Comedian and political commentator Jon Stewart had social media users cackling after he laid into former President Donald Trump for appearing to fall asleep during jury selection on day one of his election interference trial.
Speaking on The Daily Show, Stewart said that "the first criminal trial of a former president has begun," joking that "by all accounts, it is absolutely riveting" before cutting to footage showing New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, one of the journalists present in the courtroom and the first to report that Trump appeared to have fallen asleep during the proceedings.
The clip shows CNN reporter Jake Tapper telling Haberman that he was "surprised" by her observation, noting that Trump's "head keeps dropping down and his mouth goes slack.'"
Haberman, completely deadpan, replies:
"Well Jake, he appeared to be asleep."
Stewart laughed and mockingly said:
“Hey, Jake, what part of head down, eyes closed, drool coming out of his mouth do you not fucking get over here? He's snoring. He’s doing the honk shoo. He’s doing the ‘mi-mi-mi-mi-mi.'”
Stewart then delivered the punchline, expressing what we were all thinking:
"Imagine committing so many crimes, you get bored at your own trial."
Stewart went into the specifics of the trial and shared a clip of Trump speaking ahead of the trial's start in which he referred to it as a “political persecution," "a case that should never have been brought," and "an assault on America."
To that, Stewart quipped:
"Well, it's true, Trump is always very proud to be part of any assault on America."
You can hear what Stewart said in the video below.
Many concurred with Stewart's assessment of the situation and offered their own criticisms of the dozing former president.
Trump is the first former president in U.S. history to face criminal charges and is currently confronting a total of 91 charges spread across four jurisdictions, in addition to separate civil cases.
Among the charges leveled against him are allegations of mishandling classified documents, interference in elections, and involvement in racketeering. Nevertheless, Trump has adamantly denied committing any crimes.
The criminal trial in New York revolves around accusations that Trump falsified business documents in an attempt to conceal "hush money" payments made to adult film performer Stormy Daniels before the 2016 general election.
Trump's former attorney, Michael Cohen, reportedly paid $130,000 to Daniels to keep quiet about her alleged affair with Trump. These payments were later reimbursed to Cohen by the Trump Organization through monthly installments, which were recorded as payments for legal services.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
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