Donald Trump could be forgiven for spending a sleepless night before becoming the first US president to stand trial on Monday, but his campaign emphatically rejected claims that he actually fell asleep in court.
New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman told CNN that Trump had difficulty staying awake and eventually fell asleep as jury selection began in his hush money trial in New York.
The statement sparked a wave of hashtags on social media and was seized upon by the Biden Harris campaign, long pursued by Trump’s nickname of ‘Sleepy Joe’ for the sitting president.
But the former president’s campaign team dismissed it as “100 percent fake news,” insisting he was the victim of a malicious media.
“This is 100% fake news coming from ‘journalists’ who were not even in the courtroom,” they said in a statement.
Nap in court? The former president appeared red-eyed as he attended jury selection in his hush money trial at Manhattan Central Court in New York on Monday.
Trump with his legal team, from left: Todd Blanche, Emil Bove and Susan Necheles
New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman repeated the furiously disputed claim on CNN.
Jury selection is expected to last the rest of the week as dozens of potential jurors are screened for possible bias against the former president, who faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to disguise payments to former porn star Stormy Daniels. .
More than 50 were rejected 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 falling and his mouth goes slack.”
Biden has refrained from commenting directly on his rival’s legal troubles, but the Biden-Harris HQ and energetic.”
Biden’s campaign team issued a statement purportedly about poll ratings titled “Wake Up Donald: After Stormy Abortion Ban Coverage, Trump’s Poll Memo Attempts to Silence Panic.”
There was even less moderation on social media, where hashtags like ‘DonSnoreleone’, ‘The Nodfather’ and Sleepy Don quickly went viral.
Journalists arrived early to sit in an overflow room to follow the proceedings.
Anti-Trump protesters gathered outside the courthouse Monday morning.
Trump arrives to attend the first day of his trial for allegedly covering up money payments linked to extramarital affairs, at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City.
The anti-Trump Republican Lincoln Project joked that “#SleepyDon stayed up late posting rage on Truth Social.”
“He’s not going to change his sleeping patterns and he can’t drink 10 Diet Cokes in the courtroom,” joked comedian Dana Goldberg. ‘He’s going to fall asleep every. single. Day.’
“To me, that’s what I want to say, it’s crazy,” Rachel Maddow told viewers on MSNBC.
“It’s also a reminder of how scary, as scary and grim and important as it is, it’s a reminder that we’re dealing with someone who is fundamentally a buffoon.”
But others posted images of the many times the sitting president appears to have fallen asleep in public places.
The former president appeared with slightly pink eyes in photos taken in court, but most reporters stated that Trump remained focused throughout.
‘Donald Trump sat with his face impassive, his eyes half-lidded and his lips pursed as his lawyers battled with prosecutors over how many salacious (and false) National Enquirer headlines could be shown to jurors and whether they could hear him say ‘grab ’em by the penis ‘. ***s’ or if they could only read transcripts of the famous Access Hollywood tape,’ Rob Crilly of Dailymail.com reported.
‘Trump dominated the space between his legal team.
‘He leaned back in his chair or moved forward to look at a video screen, like a silverback gorilla reminding the room who was boss.
‘When a decision went against him, such as when Judge Juan Merchán ruled that he would not recuse himself, he briefly showed his frustration, nodding furiously.
“But at other times he did his impression of a jurist: brow furrowed, head tilted as if considering the judge’s decision on the admission of Molineux evidence.”
Word of the hostile reports appeared to reach Trump, who reportedly “stared” at Haberman for several seconds as he left the courthouse.
The case revolves around payments allegedly made to Stormy Daniels to hide an affair
“He looked at me intently and left the room,” she told CNN.
‘I want to make it clear that I have seen many people fall asleep in court. I’ve seen jurors fall asleep. I have seen judges fall asleep.
‘If someone falls asleep that they are a criminal defendant in a case, we will report about it.
“But he doesn’t like that kind of stuff being reported and I guess, I don’t know, that’s what it’s about.”