Judge Hasn’t Ruled on Trump’s Graduation Request

On the first day of his criminal fraud trial in New York, former President Donald Trump requested that the judge not hold court proceedings on May 17 — the day of his youngest son’s high school graduation. The judge did not rule on the request, saying he preferred to wait to see how the trial unfolds. But the Trump family and conservative commentators — relying on the former president’s confusing and contradictory remarks about his request — wrongly attacked New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan for banning or prohibiting the defendant from attending Barron Trump’s graduation from Oxbridge Academy in Palm Beach, Florida. Former President Donald Trump and one of his attorneys, Todd Blanche, outside the courtroom following the first day of jury selection at Manhattan Criminal Court on April 15. Photo by Jabin Botsford-Pool/Getty Images. Eric Trump, another of the former president’s sons, wrote on X: “Judge Merchan is truly heartless in not letting a father attend his son’s graduation.” Donald Trump Jr. called it “pure evil.” Conservative commentator Graham Allen wrote on X, “Trump should defy the judge and go to his son’s graduation ANYWAY!!” He also put on Instagram another X post that said, “Judge Merchan...