The obsession MS NOW’s Lawrence O’Donnell had with Barron Trump and sending him to war may have just landed the network in legal hot water. On Thursday’s The Last Word, O’Donnell accused B. Trump of committing a felony without evidence, suggesting he failed to fill out his Selective Service card when he was 18. Since B. Trump was arguably a private citizen who’s only public notoriety was derived from who his parents were, it’s possible that this could end up being yet another defamation suit the network needed to deal with.
With the words "he's out of control" over his shoulder, as if it was a cry for help from his producer, O’Donnell suggested President Donald Trump accidentally put his youngest son in legal jeopardy because of an inability read before signing the automatic Selective Service into law, and suggested that B. Trump had already attempted to dodge the draft (there was no active draft):
It is impossible for Donald Trump to know what he's signing because he hates to read. And it is doubly impossible for Donald Trump to know what he's signing when he is signing legislation, because it is written in legislative language he could never comprehend.
And on December 18th of last year, Donald Trump signed a 1,260-page bill that now makes it impossible for his youngest son to avoid registering for the draft. The Selective Service system, which administers the draft, has announced that they are now in the process of implementing the new law, which will use government records, including Social Security records, to automatically register every American young man between the ages of 18 and 26 to be subject to the draft into military service if the draft is reactivated.
Despite being the party accusing B. Trump of committing a felony, O’Donnell demanded his parents prove that he didn’t commit a crime:
Barron Trump was legally required to register for the draft voluntarily two years ago when he turned 18 years old. This would be a nice time for the president of the United States to prove that his draft-age son has complied with federal law and did indeed register for the draft within 30 days of his 18th birthday, because failure to do so is a felony.
Without evidence, MS NOW's Lawrence O'Donnell suggests Barron Trump committed a felony, accuses him of not filling out his Selective Service card. He asserts that President Trump's inability to read doomed his son's crime to exposer under law:
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) April 10, 2026
LAWRENCE O'DONNELL: It is… pic.twitter.com/FWYeqTpiBs
The Selective Service accepts late registrations through age 26. Additionally, something that's a felony if not completed is not voluntary.
Playing the conspiratorial ‘I’m just asking questions’ card, O’Donnell proclaimed that it the President’s fault that he was accusing Barron of a felony because of the war with Iran:
And of course, there would be no reason for any of us to wonder if Barron Trump has complied with federal law and registered for the draft, if his father were not a war mongering politician. There would be no reason for anyone to wonder if Barron Trump committed the felony of failing to register for the draft, if his father had not started a war of choice in which he threatened to exterminate 91 million people and their culture, to erase Iranians and Iranian culture from this Earth.
O’Donnell grew irritated with First Lady Melania Trump because during her address on Thursday she spoke about Jeffrey Epstein and not his accusations her son was dodging the draft: “And she remains silent about it today because she was not stepping up to that microphone to talk about her son's compliance with federal law and his draft status in a time of war.”
Since, O’Donnell was obsessed with the politically well-connected doing service “in a time of war,” it’s worth noting that in 1968 he was 17 and he could have enlisted to serve his country in Vietnam. He refused. Instead, he had his wealthy and politically connected parents pay to send him to Harvard throughout much of the war. O'Donnell also didn't provide evidence that he completed his own Selective Service card.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
MS NOW’s The Last Word
April 9, 2026
10:04:00 p.m. Eastern(…)
LAWRENCE O'DONNELL: It is impossible for Donald Trump to know what he's signing because he hates to read. And it is doubly impossible for Donald Trump to know what he's signing when he is signing legislation, because it is written in legislative language he could never comprehend.
And on December 18th of last year, Donald Trump signed a 1,260-page bill that now makes it impossible for his youngest son to avoid registering for the draft. The Selective Service system, which administers the draft, has announced that they are now in the process of implementing the new law, which will use government records, including Social Security records, to automatically register every American young man between the ages of 18 and 26 to be subject to the draft into military service if the draft is reactivated.
Barron Trump was legally required to register for the draft voluntarily two years ago when he turned 18 years old. This would be a nice time for the president of the United States to prove that his draft-age son has complied with federal law and did indeed register for the draft within 30 days of his 18th birthday, because failure to do so is a felony.
But the act of registering for the draft, which has been entirely voluntary and will remain voluntary until December, when Donald Trump's new law, which you can be sure he has no idea that he signed, takes effect.
And of course, there would be no reason for any of us to wonder if Barron Trump has complied with federal law and registered for the draft, if his father were not a war mongering politician. There would be no reason for anyone to wonder if Barron Trump committed the felony of failing to register for the draft, if his father had not started a war of choice in which he threatened to exterminate 91 million people and their culture, to erase Iranians and Iranian culture from this Earth.
But Barron Trump's father did do that, and his mother has been completely silent about that war. And she remains silent about it today because she was not stepping up to that microphone to talk about her son's compliance with federal law and his draft status in a time of war.
She was stepping up to that microphone to complain about lying, she said, that his quote, these were her words, 'devoid of ethical standards, humility and respect.' And she was not talking about her husband.
She stepped up to that microphone to defend, quote, 'my good name.' Her name is Trump!
(…)
