Former President Trump fumed that the judge presiding over his first criminal trial would not say whether they’d skip court on the day that his son, Barron, graduates from high school.
After the first day of court proceedings in Manhattan, Trump came outside and briefly spoke to the TV cameras, repeating his longstanding claims that the prosecution by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is a political “witch hunt. He also lambasted the judge, Juan M. Merchan, for saying that he may have to skip his son’s high school graduation in Florida, the Daily Mail reported.
“(Barron’s) a great student and he’s very proud of the fact he did so well and was looking forward for years to having his graduation with his mother and father there, and it looks like the judge isn’t going to allow me to escape this scam. It’s a scam trial,” the former president said.
Barron graduates from high school on May 17, and the trial is expected to still be going on next month, the Daily Mail reported.
“We’ve got a real problem with this judge and a real problem with a lot of things having to do with this trial,” Trump bemoaned. Trump alleged that possibly being forced to miss Barron’s graduation is part of a larger left-wing effort to keep him off the campaign trail as he runs for president again this year.
Trump also complained that he couldn’t be at the U.S. Supreme Court next week for arguments related to criminal charges against defendants in the Jan. 6 insurrection. The outcome of the Jan. 6 case could knock out half of the federal charges against Trump in another case, in which he is accused of plotting to subvert the 2020 election, the New York Times reported.
“That I can’t go to my son’s graduation, that I can’t go to the U.S. 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,” Trump said. “That’s exactly what they want. This is about election interference, that’s all it’s about.”
Trump also said it was all part of a “political witch hunt” that “continues forever.”
Trump is on trial in Manhattan, his former hometown, for allegedly falsifying nearly three dozen business records in an attempt to cover up a payment to porn star Stormy Daniels in the final weeks of the 2016 election. She has said she had a brief sexual encounter with Trump at a Lake Tahoe golf tournament in 2006, when he was newly married to Melania Trump and Barron was about four months old.
The trial’s first day involved motions and maneuvering by the prosecution and defense, as well as jury selection, which alone could take weeks, the New York Times said.
Monday’s proceedings appeared to take a lot out of Trump, according to reporters in the courtroom. Veteran White House correspondent Maggie Haberman reported that the 77-year-old former president seemed “equal parts irritated and exhausted” and appeared “to nod off a few times” during the morning session, “with his mouth going slack and his head drooping onto his chest.”
Merchan’s decisions on Monday also made it clear that the trial would bring up unsavory events in Trump’s personal life, the Times reported.
These include the infamous Access Hollywood tape, when Trump was recorded bragging about grabbing women’s genitals, and stories the defense sought to suppress Monday, including his other alleged affair, with former Playboy model Karen McDougal, also when he was newly married to Melania Trump, his third wife.