Donald Trump Health Rumours: NBC Doctor Warns Daytime Drowsiness Is Not Normal For Leader

Donald Trump health rumours intensified this week after footage from an Oval Office press briefing appeared to show the US president with his eyes closed for prolonged stretches while senior officials spoke, prompting NBC doctor Dr. Vin Gupta to say the apparent daytime drowsiness was 'not normal.'

The news came after fresh questions had already been swirling over Trump's health following his unexplained six-day absence from public view and renewed scrutiny linked to reports of his chronic venous insufficiency after a three-hour hospital visit.

Oval Office Drowsiness

The moment was quickly seized on online. During the Oval Office briefing earlier this week, Trump leaned back in his chair after handing over to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. In footage later circulated on X, he could be seen with his eyes shut for extended moments before turning towards Zeldin, who was speaking about coal miners and criticising the Biden administration's record at the EPA.

Viewers were merciless, with some mockingly dubbing the president 'Commander-in-Sleep.' Even so, whether Trump was actually asleep cannot be confirmed from the footage alone, and the White House has continued to reject the broader suggestion that the president is struggling through public appearances.

That uncertainty matters. Video can suggest plenty and prove less. Still, in politics, optics have a life of their own, and for a 79-year-old president already facing constant scrutiny over stamina, the sight of closed eyes during a televised briefing was always going to travel fast.

NBC Doctor Says Trump Drowsiness Is 'Not Normal'

What pushed the episode beyond social media mockery was Gupta's intervention. Speaking to the Meidas Touch network, the public health physician and pulmonologist said Trump was 'just sleeping very clearly, falling asleep for periods of time, even if the White House wants to deny it,' before adding, 'I'll say this as a pulmonologist, I worry. I mean, we need to understand why somebody's so sleepy for multiple periods of time throughout the daytime hours. That's not normal.'

Gupta did not stop there. He argued that such behaviour should not be dismissed as an ordinary feature of old age, saying, 'That is not a normal, "oh, they're just 80 years old, that's okay to fall asleep in the middle of the day." No, usually there's an explanation for that, and so what is the explanation?' It was a pointed remark, and one aimed less at diagnosing Trump from afar than at challenging the ease with which allies brush away visible concerns.

He also raised the possibility of an underlying sleep disorder. 'He is falling asleep in front of the camera repeatedly, and I worry about whether he has a sleep disorder? Does he have sleep apnea?' Gupta said, before going further on Trump's weight, adding, 'He's clearly overweight, if not obese, even though they like to fudge his vital signs and his overall biometrics.' That is still not a diagnosis, and Gupta did not present medical records to support it, but the choice of language was blunt and impossible to miss.

White House Pushback

The White House response was as emphatic as it was familiar. In a statement given to The Daily Beast, spokesperson David Ingle said, 'President Trump is the sharpest, most accessible, and energetic president in American history,' adding that, 'President Trump is working around the clock to make our country greater than ever before.'

Marco Rubio had already been making much the same argument. During a congressional hearing, the Secretary of State dismissed claims that Trump had fallen asleep during Cabinet meetings and other public events. 'That's false. I've never seen him fall asleep,' Rubio said. 'On the contrary, the guy doesn't sleep, which is a big problem because he calls me at two in the morning. He calls me at five in the morning. And, you know, I like to sleep a little bit.'

Those competing versions now sit side by side. On one hand, a widely shared clip and a pulmonologist openly saying he is worried. On the other, a White House insisting the president remains relentlessly energetic and a cabinet secretary arguing the real problem is that Trump barely sleeps at all.