President Donald Trump on Wednesday seemed to have a hard time keeping his eyes open at a televised White House event on “Making Health Technology Great Again.”
The president spoke for about 10 minutes, then sat and listened to other speakers including Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administrator Mehmet Oz.
As Oz spoke, Trump’s eyelids seemed to be getting heavier:
The president is just back from a long weekend in Scotland, where he held meetings with several European leaders and golfed at his resort.
But he’s been accused of napping in public before, especially during his trial last year in the Stormy Daniels hush money case. Trump was often seen in court with his eyes closed during testimony.
Trump’s attorney insisted he was just “concentrating” and also closed his eyes “to relax.”
Those in attendance disputed that.
“I was in the courtroom. I saw him falling asleep,” MSNBC analyst Jonathan Alter told the network’s Ayman Mohyeldin at the time. “This is not ‘reportedly.’ This actually happened.”
New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman said “people around” Trump confirmed he was dozing “at times” but at other times was awake with his eyes closed.
He was ultimately convicted on 34 felony charges.
Trump’s critics weren’t willing to just let him rest this time, especially given his long history of mocking former President Joe Biden as “Sleepy Joe” and former GOP rival Jeb Bush as “low energy.”
They fired back: