Trump fumes over trial schedule change that he says kept him from campaign event

Former President Donald Trump on Monday excoriated Judge Juan Merchan for making a schedule change in his ongoing criminal trial that he said pulled him away from a planned campaign event.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection with a 2016 payment his then-attorney, Michael Cohen, made to Stormy Daniels. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg brought the case and the trial has persisted for weeks, with much of last week focusing on the testimony of Cohen himself. Cohen on Monday, testified that he stole money from the Trump Organization.

"I'm here instead of campaigning. As you know, I was supposed to be in a very different state this morning," Trump said outside the courthouse. "And the judge actually decided to call it early and yet it looks like we're going to have a very big gap between days and it's gonna be determined right now in court."

"But we're here about an hour early today. I was supposed to be making a speech for political purposes," he went on. "I'm not allowed to have anything to do with politics because I'm sitting in a very freezing cold courtroom for the last four weeks. It's very unfair. They have no case. They have no crime."

Merchan has required that Trump attend most of proceedings in the trial, making limited exceptions such as to permit Trump to attend his son Barron's high school graduation. While stuck in New York, however, Trump has attempted to address traditionally Democratic-leaning constituencies in the area.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.