Dozing Donald caught sundowning during hush-money-to-porn-star trial

[jserraglio]

Newsweek

Former President Donald Trump appeared to be "sleeping" during the first day of his criminal trial for charges of falsifying business documents, according to a report from The New York Times.

Jury selection in the trial trial surrounding whether Trump falsified business documents by allegedly making a hush money payment to adult film actor Stormy Daniels began on Monday. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg last year charged Trump on a 34-count indictment related to the payment, which his office alleged was intended to prevent Daniels from speaking publicly about her claims of having an affair with the former president.

During the first day of the trial, Trump appeared to be sleeping during proceedings, Maggie Haberman, a journalist for the Times, wrote in the publication's live blog of the trial.

"Trump appears to be sleeping. His head keeps dropping down and his mouth goes slack," she wrote.

During an interview on CNN, Haberman said there were other moments in previous trials, including the civil defamation trial involving E. Jean Carroll where Trump "appeared very still and seemed as if he might be sleeping but then he would move." But his conduct appeared different on Monday, she said.

"This time, he didn't pay attention to a note that his lawyer Todd Blanche passed him. His jaw kept falling on his chest, and his mouth kept going slack. Now, sometimes people do fall asleep during court proceedings, but it's notable given the intensity of this morning," she said.

On MSNBC, Susanne Craig, an investigative reporter for the Times, added that Trump seemed alert during the morning but that "everything changed" around noon."

"He looked like he was nodding off," she said. "At one point, a pretty true tell that he was falling asleep, his head nodded down. He sort of jolted back up at one point."