Donald Trump lambasted the judge in his historic hush money trial for potentially refusing him permission to attend his son Barron’s high school graduation next month.
The former president also castigated the judge for stopping him going to the U.S. Supreme Court next week for a hearing related to January 6.
Trump let loose outside court after day one of jury selection as he became the first U.S. ex-president to stand criminal trial.
Barron, 18, graduates from high school on May 17 and the trial is set to still be going on by then.
A furious Trump said: ‘It looks like the judge will not let me go to the graduation of my son who’s worked very, very hard.
‘He’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 gong to allow me to escape this scam, it’ a scam trial.’
Judge Juan Merchan refused Trump permission to be at the Supreme Court next week for arguments related to charges against January 6th defendants for obstructing an official proceeding, a case which could impact his other criminal trials.
Trump claimed it was part of a ‘political witch hunt’ that ‘continues forever’.
The former president said: ‘We’re not going to be given a fair trial. He’s a very conflicted judge. He won’t allow me to leave here for half a day go to D.C. and go before the U.S. Supreme Court because he thinks he’s superior, I guess, to the Supreme Court.
‘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 said those problems included that ‘you go right outside and people are being mugged and killed all day long and he (the judge) is sitting here all day with about 10 or 12 prosecutors over nothing, over what people say shouldn’t be a trial.’
He went on: ‘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.
‘That’s exactly what they want. This is about election interference, that’s all its about.’
Earlier, Trump’s lawyers had asked the judge not to sit on the day of Barron’s graduation.
But the judge said he was not able to rule at this stage if the court could take that day off.
Judge Merchan said: ‘If everything is going according to schedule then I’m sure we’ll be able to adjourn…but if we’re running behind schedule we will not be able to. It really depends on if we are on time and where we are in the trial.’
It came as Judge Merchan, sitting in New York City, dismissed dozens of potential jurors who said they could not fairly decide whether the 2024 Republican presidential candidate illegally covered up a hush money payment to a porn star.
Judge Merchan told nearly 100 prospective jurors they must set aside any biases or personal attitudes about the defendant or the case, including “political orientation.”
At least 50 were dismissed after saying they could not be impartial in judging Trump.
Others were excused who said they could not serve for other reasons.
“I just couldn’t do it,” one prospective juror was heard to say outside the courtroom.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, has charged Trump with falsifying records to cover up a $130,000 payment in the waning days of the 2016 presidential campaign to buy the silence of porn star Stormy Daniels about a 2006 sexual encounter she has said they had.
Trump has denied any such relationship with Daniels and has pleaded not guilty.
Trump’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen will testify that he made the payment to buy Daniels’ silence ahead of the 2016 election, in which Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Trump must attend the trial, which is expected to last through May, the judge ruled.
Lawyers from both sides will seek to impanel 12 jurors and six alternates to hear what could be the only criminal case Trump faces before the Nov. 5 election.
Choosing a jury from a pool of people from heavily Democratic Manhattan could take several days, to be followed by opening statements and testimony from a parade of potentially riveting witnesses, including Cohen and Daniels.
Judge Merchan said that in order to convict, jurors must find that Trump is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, not that he is “probably” guilty.
A guilty verdict would not bar Trump from office.
Falsifying business records in New York is a felony punishable by up to four years in prison, though many of those found guilty have been sentenced to fines or probation.
Wearing his signature blue suit and red tie, Trump, 77, watched from the defendant’s table as prosecutors asked a judge to fine him and remind him he could go to jail for violating a gag order that bars him from interfering with potential witnesses.
Prosecutors also asked the judge to fine Trump $1,000 for each of three social-media posts this month about Cohen and Daniels.