US president Donald Trump appeared to be fighting sleep on Tuesday during a cabinet meeting at the White House, closing his eyes and at times seeming to nod off, after he criticised media coverage about him facing the realities of ageing in office.
Over the course of two hours and 18 minutes, the president, who is 79, sometimes appeared to struggle to keep his eyes open as cabinet officials went around the room describing their work and heaping praise on him.
Asked whether Mr Trump fell asleep, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said in a statement that the president was “listening attentively and running the entire” meeting.
She cited Mr Trump’s response during a question-and-answer segment at the end of the meeting, when he delivered a tirade against Somali immigrants.
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“This epic moment put an exclamation point on president Trump’s ninth Cabinet meeting of his second term – all of which have been entirely open to the press for the whole world to see,” Ms Leavitt said.
Mr Trump does appear frequently before the news media, and he takes questions far more often than his predecessor, Joe Biden, did.
But Mr Trump also appeared to have had a late night. He shared or posted dozens of times on social media on Monday night until nearly midnight.
Early in the meeting, Mr Trump had complained that he was getting unfair scrutiny compared to Mr Biden, who dropped out of the presidential race last year amid concerns in his own party about his age, mental acuity and ability to beat Trump.
“I’ll let you know when there’s something wrong. There will be some day,” Mr Trump said. “That’s going to happen to all of us. But right now I think I’m sharper than I was 25 years ago. But who the hell knows?”
Mr Trump then claimed he got “all As” on his physical.
But as Tuesday’s meeting went on, Mr Trump seemed to grow tired.
About 50 minutes in, as Brooke Rollins, the agriculture secretary, spoke, Mr Trump struggled to keep his eyes open before he leaned back and forth in his chair. More than an hour and a half into the meeting, while Linda McMahon, the education secretary, spoke, he closed his eyes for five seconds before leaning back and looking at the ceiling.
Roughly 20 minutes later, as secretary of state Marco Rubio spoke, the president leaned forward and appeared to close his eyes again.
It was the second time in less than a month that Mr Trump appeared to doze off in public. During an Oval Office event on November 6th, the president’s eyes grew heavy and closed for several seconds.
Mr Trump and his aides in recent days have fumed over coverage of that meeting, particularly a New York Times report about his shorter public schedule and signs of fatigue.
On Monday, the White House released a letter from Mr Trump’s physician about the results of “advanced imaging tests.” The statement, by Dr Sean P Barbabella, said the tests on his cardiovascular system and abdominal region showed the president “remains in excellent overall health.”
Some medical experts said it was unclear what tests doctors conducted, why they had been done or what the results meant.
Mr Trump, the oldest president sworn into his office, had MRI scans in October as part of a semi-annual physical exam. His annual physical was done in April.
– This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
