Trump Reportedly Nods Off While Attending First Day of Criminal Trial

Donald Trump has been in court plenty of times in the past few months, but on Monday, he became the first American president to stand trial for an alleged criminal offense. Day one of the former president’s trial on charges related to a 2016 hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels began in Manhattan — and tensions ran high.

State prosecutors and Trump’s attorneys kicked things off by arguing over what evidence will be admissible during the proceedings, and it quickly became clear that the jury selection process might take quite a while. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg‘s team also pushed to have Trump punished for allegedly violating a gag order, while Judge Juan Merchan threatened to punish the former president separately, should he disrupt the court or fail to attend even a single day of the trial.

Trump didn’t exactly seem riveted by the action, according to reports. Maggie Haberman of The New York Times reported that the former president appeared “to be sleeping” during the proceedings, with his head bobbing and mouth going slack. He was later “jolted awake” to notice notes his lawyer passed him minutes earlier, she wrote. Haberman expounded on Trump nodding off during an interview with CNN.

“He appeared to be asleep,” she said. “He didn’t pay attention to a note his lawyer passed him. His jaw kept falling on his chest, and his mouth kept going slack. Sometimes people do fall asleep during court proceedings, but it’s notable considering the intensity of this morning.”

The Guardian also reported that Trump appeared to nod off.

Trump reportedly glared at Haberman for “several seconds” later on Monday.

Trump was awake, however, when Merchan read him his Parker Warning, answering that he understood that he could be “committed to jail” should he cause a commotion during the trial, and that he could be arrested if he failed to show up. “If you do not show up, there will be an arrest,” Merchan said of the requirement that the defendant attend every day of the proceedings.

Trump later requested to be excused from the trial next Thursday so that he may be in attendance as the Supreme Court hears arguments about whether he is immune from prosecution for acts he committed while president. The case stems from the Justice Department’s investigation into whether Trump illegally worked to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Merchan denied Trump’s request. “Your client is a criminal defendant in New York,” the judge told Trump’s lawyers. “He is required to be here. He is not required to be in the Supreme Court. I will see him here next week.”

Joshua Steinglass, a prosecutor on Bragg’s team, indicated that the state would submit a request “seeking an order to show cause why Defendant should not be held in contempt” after flaunting an order from the court barring him from attacking witnesses, prosecutors, court staff, and jurors involved in the case. Steinglass argued that — among several other instances — Trump attacked two key witnesses in the case, Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen, in a Wednesday Truth Social post referring to the pair as “sleazebags.”

The prosecution later requested that Trump be fined $1,000 for each gag order and at least $3,000 in total, and Merchan scheduled a hearing on whether Trump violated his gag order for April 23.

Merchan imposed a gag order on Trump last month as the former president leveled a series of attacks against those involved in the case — and also Merchan’s daughter. Trump has continued to rail against those involved in the case, while sharing articles about the judge’s daughter rather than explicitly attacking her himself. Trump has also been railing at length about the gag order itself, calling it “unconstitutional’ and “un-American.”

Trump leveled the same accusations against the trial itself while ranting to the media outside of court on Monday. “This is an assault on America. Nothing like this has ever happened before. There has never been anything like it,” the former president said.

Tension built in the courtroom as the prosecution previewed their case as well. Bragg’s team submitted several evidentiary requests that indicate they are setting up to argue that in the aftermath of the infamous Access Hollywood tape — in which Trump declared he could grab women “by the pussy” with no consequence — his campaign fell into disaster mode, prompting efforts to buy Daniels silence regarding her alleged affair with the former president.

Merchan determined that the Access Hollywood tape could not be played before a jury, but that prosecutors would be allowed to use relevant transcripts from the video. The judge further determined that the prosecution could introduce articles from the National Enquirer supporting their allegations that Trump coordinated with the publication’s then-owner, David Pecker, to approve and plant stories trashing his 2016 opponents.

As prosecutors and the defense debated various last-minute decisions, Merchan seemed to grow exasperated, telling the court that “we have about 500 jurors waiting on us. And to be honest with you, I really am not interested in getting into this minutia.”

Jury selection did indeed begin later on Monday. “I’m told about 200 jurors are here today,” Merchan said after the trial resumed after a break. Merchan read instructions and asked the jurors if they recognized a number of names ranging from Keith Davidson and Kellyanne Conway to Trump’s children, Rudy Giuliani, Michael Cohen, and Stormy Daniels. Just before jury questioning began in earnest, close to half of the 96 jurors present excused themselves from the jury, saying they could not be fair and impartial in the trial.

Testimony won’t begin until the jury selection process wraps up, but there was still a frenzy outside the New York County Supreme Court on the first official day of the historic criminal trial. Those both supporting and denigrating the trial were out in force in lower Manhattan.

Andrew Giuliani — failed New York gubernatorial candidate and son of “America’s mayor” Rudy Giuliani, who was indicted along with Trump in Georgia’s Fulton County for attempting to overthrow the 2020 election — was among those upset that Trump was being put on trial. “I can’t point to an underlying felony that they’re claiming,” he told Rolling Stone. “So it seems like this is pretty manipulated to try to get the leading candidate for president on the stand and off the campaign trail.”

Likening Trump to an uncle, Giuliani said he thinks jury selection will prove hard for Bragg and that both the defense and prosecution should ask for the potential jurors’ political affiliation. “I think you’re going to have some people sadly on that jury who have predetermined the case rather than actually looking through the facts of this case.”

There was a large anti-Trump presence outside the court, as well, including a small press conference organized by a group called Rise and Resist. Speakers lambasted Trump and called the trial the first step of true accountability for his actions — although they had a difficult time making their voices heard over the honks coming from a truck blaring Trump-inspired remixes of ‘80s songs circling the rally.

One of the speakers included Tristan Snell, former Assistant Attorney General for New York State who prosecuted Donald Trump over Trump University. Surrounded by about two dozen protesters holding letters that read “Not Above the Law,” Snell recounted how Trump had called for the death penalty of the Central Park Five, how he has time and time again refused to pay small business owners for services rendered, and ran through many of the myriad legal woes Trump is currently facing. “Don’t let anyone tell you that today is a sad day for America,” he said. “Today is a glorious day for America. A day when we finally began to reclaim our nation. We established the grand principle of equal justice under law.”

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