President Donald Trump appeared to doze off during a roundtable event in the White House’s Cabinet Room on Monday.
It marks the second time in less than a week that the 79-year-old president has been caught struggling to stay awake during an official event.
Trump announced a multibillion-dollar aid package for U.S. farmers, who have been hurt by his global trade wars, at Monday’s roundtable.
But as Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins began explaining the package, the elderly president slipped into a heavy-eyed daze.
At one point, he tilted his head toward Rollins, 53, only for his eyes to shut and his head to fall forward slightly before he jolted himself back awake.
His struggle to stay awake carried on, his eyelids drooping and fluttering open again as Rollins detailed how $11 billion would be directed to her department’s new assistance program for farmers.
That’s when Trump suddenly snapped alive and interrupted Rollins, saying, “It’s $12 billion.”
Rollins explained to the president that $11 billion would be used to provide one-time payments to crop farmers by February of next year, with another $1 billion to be held back for crops not covered by the Farmer Bridge Assistance program.
“Ahh, very tricky,” a grinning Trump quipped in response.
Trump told the roundtable that the funds would come from tariff revenues. The event was also attended by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, 63, as well as farmers and members of Congress.
When reached for comment, White House Assistant Press Secretary Liz Huston told the Daily Beast in a statement, “The Daily Beast is a trash publication spreading lies daily about President Trump.”
Scenes of Trump fighting off sleep have become a recurring feature of his second term, including at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 2.
Cameras caught Trump repeatedly leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes, just moments after he insisted that he felt “sharper” than he had in decades.
“I’ll tell you when there’s something wrong. There will be someday,” he said. “That’s going to happen to all of us. But right now, I think I am sharper than I was 25 years ago, but who the hell knows? I took my physical. I got all As, everything.”
The president’s public dozing spells—including his nap during an Oval Office event last month—have only heightened scrutiny of his mental and physical fitness.
Trump, the oldest person ever inaugurated as president, was reportedly left fuming after a string of new reports zeroed in on signs of his apparent deteriorating health.
The post Trump, 79, Jolts Awake After Nodding Off at Roundtable appeared first on The Daily Beast.
