Trump denies sleeping during trial: ‘I simply close my beautiful blue eyes’

Donald
Trump
on
Thursday
denied
recent
reports
from
multiple
news
outlets
that
he
has
at
times
appeared
to
nod
off
during
his
New
York
criminal

hush
money
trial.

“Contrary
to
the
FAKE
NEWS
MEDIA,
I
don’t
fall
asleep
during
the
Crooked
D.A.’s
Witch
Hunt,
especially
not
today,”
Trump,
77,

wrote
on

Truth
Social
during
a
break
in
the
Manhattan
Supreme
Court
trial.

“I
simply
close
my
beautiful
blue
eyes,
sometimes,
listen
intensely,
and
take
it
ALL
in!!!”
the
presumptive
Republican
presidential
nominee
wrote.

His
campaign
previously
lashed
out
after
multiple
reporters
in
the
courtroom,
including
The
New
York
Times’
Maggie
Haberman,
reported
on
the
first
day
of
jury
selection
that
Trump
seemed
to
doze
off
a
few
times.

Trump
has
appeared
to
be
sleeping
in
court
on
numerous
other
occasions
over
the
course
of
the
trial,
which
entered
its
10th
day
Thursday.
On
Tuesday,
NBC
News
reported
that
Trump’s “eyes
were
closed
for
extended
periods
and
his
head
at
times
jerked
in
a
way
consistent
with
sleeping.”

Trump
looked
to
be
resting
his
eyes
again
Thursday
afternoon,
according
to
NBC.

Any
claim
of
Trump “sleeping”
carries
outsize
significance
during
the
2024
presidential
election,
given
that
Trump
has
been
calling
President
Joe
Biden “Sleepy
Joe”
for
years.

Trump
must
sit
in
court
every
day
of
the
trial,
which
is
expected
to
last
six
weeks.

The
post
came
after
testimony
from
Keith
Davidson,
the
lawyer
who
helped
bury
allegations
of
Trump’s
extramarital
affairs
before
the
2016
presidential
election.

Davidson
testified
Thursday
that
on
the
night
Trump
won
that
election,
he
texted, “What
have
we
done?”
to
a
tabloid
editor
who
worked
on
the
hush
money
deals
with
him.

Davidson
was
asked
on
the
stand
about
the
text,
which
he
sent
as
Trump
pulled
off
a
stunning
upset
victory
over
Democrat
Hillary
Clinton.

The
recipient
of
the
text
was
Dylan
Howard,
then
the
editor
in
chief
of
the
National
Enquirer,
who
was
also
involved
in
the
$130,000
payment
to
porn
star
Stormy
Daniels.
That
payment
is
at
the
center
of
Manhattan
District
Attorney
Alvin
Bragg’s
case
against
Trump.

“Oh
my
god,”
Howard
texted
back.

Davidson,
who
represented
Daniels
at
the
time,
testified
Thursday
that
his
text
was “sort
of
gallows
humor.”
But
he
added
that
he
and
Howard
understood
at
the
time
that “our
activities
may
have
in
some
way
assisted
the
presidential
campaign
of
Donald
Trump.”

Davidson
returned
to
the
witness
stand
after
Judge
Juan
Merchan
held
a
second
hearing
on
whether
Trump
violated
his
gag
order
by
speaking
about
likely
witnesses
in
the
case.

Two
days
earlier,
Merchan
held
Trump
in
criminal
contempt
for
nine
violations
of
the
gag
order,
which
bars
Trump
from
discussing
jurors,
witnesses
and
others
involved
in
the
Manhattan
Supreme
Court
trial.

After
the
first
gag
order
hearing
last
week,
state
prosecutors
accused
Trump
of
violating
the
gag
order
four
more
times,
prompting
the
judge
to
schedule
a
second
hearing.

“His
statements
are
corrosive
to
this
proceeding,
and
to
the
fair
administration
of
justice,”
prosecutor
Chris
Conroy
said
of
Trump
on
Thursday
morning.

Merchan
on
Tuesday
imposed
the
maximum
fine
of
$1,000
for
each
of
the
nine
violations,
an
amount
he
acknowledged
was
barely
a
slap
on
the
wrist
for
Trump,
a
multibillionaire.

But
the
judge
also
warned
Trump
that
future
violations
of
court
orders
could
land
him
in
jail.

Conroy
said
in
Thursday’s
hearing
that, “Because
we
prefer
to
minimize
disruptions
to
this
proceeding,
we
are
not
yet
seeking
jail.”

Merchan
did
not
issue
a
ruling
before
Davidson
resumed
his
second
day
of
testimony.

Davidson,
who
represented
Daniels
and
former
Playboy
model
Karen
McDougal,
had
testified
Tuesday
about
his
involvement
in
selling
the
story
rights
for
both
women,
each
of
whom
separately
claimed
to
have
had
sex
with
Trump
while
he
was
married.

The
$130,000
payment
to
Daniels
in
particular
is
at
the
center
of
the
historic
criminal
trial
in
Manhattan
Supreme
Court,
where
Trump
is
charged
with
34
counts
of
falsifying
business
records.

Bragg
accuses
Trump
of
mislabeling
those
records
as
part
of
a
scheme
to
secretly
reimburse
his
then-lawyer
Michael
Cohen,
who
paid
Daniels
shortly
before
the
2016
presidential
election.
Trump
unlawfully
tried
to
influence
that
election
by
buying
and
suppressing
damaging
information
about
him,
Bragg
alleges.