Trump denies sleeping during trial: 'I simply close my beautiful blue eyes'

Donald Trump on Thursday denied recent reports from multiple news outlets that he has at times appeared to nod off during his New York criminal hush money trial.

"Contrary to the FAKE NEWS MEDIA, I don't fall asleep during the Crooked D.A.'s Witch Hunt, especially not today," Trump, 77, wrote on Truth Social during a break in the Manhattan Supreme Court trial.

"I simply close my beautiful blue eyes, sometimes, listen intensely, and take it ALL in!!!" the presumptive Republican presidential nominee wrote.

His campaign previously lashed out after multiple reporters in the courtroom, including The New York Times' Maggie Haberman, reported on the first day of jury selection that Trump seemed to doze off a few times.

Trump has appeared to be sleeping in court on numerous other occasions over the course of the trial, which entered its 10th day Thursday. On Tuesday, NBC News reported that Trump's "eyes were closed for extended periods and his head at times jerked in a way consistent with sleeping."

Trump looked to be resting his eyes again Thursday afternoon, according to NBC.

Any claim of Trump "sleeping" carries outsize significance during the 2024 presidential election, given that Trump has been calling President Joe Biden "Sleepy Joe" for years.

Trump must sit in court every day of the trial, which is expected to last six weeks.

The post came after testimony from Keith Davidson, the lawyer who helped bury allegations of Trump's extramarital affairs before the 2016 presidential election.

Davidson testified Thursday that on the night Trump won that election, he texted, "What have we done?" to a tabloid editor who worked on the hush money deals with him.

Davidson was asked on the stand about the text, which he sent as Trump pulled off a stunning upset victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton.

The recipient of the text was Dylan Howard, then the editor in chief of the National Enquirer, who was also involved in the $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. That payment is at the center of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's case against Trump.

"Oh my god," Howard texted back.

Davidson, who represented Daniels at the time, testified Thursday that his text was "sort of gallows humor." But he added that he and Howard understood at the time that "our activities may have in some way assisted the presidential campaign of Donald Trump."

Davidson returned to the witness stand after Judge Juan Merchan held a second hearing on whether Trump violated his gag order by speaking about likely witnesses in the case.

Two days earlier, Merchan held Trump in criminal contempt for nine violations of the gag order, which bars Trump from discussing jurors, witnesses and others involved in the Manhattan Supreme Court trial.

After the first gag order hearing last week, state prosecutors accused Trump of violating the gag order four more times, prompting the judge to schedule a second hearing.

"His statements are corrosive to this proceeding, and to the fair administration of justice," prosecutor Chris Conroy said of Trump on Thursday morning.

Merchan on Tuesday imposed the maximum fine of $1,000 for each of the nine violations, an amount he acknowledged was barely a slap on the wrist for Trump, a multibillionaire.

But the judge also warned Trump that future violations of court orders could land him in jail.

Conroy said in Thursday's hearing that, "Because we prefer to minimize disruptions to this proceeding, we are not yet seeking jail."

Merchan did not issue a ruling before Davidson resumed his second day of testimony.

Davidson, who represented Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, had testified Tuesday about his involvement in selling the story rights for both women, each of whom separately claimed to have had sex with Trump while he was married.

The $130,000 payment to Daniels in particular is at the center of the historic criminal trial in Manhattan Supreme Court, where Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records.

Bragg accuses Trump of mislabeling those records as part of a scheme to secretly reimburse his then-lawyer Michael Cohen, who paid Daniels shortly before the 2016 presidential election. Trump unlawfully tried to influence that election by buying and suppressing damaging information about him, Bragg alleges.