Piers Morgan to Trump: Go to your son's graduation
'The Five' co-hosts discuss the start of former President Trump's hush money trial in New York.
After New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan told former President Trump he would face arrest if he did not attend daily court sessions in his hush money trial, Fox Nation host Piers Morgan said the presumptive GOP presidential candidate should attend his son Barron's graduation, and challenge the judge's warning.
"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,'" Morgan said Monday on "The Five."
Barron Trump is graduating later this month from Oxbridge Academy in Palm Beach, Fla., while his father is scheduled to appear before Merchan in a New York courtroom 1,200 miles away.
Morgan, who notably interviewed Trump for Fox Nation in a sometimes tense back-and-forth in 2022, called the case one of "the most petty, self-harming acts of political suicide I've ever witnessed."
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Trump, Judge Merchan (Angela Weiss/AFP via AP, POOL/AP)
The "Piers Morgan: Uncensored' host also called Merchan's case, brought by New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg, "utterly ridiculous."
Judge Jeanine Pirro, who held court in neighboring Westchester County and served as its Republican prosecutor for many years, said Merchan can indeed issue a bench warrant for Trump and have him arrested, but left open whether – as Morgan suggested – it would be politically advantageous.
Morgan went on to call the idea that a former president would be taken to court with a potential 10-year felony sentence over "potentially, a one-night-stand with a porn star" completely nonsensical.
Chelsea and Bill Clinton look on at the 2016 St. Louis debate, where Donald Trump also invited several of the former president's accusers as his guests. (REUTERS/Jim Bourg)
"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.
For his part, Trump said Merchan's decision that he cannot attend Barron's graduation or Supreme Court arguments for another case he is involved in are collectively a "perfect" ploy to help the "radical-left Democrats."
"That's exactly what they want. This is about election interference, that's all," he said in remarks following his day in Manhattan court.
Fox News host Jesse Watters added that former President Bill Clinton also made headlines for his 1998 legal settlement with former Arkansas state employee Paula Jones, but did not receive the same scrutiny Trump has.
Jones received an $850,000 payment over her 1991 claim Clinton – then the state's governor – harassed her inside a Little Rock hotel. Jones – one of several Clinton accusers Trump invited as guests to a Missouri debate against the Democrat's wife Hillary during the 2016 race – claimed Clinton exposed himself and made sexual advances.
At the time of the settlement, Clinton attorney Robert Bennett said Jones claim was meritless.
Clinton White House Press Secretary Michael McCurry said at the time that Clinton was "pleased that he has received the vindication he has long awaited."
"This is a personal expense," Watters said of Trump's hush money payment on "The Five," going on to cite Jones' case.
"[Clinton] used private money because it was a private matter," he said, suggesting Trump did the same.
"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, referring to former Trump "fixer" Michael Cohen.
"[T]he jury pool is basically like the O.J. [Simpson] jury pool. You're going to have people trying to wiggle in to that jury and send a message, just like they did with ‘The Juice.’"
Watters appeared to agree with Morgan's sentiment regarding the potential threat of arrest for Trump.
"If this judge says he can't attend Barron's high school graduation, [Trump] wins in a landslide," he said. "He'll win California if that happens."