Donald Trump fumed Monday that his Manhattan hush money trial may force him to miss his son Barron’s high school graduation – and flashed a tight-lipped smirk as he stood to face the first pool of potential jurors who may decide his fate in the historic case.
“I was looking forward to that graduation with his mother and father there, and it looks like the judge does not allow me to escape this scam,” Trump, 77, told reporters in the hallway of Manhattan Supreme Court after the first day of trial.
Trump’s attorneys had asked Justice Juan Merchan not to hold the trial on Friday, May 17 so the ex-president can attend Barron’s graduation at Oxbridge Academy in Palm Beach, Florida.
But Merchan was non-committal.
“It really depends on if we are on time and where we are in the trial,” he said.
The back-and-forth came as a handful of possible jury members were screened in the case charging Trump with fudging business records to cover up a hush money payment to ex-porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
The trial — the first criminal prosecution of a US president — could last up to eight weeks and will run every weekday except for Wednesdays.
Trump’s attorneys also requested to excuse the former president next Thursday in order for him to attend Supreme Court arguments on immunity claims he raised in another criminal case — but Merchan didn’t bite.
“Arguing before the Supreme Court is a big deal, and I can certainly appreciate why your client would want to be there, but a trial in New York Supreme Court … is also a big deal,” the judge said, rebuffing Trump lawyer Todd Blanche’s request.
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“I will see him here next week,” Merchan added.
That ruling led to more ire from Trump in the hallway.
“He won’t allow me to leave here for a half a day to go to DC and go before the United States Supreme Court, because he thinks he’s superior, I guess, than the Supreme Court,” the GOP 2024 presidential frontrunner said.
“I just want to thank you very much,” he added, sarcastically, “but that I can go to my son’s graduation, but then I can’t go to the United States Supreme Court, and 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.”
No jurors were selected Monday. Out of a first pool of 96 prospects, at least 50 were excused after saying they could not be fair and impartial when judging the ex-president, and 32 remained by the end of day.
“I just couldn’t do it,” one dismissed juror, a woman in her 30s with short hair, was heard saying in the hallway on her way out.
One prospective panelist, a bookseller from the Upper West Side, told the court that he feels no one is above the law — whether it’s a “former president or a janitor.”
The potential juror, who works at the Drama Book Shop in Midtown, responded to Question No. 31 in the juror handout, which reads, “Do you have any strong opinions or firmly held beliefs about whether a former president may be criminally charged in state court?”
“I feel that nobody is above the law, whether it be a former president or a sitting president or a janitor,” he said with a punch.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records for allegedly covering up a $130,000 payment to Daniels to silence her story about an alleged tryst – in what District Attorney Alvin Bragg says is a scheme to hide a damaging story from 2016 presidential voters.
Because it’s a criminal trial, the former commander-in-chief must show up at court every day that it’s in session.
He faces up to four years in prison if convicted.
