Trump mocked for falling asleep in court as hush money trial continues and media stock plummets: Latest

Here’s another story likely to anger Sleepy Don: Trump Media & Technology shares plummeted another 18.3 per cent on Monday after the company filed to register millions of additional shares – marking the latest blow for the struggling stock as it’s majority stakeholder goes on trial.

When Wall Street opened at 9.30am ET, the stock dropped by a hefty 13 per cent and continued falling throughout the day, down by 17.5 per cent as of 2.45pm ET.

By the end of trading in New York, Trump Media‘s stock had fallen a total of 18.3 per cent, wiping hundreds of millions of dollars from its value.

The company was valued at around $8bn after its launch last month, but since has seen 60 per cent of its value erased.

MSNBC pundit Stephanie Ruhle responded with this useful insight into what the long game is for Trump here.

Ariana Baio has this report.

As we saw Chris Hayes point out earlier, this one was such an open goal for the president’s team and they made sure not to miss.

Here’s more from Kelly Rissman.

Let’s get back to “Snoozegate”.

Here’s Kelly Rissman with a round-up of the many, many memes Trump’s doze inspired.

Here’s the latest dispatch from our man in Manhattan Alex Woodward:

“Morning from the courthouse. The day two blues are real. I figured the crowd of reporters would drop off for the second day of the trial but there’s only a dozen or so people here.

“And it’s likely to be a sleepier day in court. More jury questionnaires, with Judge Juan Merchan hoping to make some kind of dent in the jury pool to move this thing forward.

“A question that started to bubble up yesterday was: ‘Does anyone like this dude?’ Half of the first batch of 100 jurors were immediately excused because they said they couldn’t be fair and impartial against him.

“And none of the dozen prospective jurors who read the 42-question survey said they ever attended a rally, followed him on social media, or received a campaign email from him. One person said she did but she immediately unsubscribed. Another excused juror was overheard by the pool saying she just couldn’t do it.”

Also on Fox last night, Trump’s attorney turned up to push the party-line, bemoaning her client being forced to miss out on the Supreme Court hearing on his suprious “immunity” defence next week and on Barron’s graduation because of the hush money trial.

She was swiftly schooled on both counts.

Laura Ingraham unsurprisingly went to bat for the Republican presidential contender on her show last night, attempting to normalise Trump paying off a porn star as the sort of ordinary gaffe any politician might make.

As we’ve just heard, more than half of the original 96-strong pool of Manhattanites considered as potential jurors were dismissed yesterday after saying they could not promise to remain fair and impartial when asked to consider the case against Trump, perhaps as polarising a politician as there has ever been anywhere.

Here’s Gustaf Kilander with a look at the questionnaire the prospective jurors are being asked to complete.

When he entered a Manhattan courthouse for the first day of his first criminal trial, Trump’s Truth Social account fired off more than a dozen posts slamming the case and attacking the witnesses expected to testify against him.

He staged an impromptu press conference in the hallway outside the doors of the courtroom, turning to a group of cameras to blast the proceedings as “an assault on America”. When he left for the day, he called it a “political witch hunt”.

Inside, beforeThe People of New York v Donald J Trump got under way, he sat by himself for a moment, clasped his fingers together, and stared at the empty bench before him. He would later slouch down in the red chair at the defence table beside his attorneys, with the shoulders of his navy suit jacket bunched around him as he appeared to doze off.

Even as the judge was reading instructions to the group of men and women who could decide whether he’s running for office as a convicted felon, Trump appeared to nod off, prompting a wave of “Sleepy Don” and “Don Snorleone” memes on social media.

Moments later, more than half of those prospective jurors were excused from the case after telling the judge that they could not deliver a fair and impartial verdict against the former president.

Here’s more from Alex Woodward on an inauspicious start for the Republican presidential contender, who could be in for a rough couple of weeks if Monday was anything to go by.

Day one of yesterday’s historic criminal trial in New York ended on a nicely absurd note with Trump’s campaign having to furiously deny that the former president fell asleep in court, blasting the claims as “100 per cent fake news”.

According to reporters present in the courtroom on Monday, Trump appeared at times to be struggling to keep his eyes open, with some going so far as to claim that he had actually fallen asleep.

The observation quickly prompted an onslaught of nicknames and jokes on social media.

The major news networks also had some fun with it.

But in a statement shared with The Independent following the conclusion of proceedings, the campaign said: “This is 100% Fake News coming from ‘journalists’ who weren’t even in the court room.”

Here’s more from Mike Bedigan.

Unsurprisingly, Your Favourite President has been moaning about the hush money on Truth Social again overnight, moving on from complaining about missing Barron’s high to graduation ceremony to whining that he will also be forced to miss the Supreme Court’s hearing on his dubious “presidential immunity” defence on Thursday 25 April.

Elsewhere, he’s been posting favourable Fox coverage from yesterday, attempting to fundraise off his legal “persecution” and, er, wishing Americans a “Happy Tax Day”.

Ho ho ho, what will you be asking Janet Yellen for this year little boy?