Trump Falls Asleep Repeatedly During His First Day In Court, Glares At Reporter Who Wrote About It

Former President Donald Trump seemed to fall asleep a few times during his court appearance on the first day of his hush money trial in Manhattan. 

“Trump has apparently jolted back awake, noticing the notes his lawyer passed him several minutes ago,” Maggie Haberman, a reporter for The New York Times, wrote in the paper. 

Haberman later said that Trump glared at her in the courtroom after she reported he had fallen asleep during the trial.

“After the thirty-some jurors remaining file out of the room for a brief afternoon break, Trump rises,” the Law360 reporter Frank Runyeon mentioned in the press pool report. “After the jurors leave the courtroom, he stares over at DA Alvin Bragg. Then Trump turns his eyes to the press pool.”

“As he exits, he glares at New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman for several seconds as he walks out,” Runyeon wrote.

During an interview with the CNN news anchor Kaitlan Collins, Haberman discussed the event of Trump glaring at her.

“At one point, the [press] pool said that [Trump] was glaring at you for several seconds,” Collins noted. “You had reported shortly before that, during a break, that he appeared to be falling asleep at one point as the proceedings were getting kind of tedious.”

“Did you notice that?” she asked the New York Times reporter.

“Yes, I noticed it,” Haberman replied. “He made a pretty specific stare at me and – and walked out of the room.” 

“I’ve been on the receiving end of said glares,” Collins said.

“I know you have,” Haberman responded. “I have, too.”

“I reported earlier that he had appeared to fall asleep,” she admitted.

“Now, we had seen him – and I want to be clear that lots of people – I’ve seen lots of people fall asleep in courtrooms,” Haberman added. “I’ve seen jurors fall asleep. I’ve seen judges fall asleep.”

“If anyone falls asleep who’s a criminal defendant in a case, we’re going to report on it,” she added. 

Despite having said this, Haberman stated that the former president “doesn’t like when such things are reported,” she assumed that was why he glared at her.

On March 19, Judge Juan Merchan ruled against Trump’s legal team’s effort to block former adult film star Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen from testifying during his hush money trial. The former president’s attorney, Todd Blanche, hoped to block testimony from these witnesses in addition to Karen McDougal, a Playboy model who also claimed to have an affair with Trump.

The 47-page motion slammed their credibility. It claimed that Cohen had already perjured himself, Daniels hoped “to offer false, salacious, and unduly prejudicial testimony relating to President Trump,” and that “people clearly seek to recast history and interject the details of McDougal’s alleged affair with President Trump for the sole purpose of inflaming the jury and prejudicing President Trump’s defense.”

Trump’s legal team had also been hoping to ban the Access Hollywood recording in which he boasted about grabbing women’s private areas without asking for consent. This recording was publicly disclosed in the final weeks of his 2016 presidential campaign. This team also mentioned that the video contains “inflammatory and unduly prejudicial evidence that has no place at this trial about documents and accounting practices.”

Judge Merchan ruled that this tape was allowed to be discussed but not played in court.