Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba beats judge foe warning ex-president may have to skip son Barron’s baccalaureate… and reveals why she’s not in court with her high-profile client

Donald Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba echoed her client’s frustrations that he might miss son Barron’s high school graduation because he appeared in court in his first criminal case.

Habba, one of the more well-known members of Trump’s legal team, is the former president’s civil attorney — so she did not appear with her client at his criminal trial Monday.

Trump berated Judge Juan Merchan in his historic hush-money trial for potentially denying him permission to leave court to attend his 18-year-old son’s graduation next month.

The 77-year-old appeared in New York criminal court Monday on the first day of jury selection in the case, alleging he falsified documents related to payments to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet about their affair ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

“This is political,” Habba told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Monday about the lawsuit. ‘It’s election interference.’

“You don’t even allow a father—never mind a former president—but a father to attend his son’s graduation?” she lamented, adding: ‘It’s just a sad state of affairs for the American people. I can assure you of that.’

Some questioned why Habba was not with the former president for his bombshell first appearance at the Manhattan criminal trial on Monday.

She told conservative podcast The Benny Show about her absence: “Obviously, you know, as a type A person, I wish I was a criminal lawyer, but I’m not.”

‘But the big news is that then I can do this and let everyone know what’s actually going on,’ she countered.

Habba defended Trump in the civil trial in Manhattan, where he was convicted of inflating the value of his companies’ properties and ordered to pay $355 million plus interest.

Trump criticized Judge Merchan for barring him from going to the U.S. Supreme Court next week for a hearing related to Jan. 6, while also complaining about potentially missing his son’s high school graduation.

He walked free after day one of jury selection, becoming the first former US president to face a criminal trial.

Barron, 18, will graduate from high school on May 17, and the trial is set to continue at that time.

A furious Trump said: ‘It looks like the judge won’t let me go to the graduation of my son who has worked very, very hard.

‘He’s a great student and he’s very proud that he did so well and looked forward to graduating for years with his mum and dad there and it looks like the judge won’t allow me to escape this scam. , it’s a scam.’

Habba criticized the judge for not allowing those involved in the case to celebrate Easter either.

“And let’s not forget—Easter, okay?” she told Hannity on Monday. ‘Does the Jews have the right to go and pray to whoever they want and celebrate the Passover. And this judge wouldn’t allow it. Not for any of the lawyers’.

‘And there are observant Jewish lawyers on the Trump team and also on the DA team.’

Merchan decided that the court will not meet for the last two days of the week-long holiday.

However, he denied Trump permission to be at the Supreme Court next week for arguments related to charges against the Jan. 6 defendant for obstructing official proceedings, a case that could affect other criminal cases against the former president.

Trump claimed it was part of a ‘political witch hunt’ that ‘goes on forever’.

The former president said: ‘We will not be given a fair trial. He is a very conflicted judge. He won’t allow me to leave here for half a day, go to DC and go before the US Supreme Court because he thinks he’s superior, I think, to the Supreme Court.

‘We have a real problem with this judge and a real problem with a lot of things that have to do with this trial.’

Trump said those problems included that “you walk right outside and people are being robbed and killed all day long and he (the judge) sits here all day with about 10 or 12 prosecutors over nothing, over what people say, not should be a try.’

He continued: ‘That I can’t go to my son’s graduation, that I can’t go to the US Supreme Court, that I’m not in Georgia or Florida or North Carolina campaigning like I should be…it’s perfect for the left-wing democrats.

‘That’s exactly what they want. This is about election interference, it’s about.’

Earlier, Trump’s lawyers had asked the judge not to sit on the day of Barron’s exam.

But the judge said he was not in a position at this time to decide whether the court could take that day off.

Judge Merchan said: ‘If everything goes to schedule then I’m sure we’ll be able to adjourn … but if we run to schedule we won’t be able to. It depends a lot on whether we arrive on time and where we are in the trial.’

Merchan on Monday dismissed dozens of potential jurors who said they could not fairly decide whether the 2024 Republican presidential nominee illegally covered up a hush money payment to a porn star.

The judge told nearly 100 potential jurors to set aside any prejudices or personal opinions about the defendant or the case, including ‘political orientation’.

At least 50 were dismissed after saying they could not be impartial in judging the highly divisive former president.

Others were excused who said they could not serve for other reasons.

‘I just couldn’t do it,’ a prospective juror was heard outside the courtroom.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, accused Trump of falsifying records to cover up a $130,000 payment in the waning days of the 2016 presidential campaign to buy porn star Stormy Daniels’ silence about a 2006 sexual encounter that she has said they had had.

Trump pleaded not guilty and has denied any extramarital relationship with Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.

Former Trump lawyer and longtime fixer Michael Cohen will testify at the criminal trial that he paid to buy Daniels’ silence ahead of the 2016 election, in which Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Trump must attend the trial, which is expected to last through May, the judge said.

Lawyers from both sides will seek to empanel 12 jurors and six alternates to hear what could be the only criminal case Trump faces before the Nov. 5 election.

Picking a jury from a group of people from heavily Democratic Manhattan could take several days, followed by opening statements and testimony from a parade of potentially compelling witnesses, including Cohen and Daniels.

Judge Merchan said that to convict, jurors must find Trump guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, not that he is ‘probably’ guilty.

A guilty verdict would not prevent Trump from running for president.

Falsifying business records in New York is a felony punishable by up to four years in prison, although many of those found guilty have been sentenced to fines or probation.

Prosecutors also asked the judge to fine Trump $1,000 for each of three social media posts this month about Cohen and Daniels under a gag order barring the former president from talking about anyone involved in the lawsuit.