Barron Trump: What we know about Donald Trump’s youngest son

Donald Trump’s youngest son Barron Trump, 18, will graduate from high school in Florida on Friday 17 May, with his father permitted a day off from his New York hush money trial to attend the ceremony.

Long shielded from the spotlight by his mother Melania Trump, Barron was dragged into the headlines last month when Mr Trump complained bitterly that the judge presiding over the trial would not allow him to attend the event, betraying his willingness to use members of his family as political pawns.

The Republican presidential candidate emerged from the courtroom on its very first day on Monday 15 April to complain to reporters that Judge Juan Merchan had insisted he must be in court and could not be present for the milestone event in his son’s life.

His fury was soon echoed by members of the conservative media, with Fox News guest Piers Morgan urging the former president to risk jail time rather than miss such an important occasion.

But, in fact, the judge had not actually said anything of the sort, remarking merely that he expected Mr Trump to attend court every day of his trial like any other criminal defendant, as required by law, and that he would rule on permitting him an off-day closer to the date, depending on how the case before him was proceeding.

Two weeks later, on Tuesday 30 April, the judge ruled that he would allow Mr Trump to attend the graduation ceremony after all, declaring himself satisfied that the trial was running to schedule.

The fifth full week of the trial is now underway, where the former president is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal a $130,000 payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election to buy her silence about an alleged