President Donald Trump appeared to be struggling to stay awake as others spoke at his inaugural meeting of the so-called “Board of Peace.”
The president, 79, rambled for more than 45 minutes before taking a seat on stage Thursday as others addressed the group gathered in Washington, DC.
Cameras repeatedly caught Trump with his eyes closed as the event dragged on.
The president’s eyelids appeared to grow heavy on Thursday as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair was speaking, less than an hour after the president took his own seat following his address.
At one point as world leaders spoke, he jolted back into a straighter position when applause rang out, snapping his eyes open.
It’s the latest in a series of public gatherings where the oldest president ever elected appeared to nod off in front of the cameras.
The president has defended his moments of shuteye during his meetings after he was seen dozing off at roundtables and Cabinet meetings at the White House.
During his most recent gathering of top officials late last month, the president insisted he did not sleep through his December Cabinet meeting but argued he only closed his eyes at the previous gathering because it got “pretty boring.”
“It was a little bit at the boring side, but I didn’t sleep,” Trump claimed at the time.
He also claimed the cameras had simply captured him during a moment where he was blinking, but the explanation conflicted with the moments being captured on video.
Trump’s habit of closing his eyes while meeting with top officials and world leaders—followed by social media posting rampages in the middle of the night—has raised questions about the 79-year-old’s cognitive decline and fitness in office.
Besides jolting up at one point on Thursday as Sheikh Jarrah Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah of Kuwait spoke, the president also appeared to be slumped slightly to the side with his eyes closed as the king of Bahrain spoke.
Even resting his eyes would have been strange behavior after the president declared his “Board of Peace” the “most consequential board.”
“There’s never been anything close because these are the greatest world leaders,” Trump declared in his comments at the top of the event.
At the end of the three-hour event, the president remained seated as other world leaders gathered around him as he signed the fundraising pledges. Trump then handed off the documents to those next to him to hold up, and handed out pens as if he were participating in a bill-signing ceremony at the White House.
