Fox News personality Jesse Watters was widely mocked after he tried to claim that former President Donald Trump is not, in fact, sleeping in court, insisting that Trump is simply in a "meditative state."
Watters' remark came as Trump continues to face criticism for appearing to fall asleep during his ongoing hush money trial. Last month, New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman, one of the reporters present in the courtroom, was the first to report that Trump appeared to have fallen asleep during the proceedings.
Additionally, MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell reported earlier this week that Trump had his eyes closed the majority of the day "and that it seemed “impossible for Donald Trump not to be asleep during some of his long, extended eye-closing sessions.”
But Watters dismissed these reports and made excuses for Trump that the GOP would never make for President Joe Biden, whom Trump has referred to as "Sleepy Joe."
Watters said:
"The other woman, the guy who said he [Trump] is sleeping?"
“He’s meditating. He’s in a meditative state. When you’re defensive about something, you avoid something. Trump’s not defensive of being old and tired.”
“He can shut his eyes and not feel bad about it like Sleepy Joe."
You can hear what he said in the video below.
Watters' claim that Trump is "meditating" comes just two weeks after Trump insisted in a post on Truth Social that reports he keeps falling asleep are bogus, saying he's simply been closing his “beautiful blue eyes” and listening “intensely” to the proceedings.
@realDonaldTrump/Truth social
But no one was buying what Trump...or his parrot Watters was selling.
Trump's attorney Alina Habba has defended her client, drawing criticism after she said Trump's love of reading was the reason he appeared to fall asleep during jury selection on day one of the trial.
Last month, Trump's former White House adviser and Apprentice contestant Omarosa Manigault Newman described how his aides would keep his attention during long events.
Manigault Newman said Trump has a history of dozing off, adding that Trump “cannot focus, nor can he sit still for long" so his staff had to structure events “specifically to address his attention deficit.” She recalled that staff would "slide him different information or news articles he could read while the long proceedings were going on, anything to keep him focused so he wouldn't get up and walk out."
