Trump campaign furiously denies that former president fell asleep in court during hush money trial
Donald Trump could be excused for a sleepless night before becoming the first US president to stand trial on Monday, but his campaign team emphatically rejected claims that he actually fell asleep in court.
New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman told CNN that Trump struggled to stay awake and eventually fell asleep as jury selection got underway at his hush money trial in New York.
The claim sparked a wave of hashtags on social media and was picked up by the Biden Harris campaign — long pursued by Trump’s “Sleepy Joe” nickname for the sitting president.
But it was dismissed as “100 percent fake news” by the former president’s campaign team, who insisted he was the victim of a malicious media outlet.
“This is 100% fake news, coming from ‘journalists’ who were not even in the courtroom,” they said in a statement.
Taking a nap at the courthouse? The ex-president had red eyes on Monday as he attended jury selection during his hush-money trial at Manhattan Central Court in New York.
Trump with his legal team, from left to right: Todd Blanche, Emil Bove and Susan Necheles
New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman repeated the hotly contested claim on CNN
Jury selection is expected to last the rest of the week as dozens of potential jurors are tested for possible bias against the ex-president, who faces 34 felony charges for falsifying company records to conceal payments to former porn star Stormy Daniels.
More than 50 were dismissed on the first day as Trump watched from his seat in Manhattan Criminal Court.
“Trump appears to be sleeping,” Haberman tweeted from the room.
‘His head keeps dropping down and his mouth hangs slack.’
Biden has refrained from directly commenting on his rival’s legal troubles, but the Biden-Harris HQ does not appeal to him as a committed, energetic candidate.’
Biden’s campaign team reportedly issued a news release on polling titled “Wake Up Donald: After Stormy Abortion Ban Coverage, Trump Poll Memo Attempts to Hush Panic.”
There was even less restraint on social media, where hashtags like “DonSnoreleone,” “The Nodfather” and Sleepy Don quickly went viral.
Journalists arrived early for seats in an overflow room to watch the proceedings
Anti-Trump protesters gathered outside the courthouse Monday morning
Trump arrives to attend the first day of his trial for covering up hush money payments related to extramarital affairs, at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City
The anti-Trump Republican Lincoln Project joked that “#SleepyDon was late in posting anger on Truth Social.”
“He’s not changing his sleep patterns and he’s not allowed to have ten Diet Cokes in the courtroom,” comedian Dana Goldberg joked. ‘Every time he falls asleep. single. Day.’
“To me, I mean it’s insane,” Rachel Maddow told viewers on MSNBC.
“It’s also a reminder of how scary, how terrifying and bleak and important, this is a reminder that we’re dealing with someone who is just fundamentally idiotic.”
But others posted footage of the many times the sitting president appeared to have wandered off in public settings.
The former president appeared to have mild pink eye in photos taken in court, but most reporters claimed Trump remained focused the entire time.
“Donald Trump sat stiff-faced, his eyes narrowed and his lips pursed as his lawyers battled with prosecutors over how many salacious (and untrue) headlines from the National Enquirer could be shown to jurors and whether they could hear him say : ‘grab them by the p**’ ***s’ or that they could only read transcripts of the famous Access Hollywood tape,’ reported Rob Crilly of Dailymail.com.
“Trump dominated the space among his legal team.
“He leaned back in his chair or moved forward to watch a video screen, like a silverback gorilla reminding the courtroom who was boss.
‘When a decision went against him – as when Judge Juan Merchan ruled that he would not blame himself – he would briefly express his frustration and nod angrily.
‘But at other times he gave the impression of a legal scholar: his eyebrows furrowed and his head tilted, as if he were considering the judge’s ruling on the admission of Molineux evidence.’
News of the hostile reporting seemed to get through to Trump, who reportedly “stared” at Haberman for several seconds as he left the courtroom.
The case centers on payments allegedly made to Stormy Daniels to conceal an affair
“He looked at me quite specifically and walked out of the room,” she told CNN.
“I want to be clear that I have seen many people fall asleep in courtrooms. I’ve seen jurors fall asleep. I’ve seen judges fall asleep.
‘If someone falls asleep who is a criminal suspect in a case, we will report it.
“But he doesn’t like things like that being reported and I suspect – I don’t know – that’s what it was about.”