President Donald Trump has been captured on camera nodding off on the job–again.
Trump, 79, was called out for seemingly getting some shut-eye on Thursday during a healthcare affordability event in the White House.
Twenty minutes into the Oval Office appearance, Len Schleifer, CEO of drug company Regeneron, was discussing a drug that had cured deafness caused by a rare disease after experimental trials.
As Schleifer was discussing a list of diseases still without a cure, including Alzheimer’s, a sleepy-eyed Trump appeared to nod off. That led to the president’s nemesis, California Governor Gavin Newsom, to claim he was “asleep at the wheel” in a post on X. His office also posted in Trump’s all-caps style, “DOZY DON IS BUSY DOZING.”
Cardiologist Dr. Jonathan Reiner, who served as White House physician under former President George W. Bush also shared Thursday’s footage, with the camera zoomed in on Trump, who turns 80 in June.
Reiner, who is also CNN’s medical analyst, politely suggested the president is struggling with “daytime somnolence,” or excessive daytime sleepiness, before offering advice to his healthcare team.
“When a patient tells me that they can’t stay awake in meetings, we do formal sleep testing to look for sleep apnea,” Reiner posted on X. “I’m sure the White House medical team has done this, but the president continues to struggle with daytime somnolence. This is a common problem, and there are things that can be done to improve these symptoms.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
Trump’s fight to stay awake during the day has been captured several times already this year.
Last month, Trump appeared unable to keep his eyes open while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other top officials spoke. Standing to Hegseth’s right, Trump swayed silently. Even as Hegseth spoke about Trump’s favorite subject, himself, the president continued to stand with his eyes closed.
In March, Trump appeared to take an executive power nap for at least 30 seconds while House Speaker Mike Johnson was discussing the state of the nation’s college athletics. A few days earlier, he was seen with his face drooping and eyes closed during a meeting on customer energy prices.
In February, Trump was seen shutting his eyes for extended periods as his Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin droned on about the Clean Air Act. After Zeldin finally finished, Trump took to the podium and said, “That was long.”
Trump is the oldest person to be elected president. His staff have bragged about how little their boss actually sleeps at night and he has a habit of embarking on social media posting sprees at all hours of the night.
The president told The Wall Street Journal in January that he doesn’t fall asleep in public, but simply shuts his eyes now and then.
“It’s very relaxing to me,” Trump said. “Sometimes they’ll take a picture of me blinking, blinking, and they’ll catch me with the blink.”
Trump regularly made fun of Joe Biden’s cognitive capacity and regularly referred to the then-president as “Sleepy Joe.”
