Trump jolts awake during Oval Office maternal health event after appearing to nod off

WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump appeared to nod off during a White House maternal health event on Monday, May 11, before suddenly snapping back to attention.

At the Oval Office gathering focused on maternal health and motherhood initiatives, Trump, 79, seemed to drift off while Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spoke at length about what he called a “fertility crisis.”

With reporters packed into the room alongside allies including Sen. Katie Britt, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, and Dr. Mehmet Oz, cameras caught Trump with his eyes shut for what critics quickly seized on as an unusually long pause.

The White House brushed off the moment almost immediately. A spokesperson responded to a critic on X, “He was blinking, you absolute moron.”

To be fair, the still photograph circulating online could plausibly have caught Trump mid-blink. But Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu wasn’t buying it.

“Dear @RapidResponse47: That is a verrrrrrrrryyyyy long blink,” Lieu wrote while reposting video footage that appeared to show Trump’s eyes closed for 17 straight seconds.

The White House did not respond to follow-up questions about the footage, though Communications Director Steven Cheung fired back at Lieu. “Ted Lewd is a loser of the highest order, and he needs to get serious professional help for his debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome," Cheung said.

Trump snaps back and goes off on different tangents

After several quiet moments, Trump appeared to jolt awake and returned to center stage with one of his signature freewheeling monologues.

While discussing prescription drug costs, the President referenced an unnamed friend he described as a “very highly neurotic, very fat--sort of a fat slob.”

He then shifted gears to foreign policy, warning that his ceasefire agreement with Iran was on “life support.”

“It’s unbelievably weak,” Trump said of the agreement that took effect April 8.

Moments later, the President veered into autism.

“Every person is gonna have autism,” Trump said. “That’s what’s happening. What is this thing that’s happening?” he continued. “It’s spiked so much.....anything having to do with medical, I always bring in autism.”

A familiar issue for the famously low-sleep president

This isn’t the first time Trump has faced scrutiny over appearing sleepy in public settings. Just last week, the President seemed heavy-eyed during another Oval Office event while signing a proclamation restoring the Presidential Fitness Test in schools.

Trump has repeatedly rejected suggestions that he falls asleep in public. Speaking to The Wall Street Journal previously, he insisted he merely closes his eyes from time to time.

“It’s very relaxing to me,” Trump said. “Sometimes they’ll take a picture of me blinking, blinking, and they’ll catch me with the blink.”

The President’s famously sparse sleep habits have also become something of Washington folklore. CNN's Kaitlan Collins previously described Trump as someone who barely sleeps during diplomatic trips.

“He doesn’t sleep on these trips,” Collins told podcaster Jason Tartick last October. “And like, you’re going to Asia or something, and that’s kind of the only time you’re going to sleep, before you go on this trip, but Trump is just always up and talking, and he’ll like, have them go and wake staff up if they’re asleep because he wants to talk to them.”

She added, “I was just talking to someone about this because we wrote this story on what traveling with him is like in... I had this source who said, ‘You never wanna be on Air Force One on a trip.'”