In late May 2026, a video circulated online purportedly showing U.S. President Donald Trump asleep at a Memorial Day ceremony held at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.
Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Vice President JD Vance preceded Trump in speaking at the May 25 event at the cemetery's Memorial Amphitheater.
On that day, the Headquarters (@HQNewsNow) X account — that former Vice President Kamala Harris founded in February — posted a 31-second clip (archived) allegedly showing Trump falling asleep during Hegseth's speech.
The footage and similar iterations of the claim spread across social media, including on Instagram, Reddit, Threads, TikTok and YouTube. One Snopes reader also asked us, "Did Trump really fall asleep during Hegseth's Memorial Day speech?"
Zooming in on C-SPAN's already zoomed-in video of the ceremony appears to show Trump looking tired, repeatedly closing and opening his eyes, wiping his eye or eyebrow at least once, yawning at least once and repeatedly patting his legs. It is possible he briefly fell asleep during the observance honoring America's fallen veterans.
No moments from the event clearly show Trump nodding off though, such as his head dropping a slight distance and then rising back up in a way similar to when he truly nodded off and fell asleep during a December 2025 Cabinet meeting.
It is not possible to definitively declare the claim as true or false based simply upon zooming in on C-SPAN's footage — captured from an already zoomed-in camera positioned far away. Such subsequent digital zooming produces a low-quality image, providing a lack of credible, sufficient proof. As such, we have not yet rated this unproven claim.
Snopes emailed the White House to ask if Trump fell asleep during the ceremony and will update this article if we receive a response.
Investigating the claim of Trump sleeping
C-SPAN's video features numerous moments key to the unproven claim that Trump fell asleep during the Memorial Day ceremony. The 31-second clip many social media users shared showing Hegseth talking about "the mourners" begins at the 30:16 mark of C-SPAN's coverage.
During Caine's speech — prior to Hegseth's remarks — the video's quality varies at different times when seemingly showing Trump slowly closing and opening his eyes (around the 26:24 and 26:56 marks) as well as opening his eyes (around the 27:48 and 28:04 marks). After Hegseth takes to the lectern, Trump wipes his eye or eyebrow at 28:59, appears to yawn at 29:13 and pats his legs at 29:50.
It should be noted that zooming in on C-SPAN's video not only produces a low-quality image, but also that shadows and squinting visibly produces the false appearance of nothing but darkness in Vance's eyes, as well as the faint appearance of visible eyes in the other three men. Again, officials placed the camera capturing the ceremony far away. The camera's operator then zoomed in to show all four men on the stage. Subsequent zooming in of the YouTube video to investigate the rumor further degrades the quality. It was not possible to locate a 4K-quality version of the broadcast, and videos that attendees captured of Trump, that they shared on social media, did not provide definitive evidence to rate the claim.
The Associated Press and Getty Images captured three still photos showing Trump squinting. Such pictures, which capture single moments in time, also provide insufficient evidence to confirm or debunk the rumor.
Five different news media outlets stopped short of confirming Trump fell asleep at the Memorial Day gathering, all reporting that the video shows he "appears to" or "appeared to" sleep.
For further reading, we previously debunked a video allegedly showing Trump nodding off and hitting his head on the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, as well as footage of former President Joe Biden supposedly sleeping during a dinner with victims of the August 2023 Maui wildfires.