WASHINGTON — Kamala Harris’ campaign posted a video that appeared to show Donald Trump nodding off at a campaign event Friday, pushing a new line of attack that the former president is too “exhausted” to run for office.
“An exhausted Trump appears to be falling asleep during his campaign event,” the Harris campaign posted to its X account with a clip of Trump at a campaign roundtable event in Michigan on Friday.
In the video, Trump appeared to be closing his eyes and bobbed his head. The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment about whether he fell asleep during the business roundtable.
It’s part of a series of criticisms the Harris campaign made on Friday, attempting to paint Trump as “exhausted” on the heels of a Politico report, which said that a Trump adviser asserted the former president was declining certain interviews because he was “exhausted.” NBC News has not independently verified the report.
“Being president of the United States is probably one of the hardest jobs in the world,” Harris said to reporters in Grand Rapids, Michigan on Friday, after referencing the Politico report. “And so, we really do need to ask if he’s exhausted being on the campaign trail, is he fit to do the job?”
Harris repeated similar lines hitting on Trump as exhausted during two campaign rallies on Friday. The Harris campaign echoed the sentiments again in multiple social media posts and press releases.
“If you are exhausted on the campaign trail, it raises real questions about whether you are fit for the toughest job in the world. Come on,” she said during her Grand Rapids rally.
After the publication of the Politico story, the Trump campaign X account criticized the reporter and pointed to the overall frequency of the former president’s media interviews compared with Harris, who has been running for president for a fraction of the time as Trump.
When reporters asked Trump on Friday about Harris calling him exhausted and pointing to him canceling events, Trump said he has not made cancellations, despite multiple reports about nixed interviews. He denied being tired, saying he was “really exhilarated.”
“I’ve gone 48 days now without a rest, and I’ve got that loser who doesn’t have the energy of a rabbit. Let me tell you something. She should have been, last night, with the Catholics,” Trump responded, referring to a Catholic charity dinner yesterday that Harris did not attend. Instead, she held multiple rallies on Thursday in Wisconsin.
Trump repeatedly appeared to fall asleep during his New York hush money trial earlier this year while seated at the defense table during witness testimony. He denied the claim, saying in a post to Truth Social that instead that he would “simply close my beautiful blue eyes, sometimes, listen intensely, and take it ALL in!!!”
Jake Traylor and Isabelle Schmeler contributed.
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