NEW YORK — The judge in Donald Trump’s hush-money trial said Tuesday that the former president can attend the high school graduation of his youngest son, Barron, in Florida next month.
For weeks, Trump had loudly complained outside the courtroom about the prospect of missing the ceremony on Friday, May 17, and had criticized the judge, Juan Merchan, for not immediately giving him permission to attend.
But on Monday, before testimony restarted in Trump’s criminal trial in lower Manhattan, Merchan announced that Trump could have the day off from court.
“I don’t think the May 17 date is a problem,” Merchan said. The judge later said court would not be in session that day, nor would it be on the following Friday, May 24, before the Memorial Day long weekend.
Barron Trump, 18, attends a private high school near Mar-a-Lago, his father’s residence.
Trump has been charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection to a hush-money payment to a porn actor who claimed to have had a sexual encounter with him. He has denied the encounter and pleaded not guilty.