Donald Trump’s historic New York criminal trial got off to a sleepy start on Monday, with the former president reportedly nodding off in a Manhattan courtroom. However, two out of three national broadcast outlets – ABC and NBC – didn’t think it was worth covering on the evening news.
The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman reported that Trump appeared to fall asleep before “jolting back awake” during the first day of his hush money trial. In an interview later with CNN, Haberman said that Trump’s “jaw kept falling on his chest and his mouth kept going slack,” and that he didn’t notice a note his lawyer had passed him.
Multiple news outlets picked up the story, with some pointing out that Trump’s public dozing undermines the former president’s attacks on President Joe Biden’s age and energy and the nickname he gave him, “Sleepy Joe.”
In yet another example of the mainstream press ignoring the former president’s gaffes and mix-ups in favor of focusing on Biden’s mental acuity, both NBC Nightly News and ABC World News Tonight failed to acknowledge Trump’s apparent drowsiness during court on Monday.
NBC Nightly News focused its coverage on the drawn-out jury selection process and made no mention of Trump falling asleep.
ABC took a similar approach on ABC World News Tonight, neglecting to mention reports of Trump dozing off.
Only CBS reported that the former president nodded off during the first day of his criminal trial in its evening television coverage.