A viral video that appears to be Donald Trump sitting with closed eyes and dozing caused a stormy reaction from the White House on social networks, he writes Daily Beast.
During an Oval Office event dedicated to the promotion of coal, footage of the 79-year-old president appearing to doze off went viral on social media. One post, which has collected more than 4 million views, claims that Trump was “completely asleep” and the author ironically wonders how long it will take the White House to claim that he only “blinked”.
The White House responded very strongly. The Rapid Response account said:
“His eyes are literally open in the video you posted, you stupid idiots.”
White House spokesman Davis Ingle also denied the allegations:
“President Trump is the clearest, most accessible and most energetic president in American history.”
“While the deranged and doomed Daily Beast pushes baseless conspiracy theories through its worthless glue-sniffing reporters, President Trump is working around the clock to make our country greater than ever before.”
The discussion moved to the Congress, where the representative is Ted Lieu confronted the Secretary of State Marco Rubio with footage it claims show Trump napping during meetings and public events.
Rubio replied:
“I never saw him fall asleep. On the contrary, that man never sleeps.”
He also said that Trump regularly calls him at 2 or 5 in the morning and that he has more energy than people decades younger than him.
Lieu answered him:
“I just showed you three shots of him sleeping.”
He later commented on Trump’s footage again:
“The American people believe their eyes. November is coming.”
The administration has been trying to quell speculation about the president’s health in recent weeks after a series of videos showed Trump with his eyes closed during public events. Last week, the Rapid Response account also attacked journalists who reported on Trump’s alleged naps, including CNN anchors Dan Bash and Kaitlin Collinswho were ridiculed for the photos in which they blinked.
Speculation about Trump’s health has intensified due to bruises on his hands, swollen ankles and his frequent visits to Walter Reed Army Hospital. Trump rejects all the accusations and claims that the stories about his sleep and health problems are exaggerated, and that it is actually about the fact that the cabinet meetings are “boring as hell”.
