According to Donald Trump, he wasn’t napping in the Manhattan courtroom where he’s being tried for his alleged role in a hush money scheme to cover up an affair he had with a porn star. No, the former president said on Thursday, he was merely resting his gorgeous peepers for a moment or two.
“Contrary to the FAKE NEWS MEDIA, I don’t fall asleep during the Crooked D.A.’s Witch Hunt, especially not today,” the 77-year-old posted on Truth Social during a break in proceedings. “I simply close my beautiful blue eyes, sometimes, listen intensely, and take it ALL in!!!”
His poetic denial comes after multiple outlets, including The Daily Beast, reported that the presumptive Republican presidential nominee appeared to doze off on the first day of jury selection—a pattern he was to repeat in subsequent days.
“He appeared to be asleep,” veteran New York Times and Trump bugbear Maggie Haberman told CNN at the time. “He didn’t pay attention to a note his lawyer passed him. His jaw kept falling on his chest, and his mouth kept going slack.”
The Trump campaign denied the initial reports as “100% Fake News” before falling silent on the matter. Behind the scenes, Trump reportedly seethed about Haberman, “privately raging” that she and other reporters had dared to point out how he just couldn’t seem to keep his eyes open at his own criminal trial, according to Rolling Stone.
On Tuesday, as a lawyer for Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal took the stand, Trump once again appeared to be snoozing. “At times,” according to MSNBC’s Kyle Griffin, the former president appeared “to stir” before he fell back asleep.
“Trump’s eyes were closed for extended periods and his head has at times jerked in a way consistent with sleeping,” Griffin tweeted.
As to why “Sleepy Don” keeps conking out, sleep expert Dr. Chris Winter told The Daily Beast last month that he suspects the former president is enduring a “perfect storm” of risk factors that contribute to bad sleep.
“Anyone that is on the campaign trail and fighting all these indictments against him might not be sleeping well,” Winter remarked.
