Former President Donald Trump is showing "contempt" for his jurors just days after his New York criminal trial began, according to his estranged niece Mary Trump.
The former president's hush-money trial in Manhattan, where he has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, began with jury selection on Monday. By the end of Tuesday, seven of a total 18 required jurors had been selected. The trial is in recess on Wednesdays.
While the most notable moments in the trial so far have involved jury selection and New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan's warnings to the ex-president, multiple instances of Trump reportedly falling asleep in court have also raised eyebrows.
Mary Trump, writing in her The Good in Us newsletter on SubStack, highlighted that MSNBC hosts Rachel Maddow and Chris Hayes had called out her uncle for supposedly sleeping at the trial after repeatedly referring to President Joe Biden as "Sleepy Joe."
The former president's niece then speculated that her uncle was either "tired" or "medicated," before arguing that he was sending a message to the jurors that he would "rather sleep through" the trial than pay attention due to his "contempt."
"Donald may be tired, he may be medicated, but regardless, what message does it send everybody else in the courtroom that he can't be bothered to keep his eyes open?" Mary Trump wrote. "How will the engaged and attentive jury feel as they are forced to sit there entirely because of him while he doses off?"
"He is absolutely aware of the seriousness of these proceedings, so one can only infer that he has such contempt for them, and the rest of the participants, that he'd rather sleep through it all," she added. "The jury will only see how tired, pitiful, and arrogant he really is—and none of that is going to help him."
Newsweek reached out for comment to Donald Trump's office via email on Wednesday.
Trump was mocked by many on social media after reports from New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman and others in the courtroom alleged that he had dozed off several times during the first day of trial on Monday.
There were additional reports of Trump sleeping during the second day of trial on Tuesday when veteran courtroom artist Jane Rosenberg also sketched the former president apparently asleep during the proceedings.
Trump lawyer Alina Habba, who does not represent the former president in criminal matters and was not present in the courtroom on either day of the trial, later called the sleeping reports "ridiculous" during an interview with conservative media outlet Newsmax.
Habba suggested that the former president's eyes may have instead been closed during the trial because he "reads a lot."
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Aila Slisco is a Newsweek night reporter based in New York. Her focus is on reporting national politics, where she ... Read more
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