Donald Trump asked a judge to postpone his trial to travel for his mother-in-law’s funeral but failed to mention that he was scheduled to attend a campaign rally, too.
According to court documents reviewed by Business Insider, lawyers for Trump requested Friday that Judge Lewis Kaplan postpone the trial date for E. Jean Carroll’s defamation suit because of the sudden death of Amalija Knavs, the mother of his wife Melania Trump, last week. The trial was set to begin this Wednesday.
According to his attorney, Alina Habba, Trump could not attend the trial in New York on Wednesday and Thursday because he would be traveling to Florida to attend the funeral. Per the letter, Trump’s team asked that the trial be postponed until the following week.
Kaplan denied the request later on Friday, saying that while the court “offers its condolences” to the Trump family, the trial would continue as scheduled. Trump is not required to be at the trial, as Kaplan pointed out, but the former President had expressed interest in attending.
He is using the excuse he has to be present in court for his lesser charges to delay going to court for his larger charges. Most of the cases, especially the civil cases, don’t require him to be present, only his legal staff. However, he has the right to be present at these cases, and so they are being filed out to him one by one. This has the side effect of him having to keep his rump in a seat in court, rather than campaigning. For added bonus, he can’t keep his mouth shut and otherwise has no respect for the legal processes going on around him.