(WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.) — Former President Donald Trump attended his son Barron’s high school graduation at Oxbridge Academy in West Palm Beach on Friday, after the judge overseeing his hush money trial in New York granted him a day off court to allow him to attend.
It was a break from sitting in the courtroom for the former president, who, as a defendant, has been requited to attend his trial most days of the week over the past five weeks, except on Wednesdays when the court is not in session.
The trial is usually in session on Fridays but Judge Juan Merchan canceled court this Friday to let Trump attend the graduation ceremony.
Before arriving at the ceremony, Trump posted on his social media platform: “Going to Barron’s High School Graduation. Great student, wonderful boy! Very exciting! DJT”
Trump, who arrived at the school in a motorcade Friday morning sporting a black suit and a blue tie, sat in the front center row of the bleachers throughout the graduation ceremony, with former first lady Melania Trump, Barron’s mother, sitting next to him and her father Viktor Knavs sitting next to her.
The former president and the former first lady occasionally clapped and waved at the direction of where the graduates were, including when Barron walked up the stage.
Trump stayed throughout the graduation ceremony, which was a private event and lasted for about an hour. Oxbridge Academy is a private preparatory school for grades 6-12.
Barron Trump, who recently turned 18, made headlines last week when he was selected as one of Florida’s at-large delegates for the Republican National Convention, along with other members of the Trump family who have played more active role in Trump’s campaign, including Trump’s older sons, Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr., his girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle and Trump’s youngest daughter, Tiffany Trump.
Following the news of Barron Trump being selected as a delegate, Trump repeatedly said during media interviews that his son likes politics and he’s “all for” his son delving into the political world — while stressing he’s still “very young.”
Trump even said Barron Trump tries to give him political advice, saying it’s “very cute.”
But just days after the delegate selection news came out, Melania Trump’s office announced that Barron Trump would be declining an opportunity to serve as Florida’s GOP at-large delegate to the Republican National Convention due to “prior commitments.”
“While Barron is honored to have been chosen as a delegate by the Florida Republican Party, he regretfully declines to participate due to prior commitments,” her office said in a statement to ABC News.
Trump has used Barron Trump’s graduation as his campaign message and a fundraising opportunity, repeatedly blasting the judge in the hush money trial for forcing him to skip his family’s important moment — although the judge had not ordered that — before the judge allowed him to take time off the trial.
Trump uses similar rhetoric to claim the court schedule is keeping him off the campaign trail during a critical period of the election cycle, though earlier this week, he used Wednesday, his usual day off from the trial, to fundraise with wealthy donors in Ohio and Kentucky. On Tuesday, after court, Trump attended another high-dollar fundraiser in Manhattan.
And on Friday, Trump is not sticking around in Florida to spend the rest of the day with his family. He’s flying out to Minnesota to headline the Minnesota Republican Party’s Lincoln Reason Gala fundraiser — in a state he and his campaign have recently been targeting in an effort to expand the battleground map.
“We’re also looking really great in the state of Minnesota, which hasn’t been one since 1952, and we’re leading in the polls and the state of Virginia,” Trump said at a rally in New Jersey last weekend.
On Saturday, he’s scheduled to deliver remarks at a National Rifle Association event in Dallas.
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