Former President Donald Trump ripped into the judge overseeing the hush money case against him, condemning the trial which began Monday, and claiming he may not be allowed a day to attend his son Barron’s graduation.

Trump is scheduled to appear before New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan on the same day that his youngest son graduates from Oxbridge Academy in Palm Beach, Florida on May 17. The presumptive 2024 Republican nominee pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts as jury selection began on Monday.

“That I can’t go to my son’s graduation or that I can’t go to the United States Supreme Court. That I’m not in Georgia, or Florida, or North Carolina campaigning like I should be,” Trump said as he left the Manhattan courtroom. “It’s perfect for the radical left Democrats. It’s exactly what they want.”

This is insane. https://t.co/t6MbRzyVbu

— Karol Markowicz (@karol) April 15, 2024

“It’s election interference. You’re not even allowing a father – never mind a former president – but a father attend his son’s graduation?” Trump’s attorney Alina Habba said to Fox News host Sean Hannity Monday, calling the move “political.”

Merchan has not, however, actually ruled on whether or not the former president could attend Barron’s graduation.

According to Newsweek:

On Monday, as the trial kicked off with jury selection, presiding Judge Juan Merchan, said he had received requests from Trump’s attorneys for the former president to miss the trial on May 17 so he could attend his son’s ceremony.

But, according to Inner City Press in a tweet on X, formerly Twitter, Merchan explained he could not rule at this time as it would depend on whether the trial was running on schedule. Jury selection in the trial is expected to last up to two weeks.

The judge appears to not have explicitly told Trump he would be unable to attend the graduation, but he was clear about the former president’s attendance and behavior during the trial.

Justice Merchan: Mr. Trump, you may remember that I previously gave you Parker warnings: You have the right to be present in the trial. If you disrupt the proceeding, you may be excluded and jailed. If you fail to appear, a warrant will be issued for your arrest

— Inner City Press (@innercitypress) April 15, 2024

And while Merchan has not yet ruled that Trump cannot have the day off to be with his son. there is no clear understanding of why he would delay such a decision.

Fox Nation host Piers Morgan reacted by essentially dating Trump to defy any such order regarding the graduation.

“Donald Trump should go to his son’s graduation … go to the graduation. Honestly, if you’re watching, President Trump, just go to the graduation. Every parent in America, whether they like you or hate you, will go, ‘Yeah, I’d have done that, too,'” he said on “The Five” Monday.

The “Piers Morgan: Uncensored’ host slammed the case brought by New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg as one of “the most petty, self-harming acts of political suicide I’ve ever witnessed” and “utterly ridiculous.”

“Have you lost your minds, America? What a demeaning way to treat a former president. Secondly, if you’re on the left, why would you think this would possibly work? Why would you not think that what you’re doing here is going to almost guarantee Donald Trump wins the next election?” he asked.

While Jeanine Pirro, a former Westchester County (N.Y.) District Attorney as well as judge of the Westchester County Court, agreed that Merchan could, indeed, have Trump arrested for failing to appear, co-host Jesse Watters noted how former President Bill Clinton was treated differently in the 1998 legal settlement with former Arkansas state employee Paula Jones.

“This is the most corrupt prosecution… And the jury pool is 90% Democrat. And the star witness is a stone-cold felon and a liar,” he said, in a reference to Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen.

“If this judge says he can’t attend Barron’s high school graduation, [Trump] wins in a landslide,” he added. “He’ll win California if that happens.”