White House Says Trump Was Blinking During Oval Office House Event

The White House said Donald Trump was blinking after he appeared to doze off during a Monday house event in the Oval Office on maternal health. The response came after photos and video spread showing him with his eyes closed behind his desk.

The rapid response team answered a photograph with a post that said, “He was blinking, you absolute moron.” The White House repeated the same explanation when asked about video that showed Trump appearing to nod off for 17 continuous seconds.

Oval Office maternal health event

Trump was hosting the maternal health event with Cabinet members, Alabama Sen. Katie Britt and Dr. Mehmet Oz, who leads the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Ted Lieu, a Democratic representative, shared the video and wrote, “Dear @RapidResponse47: That is a verrrrrrrrryyyyy long blink.”

Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, answered Lieu by saying, “Ted Lewd is a loser of the highest order and he needs to get serious professional help for his debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome.” The exchange turned the clip into a direct fight over what the camera showed in the Oval Office.

Trump and the blink explanation

Trump has addressed similar moments before. He told The that he shuts his eyes occasionally and said, “It’s very relaxing to me.” He also said, “Sometimes they’ll take a picture of me blinking, blinking, and they’ll catch me with the blink.”

The latest episode fit a pattern already seen in January, February, March and April, when similar occurrences happened in public. A Daily Beast analysis in April found that his late-night and early morning social media posting habits prevented him from getting a full night’s sleep on all but five nights.

That history made the Monday event more than a short-lived online clip. It tied a public appearance in the Oval Office to a repeated explanation from the White House and to Trump’s own claim that he was only blinking.

Kaitlan Collins on Air Force One

The same pattern has also come up in travel accounts. Last October, Kaitlan Collins said Trump does not sleep on trips and added, “He doesn’t sleep on these trips.” She also said, “And like, you’re going to Asia or something, and that’s kind of the only time you’re going to sleep, before you go on this trip, but Trump is just always up and talking, and he’ll like, have them go and wake staff up if they’re asleep because he wants to talk to them.”

For readers watching the White House response, the next point is not the clip itself but how the administration keeps handling it: directly, and with the same blinking explanation, whenever the images resurface.