Allies of former President Trump have seized on the judge overseeing the New York hush money case delaying a decision on letting the former president go to his son Barron’s high school graduation in May.
“Judge Merchan is truly heartless in not letting a father attend his son’s graduation,” another of Trump’s sons, Eric, said in a post on the social platform X Monday.
Due to New York state law, the former president has to attend his whole trial and cannot skip it unless he gets permission from the judge to do so. Merchan declined to rule one way or another on the issue of allowing Trump to go to the graduation on Monday, however, he did not fully shoot down granting him the ability to do so.
The former president has accused Judge Juan Merchan of stopping him from attending the graduation, stating that his son “was looking forward to that graduation with his mother and father there.”
“It looks like the judge isn’t going to allow me to escape this scam,” Trump told reporters. “It’s a scam trial.”
Trump also expressed his frustration with the matter in a post on Truth Social Monday.
“Who will explain for me, to my wonderful son, Barron, who is a GREAT Student at a fantastic School, that his Dad will likely not be allowed to attend his Graduation Ceremony, something that we have been talking about for years, because a seriously Conflicted and Corrupt New York State Judge wants me in Criminal Court on a bogus ‘Biden Case,'” Trump said in his post.
Utah Sen. Mike Lee (R) said that “telling Trump he can’t attend Barron’s graduation goes beyond mere jackassery” in a post on X early Tuesday morning.
“This is deliberately cruel,” he continued in his post.
Arizona Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake said she was “heartbroken” for the former president and his youngest son in a post on X Monday.
“All the hard work our kids put into graduating, & President Trump is being robbed of getting to experience his son’s High School graduation ceremony,” Lake continued in her post. ”This corrupt judge is heartless & cruel. We The People will send a message in November & take our country back.”
Another strong Trump ally, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), said Merchan said “that President Trump can’t even go to the graduation of his son.”
“I mean, come on,” Donalds said on Newsmax’s “National Report” Tuesday. “That is pure spite.”