Donald Trump’s campaign refuted the accusations that the former president had fallen asleep during the initial day of his hush money trial in New York, dismissing the assertions as “completely false.”
Court reporters who were present during the proceedings on Monday noted instances where Trump seemed to have nodded off. This led to a surge of memes and various nicknames on social media.
“This is entirely fabricated news from ‘journalists’ who were not even present in the courtroom,” Trump’s campaign stated, as reported by The Independent.
Monday marked the commencement of jury selection in Trump’s trial, where he is confronted with 34 felony charges related to altering business records to conceal hush money payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
The purported $130,000 payment to Daniels in return for her silence regarding a 2006 affair is being disputed by Trump, who pleaded not guilty to all allegations.
This trial signifies the first criminal prosecution of a sitting or former president in US history.
Despite the firm denial from Trump’s campaign, reports of Trump taking a nap garnered significant attention on social media, leading to the emergence of a new online moniker for the 77-year-old ex-President, “Sleepy Don.”
Even President Joe Biden’s campaign seized the opportunity to capitalize on the situation. This response was prompted by Trump’s habit of labeling Biden as “Sleepy Joe” during the election campaign.
President Biden’s team shared a video of New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman discussing Trump’s purported courtroom conduct on CNN.
“His head would droop. He disregarded a note passed to him by his lawyer. His jaw kept falling onto his chest, and his mouth remained slack,” the CNN team tweeted.
The Biden-Harris campaign also participated by sharing a meme mocking Trump’s active late-night posts on Truth Social, in contrast to the alleged courtroom nap.
Nonetheless, President Biden refrained from personally addressing the incident on his primary account.
