- Donald Trump appears to be struggling to stay awake at his criminal trial.
- For the 2nd day, he’s repeatedly closed his eyes for minutes at a time before jolting to attention.
- It’s gonna be a long six weeks.
He leans back in his seat, head listing slightly to the right. His eyes are closed. His chest rises and recedes slowly.
In Manhattan’s criminal trial court, reporters aren’t seated close enough to Donald Trump to hear if he’s snoring. But it sure looks like he’s dozing off.
The former president, who is 77 years old, is fighting to stay awake while he also fights a 34-count criminal indictment brought by the Manhattan district attorney’s office. Prosecutors allege he falsified business documents in the course of disguising hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election, to keep her quiet about an alleged affair.
On Tuesday morning, Trump closed his eyes for more than a minute at a time on at least a half-dozen occasions. His head will upright, then tilt to one side.
This has been happening as off to his right, several rows of jurors answered questions about their ability to serve on the jury.
Sometimes, he opens his eyes and glances to where the prospective jurors are sitting. On other occasions, he appears to jolt awake and stretches his arms.
There are other moments where Trump seems relatively engaged, flipping through a paper copy of the jury questionnaire and whispering to his lawyer Todd Blanche, sitting next to him.
Trump’s in it for the long haul: Jury selection is expected to last about two weeks, followed by another month of testimony and deliberations.
And Trump reportedly does not drink coffee, sticking to diet Cokes for his caffeine.
On Monday, the first day of jury selection, Trump also appeared to doze off at times, according to multiple reporters in the courthouse.
As he walked down the courtroom aisle on Monday afternoon, Trump stopped to glare at New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, who said on CNN during the day’s lunch break that Trump appeared to be falling asleep in court.
The 15th-floor courtroom in downtown Manhattan has poor climate control, and Trump — in a wool suit and tie knotted around his neck — may have felt warm on Monday. Tuesday has been somewhat cooler.
If Trump finds criminal court proceedings a good time to nap, he will likely have more opportunities to catch some Zs in the near future.
Aside from the charges against him in Manhattan, he faces three other criminal cases — in Georgia and Washington, DC, for attempting to overturn the 2020 election results, and in the even-warmer Florida, for hoarding government documents at Mar-a-Lago.
