Former President Donald Trump has been granted permission to attend his son Barron’s high school graduation in Florida later this month.

Judge Juan Merchan overseeing Trump’s hush money trial told the court on Tuesday that Barron’s graduation date, which is scheduled for May 17, would not hinder Trump’s Manhattan trial.

“I don’t think the May 17 date is a problem,” Merchan said to the court, adding, “Mr. Trump can attend that date, attend his son’s graduation.”

It is unclear if there won’t be any trial proceedings in the case on May 17 or if Trump will be allowed to be absent from the courtroom while the proceedings continue. The former is the likely case as it is mandatory for the former president to appear in court everyday.

There had been speculation last month that the judge would not allow Trump to leave Manhattan for the graduation event, as Trump had pushed for weeks for a decision.

Trump already thought that he would not be allowed to attend the event as Merchan had warned he might be stuck in the court proceedings on that day.

When the trial kicked off early last month, he said, “(Barron’s) a great student and he’s very proud of the fact he did so well and was looking forward for years to having his graduation with his mother and father there, and it looks like the judge isn’t going to allow me to escape this scam. It’s a scam trial.”

Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba also emphasized the frustration Trump felt about potentially missing his son’s graduation.

“You’re not even allowing a father – never mind a former president – but a father attend his son’s graduation? It’s just a sad state of affairs for the American people. I can assure you of that,” she said in an interview.

Merchan’s decision to allow Trump to attend his son’s graduation comes as he was fined $9,000 for multiple violations of the court’s gag order that bans him from making public statements about witnesses and family members of court officials. Determining that he violated the order nine times, the judge slammed him with a $1,000 fine for each violation.