- News
- World
- Americas
- US politics
President drowsed for an estimated six minutes during Tuesday’s cabinet meeting
Joe SommerladWednesday 03 December 2025 15:09 GMTComments
CloseDonald Trump appears to fall asleep at his own cabinet meeting
Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox
Get our free Inside Washington email
Get our free Inside Washington email
Email*SIGN UPI would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice
President Donald Trump appeared to fall asleep during a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, prompting a Fox News pundit to draw an unlikely comparison between the commander-in-chief and Thomas Edison.
Trump, 79, had been up late on Monday night on a wild Truth Social spree, posting more than 150 messages in a matter of hours. The Washington Post estimated his eyes were closed for at least six minutes of the gathering, notably when Secretary of State Marco Rubio was discussing the war in Ukraine.
When he was awake and alert, the president complained about media interest in his health, launched into a tirade about Minneapolis’s Somali immigrant community, accepted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s praise for “keeping the hurricanes away,” and veered from defending the military’s actions in the Caribbean to championing his own taste in interior decor at the White House.
open image in galleryPresident Donald Trump appeared tired and drowsy during a cabinet meeting at the White House on Tuesday (Reuters)Speaking afterwards to Laura Ingraham on Fox’s The Ingraham Angle Tuesday evening, the network’s senior medical analyst, Dr Marc Siegel, was asked about media coverage of Trump resting his eyes and dismissed the matter, accusing the press of hypocrisy in its coverage of Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden.
“This is a disgrace because we don’t need to see President Trump passing cognitive tests, as you just said he passes one every single day. Every single moment, going in and out of press conferences. I have never seen anything like it, actually,” Dr Siegel said in praise of Trump.
Ingraham joined in the defensive push, declaring that she, too, sometimes closes her eyes when people talk to her.
“We all know that he doesn’t sleep, you know, I’m not a big sleeper either. So, you know, on occasion, I close my eyes if someone is talking for too long, I admit it. But, big deal. I mean, the results speak for themselves,” she said.
“What President Trump does on a daily basis, if you sleep three hours or four hours a night, you’re probably going to close your eyes, whether you are 79 or 49. I don’t think that matters.”
“Thomas Edison believed in the 10-minute nap, by the way,” Dr Siegel interjected. “What would they say? We wouldn’t have electricity, right?”
Edison actually invented the incandescent lightbulb, not electricity. He advocated a 10-minute power nap to capture the creative ideas stimulated during the hypnagogic state, the transitional period between wakefulness and profound drowsiness.
open image in galleryAmerican inventor Thomas Edison (1847-1931), who enjoyed a power nap but never in a meeting (Getty)He is known to have taken one or two naps per day but never championed falling asleep in the middle of meetings.
The Independent has reached out to the Thomas Edison Center in Menlo Park, New Jersey, for comment.
Trump was brutally mocked as “Dozy Don” by California Gov. Gavin Newsom in October after he appeared to drift off at an event discussing the threat his administration said is posed by Antifa activists, in revenge for the president’s regular jibes against “Sleepy Joe” throughout his presidency.
Trump previously appeared to drift off during his criminal trial in Manhattan in May 2024 when the strain of fighting four indictments while campaigning for the White House seemed to get the better of him.
Like Ingraham, Attorney General Pam Bondi has also previously marvelled at the president’s apparent lack of need for sleep, discussing the subject during an appearance on The Katie Miller Podcast earlier this year.
open image in galleryTrump getting some shut eye during his ‘hush money’ trial in New York City in May 2024 (AP)“None of us can keep up with him; we always joke,” she said. “I don’t know how he does it. I mean, none of us know when he sleeps. He’s working all the time, and it’s just constant for him.
“There aren’t enough hours in the day for any of us,” she added.
Trump’s personal physician said in 2018, during his first term, that he slept only four to five hours a night, well short of the seven to nine hours recommended for men of his age.
More about
Donald TrumpKristi NoemPam BondiLaura IngrahamFox NewsGavin NewsomJoe BidenThomas EdisonMarco RubioJoin our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments
