Whoopi Goldberg Mocks Donald Trump Falling Asleep in Court

Whoopi Goldberg has made fun of Donald Trump for reportedly nodding off during his court appearances, on TV show The View.

The first criminal trial of a former American president commenced Monday, with Trump appearing at Manhattan Criminal Court as jury selection commenced. He has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal a 2016 payment to adult-film actress Stephanie Clifford, also known as Stormy Daniels.

Journalists reporting on the case said Trump started snoozing shortly after proceedings began—and it appeared to have happened again on day two. Now Goldberg has weighed in, sharing her thoughts during Wednesday's episode of The View.

Newsweek emailed spokespeople for Goldberg and Trump for comment on Thursday outside of normal business hours.

"So yesterday was the second day of you-know-who's hush money case where he apparently didn't take another snooze but there is a courtroom sketch of him doing it again," she said, as the courtroom sketch was shown on screen.

"But, you know, he'll just say he didn't do it, so, here he is—he's out," Goldberg added, as people laughed. "And I think his lawyer's like: 'Dude, what are you doing? We can see you, we can see you.'"

Co-host Sunny Hostin interjected: "The jurors can see you," to which Goldberg replied: "Yes. My goodness."

People have been taking to social media to mock Trump and his purported catnaps, with a variety of prominent figures weighing in as the hashtags #SleepyDon and #SleepyDonald trended on X, formerly Twitter.

When a clip of Wednesday's episode of The View was uploaded to YouTube, social media users also took to the comment section to make fun of Trump.

"Someone get My Pillow for Sleepy Don," user @kennonmoss7854 wrote.

"Ebeneezer Snooze will have plenty of time to sleep behind bars," said @IMHTP.

@ReeeeeeUp added: "Hes old too!!!!!!! Sleepy Don is up all night posting rants."

Judge Juan Merchan, who is overseeing the trial, hasn't granted permission for television cameras to broadcast from inside the New York courtroom. As filming isn't permitted for the duration of Trump's latest legal battle, accounts of what takes place within are expected to come from a handful of reporters and sketch artists.

"Trump appears to be sleeping. His head keeps dropping down and his mouth goes slack," Maggie Haberman wrote in a New York Times blog post during his court appearance on Monday. A sketch by veteran courtroom artist Jane Rosenberg suggests Haberman's claim is correct. The sketch shows Trump sitting in a chair with his eyes closed and his head tilted slightly to one side.

Other journalists who were present in the courtroom corroborated Haberman's statement. "He looked like he was nodding off, and at one point—in a pretty true tell that he was falling asleep—his head nodded down, and then he sort of jolted back up at one point," Susanne Craig, also of the New York Times, said on MSNBC.

On Tuesday, journalist Frank G. Runyeon said Trump continued to fall asleep during the trial. Tweeting from the courtroom, Runyeon wrote: "Now: Trump's head slowly dropped, his eyes closed. It jerked back upward. He adjusts himself. Then, his head droops again. He straightens up, leaning back. His head droops for a third time, he shakes his shoulders. Eyes closed still. His head drops. Finally, he pops his eyes open."

However, a Trump campaign spokesperson denied that the former president had nodded off during the trial.

"This is 100% Fake News coming from 'journalists' who weren't even in the courtroom," they have claimed, per CNN.