Trump's team vehemently refuted the assertions made by the reporters present in the courtroom, contesting the notion that the former president had succumbed to drowsiness during the inaugural day of his hush money trial in New York. They dismissed such claims as entirely fabricated, branding them as "100 percent fake news."
During Monday's proceedings, court reporters noted instances where Trump seemed to have drifted into slumber. This observation sparked a wildfire of reactions across social media platforms, with memes proliferating and a plethora of humorous monikers emerging in response.
The Trump campaign, quoted by The Independent, countered these allegations, attributing them to "journalists" who purportedly lacked presence in the courtroom. Monday marked the commencement of jury selection in Trump's trial, wherein he faces a staggering 34 felony charges linked to the falsification of business records to conceal hush money payments directed to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Trump vehemently denies the alleged $130,000 payment to Daniels in exchange for her silence regarding a purported 2006 affair, pleading not guilty to all charges leveled against him. This trial, unprecedented in U.S. history, marks the first criminal prosecution of a sitting or former president.
Despite the forceful denial from Trump's camp, reports of his purported nap garnered substantial traction on social media, spawning a novel epithet for the 77-year-old former Commander-in-Chief, "Sleepy Don."
Even President Joe Biden's campaign capitalized on the incident, leveraging it as a rejoinder to Trump's prior branding of Biden as "Sleepy Joe" during the electoral campaign. The Biden team shared a video clip featuring New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman discussing Trump's alleged courtroom conduct on CNN.
Descriptions of Trump's alleged inattentiveness flooded Twitter feeds, with accounts detailing how "his head would droop, disregarding notes passed by his attorney, with his jaw intermittently resting on his chest as his mouth slackened," as reported by CNN.
The Biden-Harris campaign joined the fray, contributing a meme poking fun at Trump's fervent late-night musings on Truth Social, contrasting them with the purported courtroom siesta.
Nevertheless, President Biden refrained from offering personal commentary on the matter via his primary social media account.
