The New York judge supervising former President Trump’s hush money prosecution announced Monday that Trump will be unable to attend next week’s Supreme Court arguments on presidential immunity.
It came after the judge deferred a decision on whether Trump may attend his son Barron’s high school graduation in May.
Trump’s attempts to postpone particular days of his hush money trial, which is likely to run weeks, if not months, occurred as the first day of trial began in Manhattan.
The decision not to allow Trump to travel to Washington, D.C. on April 25, when the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments on a presidential immunity claim he is making in his federal criminal case, came shortly before the New York trial ended on Monday.
Judge Juan Merchan declined Trump lawyer Todd Blanche’s motion to allow the former president to skip a trial in New York Supreme Court, stating that arguing before the Supreme Court is a significant event.
“I will see him here next week,” the judge said.
According to New York state law, Trump must attend his whole trial unless the judge grants him special permission to bypass it.
After the court adjourned for the day, Trump implied that Merchan believes he is “superior” to the Supreme Court for excluding him from attending the high court’s oral arguments.
The former president also claimed Merchan prevented him from attending his son Barron’s high school graduation in May. Earlier Monday, the judge declined to rule on the subject, although he did not explicitly deny that the former president may attend the gathering.
“I was looking forward to that graduation with his mother and father there,” Trump told reporters. “It appears that the judge will not allow me to escape this swindle. “It’s a scam trial.”
In his statements outside the courtroom, Trump also chastised Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) for attending the trial all day, claiming that people are being “mugged and killed all day long.”
The first day of Trump’s first criminal trial was spent mostly dealing with remaining legal issues, with jury selection beginning after an afternoon lunch break.
Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business documents in connection with a hush money payment made by his ex-fixer, Michael Cohen, to adult film actress Stormy Daniels prior to the 2016 election to conceal an alleged affair. He has pleaded not guilty and denied the affair.
Jury selection is anticipated to continue Tuesday and could last many days or even weeks.