, former President Donald Trump addressed reporters outside of the lower Manhattan courthouse. The presumptive Republican nominee, seeking a return to the White House in 2024, lamented that presiding Judge Juan Merchan would not allow him to attend his youngest son, Barron Trump's, high school graduation.

Trump said:

As you know my son is graduating from high school, and it looks like the judge will not let me go to the graduation of my son who's worked very, very hard. He is a great student and I'm very proud of the fact that he did so well. And, I was looking forward for years to have his graduation with his mother and father there. It looks like the judge isn't going to allow me to escape this scam, it's a scam trial.

Eighteen-year-old Barron is the only child of former First Lady Melania Trump and, like his mother, keeps a low profile in the media. He transferred to the Oxbridge Academy in Palm Beach, Florida, following the end of his father's presidential term in 2021. He is due to graduate with the class of 2024 on May 17.

As the trial began on Monday morning, Judge Merchan said that he had received requests from Trump's attorneys for the former president to miss the trial on May 17 so he could attend his son's graduation ceremony. However, Merchan indicated that he could not rule on the request at this time, and it would be dependent on whether the trial was running according to schedule.

Jury selection is expected to last up to two weeks, with the entire trial expected to last between six and eight weeks. Trump is due to be in court every day of the trial.

Trump also made comments about the trial's schedule preventing him from being able to attend arguments in the United States Supreme Court on presidential immunity, scheduled to take place next week.

Trump said:

In addition, as you know next Thursday, we're before the United States Supreme Court on a very big hearing on immunity and this is something that we have been waiting for for a long time. And, the judge of course is not going to allow us, he's a very conflicted judge, and he's not going to allow us to go to that.
He won't allow me to leave here for a half a day, go to D.C., and go before the United States Supreme Court because he thinks he's superior, I guess, than the Supreme Court. We've got a real problem with this judge, we've got a real problem with a lot of things having to do with this trial, including the D.A.

Closing his remarks, Trump added that he is also being prevented from spending this crucial time on the campaign trail and said the case is motivated by election interference.

Trump said:

That I can't go to my sons graduation, or that I can't go to the United States Supreme Court, that I'm not in Georgia, or Florida, or North Carolina campaigning like I should be it's perfect for the radical left Democrats, that's exactly what they want. This is about election interference, that's all it's about.