Donald Trump Fell Asleep During 'Critical Portion' of Testimony: Attorney

Donald Trump fell asleep once again during his hush money trial, including a "critical" moment of proceedings, a legal expert has said.

Norm Eisen, who served as a special counsel to the House Judiciary Committee during the former president's first impeachment, told CNN that Trump was asleep in the New York court on Friday as his former White House aide Hope Hicks was answering questions under oath.

During her emotional testimony, which saw her crying at one point, Hicks discussed Trump's reaction when a story detailing his alleged affairs with adult film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal broke. Hicks also described how Trump's team were "concerned" about how the infamous Access Hollywood tape, where Trump is heard boasting about grabbing women "by the p***y," would damage his 2016 election chances.

Reports from inside the courtroom have frequently claimed Trump has his eyes closed and is possibly asleep during the trial. The former president recently denied the claims, writing on Truth Social how he only closes his "beautiful blue eyes" so he can "listen intensely, and take it ALL in!!!"

Speaking to CNN, Eisen claimed that Trump fell asleep once more during his hush money trial, including during Hicks' testimony.

"I was there today for the better part of the trial. He was asleep, including in a critical portion of Hope Hicks testimony, when she was saying how she first learned of the Stormy Daniels situation.

"I watched him closely. He was immobile, and then the judge broke for lunch and his eyes popped open and he woke up. It's pretty clear that he was sleeping," Eisen added.

Trump's office has been contacted for comment via email.

During her testimony, Hicks said that Trump was concerned about how his wife, former first lady Melania Trump, would react after details about his alleged affair with Daniels and McDougal appeared in the Wall Street Journal just weeks prior to the 2016 election.

"He was concerned about how it would be viewed by his wife, and he wanted me to make sure the newspapers weren't delivered to the residence that morning," Hicks said.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in relation to $130,000 he arranged his former lawyer Michael Cohen to pay Daniels to keep an alleged affair she had with Trump secret in the run-up to the 2016 election, which was later listed in company records as Cohen's "legal fees."

Prosecutors suggest the payment was part of an unlawful attempt to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential race, and not merely to save his marriage.

Elsewhere, Hicks also said she was "very concerned" about the contents of the Access Hollywood tape, but still told fellow members of Trump's 2016 campaign team to "deny, deny, deny" the former president made the lewd remarks.

"It complicated where we were trying to go with the campaign," Hicks said. "It was pulling us backwards in a way that was going to be hard to overcome."

Joey Jackson, a former New York state prosecutor and a legal analyst, said Hicks' testimony showed that the Trump campaign was "fully aware of how incredibly damaging" the Access Hollywood tape would be to his election prospects, which may "bolster" the prosecution's arguments in relation to the Daniels hush money.

"While he was dismissing it as 'locker room talk' to voters, behind the scenes his campaign team was scrambling to control the impending firestorm they anticipated it might bring," Jackson told Newsweek.

"Hicks' testimony also portrayed Trump as a very hands-on boss. Taken together, these takeaways would bolster the prosecution's argument that Trump's team would know how imperative it was to cover up another potential scandal, and Trump would be involved in making that happen."