In June 2026, social media users alleged that video showed U.S. President Donald Trump falling asleep during an hour-plus coal industry announcement in the Oval Office on June 4.
For example, users shared the claim on Bluesky (archived), Facebook (archived), Instagram (archived), Threads (archived), TikTok (archived), X (archived) and YouTube (archived). Users' captions varied, with phrasing including "appeared to briefly fall asleep," "appears asleep," "falls asleep" and "passed out."
Snopes readers searched this website looking for the truth about whether Trump dozed off during the June 4 announcement.
In sum, the full Oval Office event video genuinely shows Trump nodding off with his eyes closed several times. In each instance — five that we document later in this article — Trump eventually picked up his head, opened his eyes and made a facial expression pursing his lips.
In an email to Snopes, the White House shared a statement denying Trump fell asleep and blaming the rumor on "Trump Derangement Syndrome."
The official White House Rapid Response X account (@RapidResponse47) responded to the rumor after the progressive @HQNewsNow X account posted a seven-second video (archived) from the event. The clip featured a moment when Trump leaned off to the right side of his chair and slowly opened and closed his eyes. The account shared it later with the caption, "How long until the @WhiteHouse says he was just blinking?"
The Rapid Response account replied (archived), "His eyes are literally open in the clip you posted, you dumba** mouth-breathers."
5 times Trump appeared to nod off
The White House shared a nearly 76-minute video showing much of the June 4 Oval Office event during which Trump announced a plan to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in support of the coal industry.
The video shows Trump opening the meeting and talking for nearly 19 minutes. The drowsy moments occur during the subsequent 16 minutes, between the 19:00 and 35:00 marks. After that, Trump fields reporters' questions.
Trump very slightly or moderately nods off, eyes closed, at the 26:21, 27:03, 28:36, 31:11 and 33:47 marks. He purses his lips after lifting his head and opening his eyes at exactly the 26:40, 27:19, 28:53, 31:26 and 34:03 marks. At some points, Trump slowly nods up and down in recognition of other speakers' remarks, while at other times he remains still.
Some accounts, including @HQNewsNow, cited the moment EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin began speaking (at the 30:24 mark) as the clearest example of Trump "dozing off."
In the second half of the event, Trump spoke to reporters then asked Zeldin to speak again, which Zeldin did for nearly 40 minutes. From 1:13:20 to 1:14:35 marks in the video, Trump remains visibly awake and alert, with open eyes, in contrast to his somnolence during the first half of the gathering. His alertness toward the end of the video provides a credible point of comparison.
For further reading, we previously reported Trump truly fell asleep during a December 2025 Cabinet meeting. We also examined a popular video allegedly showing the president sleeping during an April 2026 Oval Office meeting as well as footage of him supposedly falling asleep at a Memorial Day ceremony in May 2026.