Categories: Business

Trump Struggles to Stay Awake in Criminal Trial

He leans back in his seat, head tilted slightly to the right. His eyes are closed. His chest rises and falls slowly.

In Manhattan Criminal Court, reporters aren’t sitting close enough to Donald Trump to know if he snores. But it looks like he’s dozing off.

The 77-year-old former president is fighting to stay awake while battling a 34-count criminal indictment filed by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. Prosecutors say he falsified business records by disguising secret payments to Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election, in order to silence her about an alleged affair.

On Tuesday morning, Trump closed his eyes for more than a minute at a time, at least a half-dozen times. His head will be straight, then tilted to one side.

It happened like, to his right, several rows of jurors answered questions about their fitness to serve on the jury.

Sometimes he opens his eyes and glances toward where the potential jurors are sitting. On other occasions, he seems to wake up with a start and stretches his arms out.

There are other moments when Trump seems relatively engaged, thumbing through a paper copy of the jury questionnaire and whispering to his lawyer Todd Blanche, seated next to him.

Trump is 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 apparently doesn’t drink coffee, sticking to Diet Coke for his caffeine.

On Monday, the first day of jury selection, Trump also appeared to doze off at times, according to several reporters at the courthouse.

As he walked down the aisle of the courtroom Monday afternoon, Trump stopped to look at New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, who said on CNN during the day’s lunch break that Trump seemed to fall asleep in court.

The courtroom on the 15th floor of downtown Manhattan is poorly controlled, and Trump — in a wool suit and tie tied around his neck — may have gotten hot Monday. Tuesday was a little cooler.

If Trump finds criminal proceedings a good time to take a nap, he’ll likely have more opportunities to catch some Z’s in the near future.

In addition to the charges against him in Manhattan, he faces three other criminal cases: in Georgia and Washington, D.C., for trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election, and in even hotter Florida for hoarded government documents at Mar-a-Lago. .

businessinsider

remon Buul

Recent Posts

Symptoms, spread, what to know – NBC Chicago

A new variant of COVID-19 is raising questions and capturing the attention of researchers as we approach fall and winter.…

37 mins ago

Kits Cubed: Oakland native and Stanford student creates nonprofit to help kids learn about science

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- A Stanford student is doing his part to build a better San Francisco Bay Area.He builds…

38 mins ago

House Speaker Mike Johnson calls for more ‘manpower’ to protect Trump after second assassination attempt

The Secret Service "acted so quickly and so decisively" to thwart an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump at…

39 mins ago

Massachusetts man drives pickup truck onto college football field in Colorado

Crime Authorities say the man was involved in several accidents. A football game between UCLA and the University of Colorado…

40 mins ago

State’s experiment with grocery chain mergers sparks fight to stop Albertsons’ deal with Kroger

Washington state lawyers will have past grocery chain mergers — and their negative consequences — in mind when they go…

41 mins ago

Ben Affleck ‘couldn’t help but touch’ Jennifer Lopez at brunch

Ben Affleck "couldn't keep his hands off" Jennifer Lopez during their brunch on Saturday, a source exclusively tells Page Six.…

42 mins ago