Donald Trump on Thursday denied recent reports from multiple news outlets that he appeared to doze off at times during his hush money trial in New York.
“Unlike the FAKE NEWS MEDIA, I am not falling asleep during the Crooked DA’s witch hunt, especially not today,” Trump, 77, wrote on Truth Social during a break in the Manhattan Supreme Court trial.
“Sometimes I just close my beautiful blue eyes, listen carefully and take it all in!!!” wrote the presumptive Republican presidential candidate.
His campaign had previously failed badly after several reporters in the courtroom, including Maggie Haberman of the New York Times, reported that Trump appeared to doze off a few times on the first day of jury selection.
Trump appeared to sleep in the courtroom on numerous other occasions throughout the trial, which entered its 10th day on Thursday. On Tuesday, NBC News reported that Trump’s “eyes were closed for extended periods and his head twitched at times as if he were sleeping.”
According to NBC, Trump appeared to be resting his eyes again on Thursday afternoon.
Any claim that Trump is “sleeping” is of paramount importance in the 2024 presidential election, considering Trump has called President Joe Biden “Sleepy Joe” for years.
Trump must be in court every day of the trial, which is expected to last six weeks.
The post came after a statement from Keith Davidson, the lawyer who helped cover up allegations of Trump’s extramarital affairs before the 2016 presidential election.
Davidson testified Thursday that the night Trump won the election, he texted, “What have we done?” to a tabloid editor who worked with him on the hush-money deals.
Davidson was asked on the witness stand about the text he sent as Trump won a stunning upset victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton.
The recipient of the text was Dylan Howard, then editor-in-chief of the National Enquirer, who was also involved in paying porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000. That payment is at the heart of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against Trump.
“Oh my God,” Howard wrote back.
Davidson, who represented Daniels at the time, testified Thursday that his text was “a kind of gallows humor.” But he added that he and Howard understood at the time that “our activities may have in some way supported Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.”
Davidson returned to the witness stand after Judge Juan Merchan held a second hearing on whether Trump had violated his confidentiality agreement by discussing likely witnesses in the case.
Two days earlier, Merchan had charged Trump with criminal contempt for nine violations of the gag order, which prevents Trump from speaking about jurors, witnesses and others involved in the trial in Manhattan Supreme Court.
After the first hearing on the gag order last week, prosecutors accused Trump of violating the gag order four more times, prompting the judge to schedule a second hearing.
“His statements are damaging to this process 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 hardly 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 prison.
Conroy said at Thursday’s hearing: “Because we prefer to minimize disruption to these proceedings, we are not yet seeking a prison sentence.”
Merchan did not issue a decision before Davidson resumed his testimony on the second day.
Davidson, who represented Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, testified Tuesday about his involvement in selling story rights to both women, each of whom individually claimed to have had sex with Trump during his marriage.
In particular, the $130,000 payment to Daniels is at the heart of the historic criminal case in Manhattan Supreme Court, where Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records.
Bragg accuses Trump of mislabeling those records to secretly reimburse his then-lawyer Michael Cohen, who paid Daniels shortly before the 2016 presidential election. Bragg claims Trump unlawfully tried to influence this election by purchasing and suppressing damaging information about him.
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2024-05-03 12:29:16
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