Former President Donald Trump attended the first day of his criminal trial in Manhattan yesterday. He faces 34 counts of felony charges for allegedly falsifying business record to cover up payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels prior to the 2016 presidential election.
When Judge Juan Merchan reminded the defendant of criminal trial protocol, that he must attend every day of the trial, which is expected to run six to eight weeks, members of the MAGA movement accused the judge of keeping Trump from attending the high school graduation of his 18-year-old son, Barron Trump, which is not accurate.
Merchan has received a request from Trump’s lawyers to excuse the defendant from trial for Barron’s graduation day (May 17), but the judge has yet to make a decision. Still, Trump, his family and his MAGA faithful continue to push the narrative as if it is a fact — that Merchan will keep Trump from seeing his son graduate.
Eric Trump called the judge “heartless” and Donald Trump, Jr. called the decision that hasn’t been made yet “pure evil.”
Yet none of Trump’s adult children (Donald Jr., Eric, Ivanka or Tiffany) — nor his wife Melania Trump — are physically standing by his side in the courtroom, which former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance says is rare. Not just for Trump, who famously demands loyalty, but rare for any defendant, Vance says.
I have rarely seen a defendant facing trial alone with no family, at least one person, in the courtroom for him. It’s a sad commentary for a former president with four grown children & a wife, all of whom seem to have deserted him in the moment.
— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) April 16, 2024
Vance, a frequent Trump critic, observed: “I have rarely seen a defendant facing trial alone with no family, at least one person, in the courtroom for him. It’s a sad commentary for a former president with four grown children & a wife, all of whom seem to have deserted him in the moment.”
Joyce Vance: ‘Fair’ jury delivering ‘a verdict based on the evidence’ is Trump’s ‘worst nightmare’ pic.twitter.com/p8Q7kI7Ik8
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) April 15, 2024
Note: The former president’s daughter Ivanka Trump, who served as an advisor to her father while in the White House (as did her husband, Jared Kushner) has not commented publicly on any of the four indictments her father faces.