Snopes.com24%
Do videos show Trump falling asleep during Lindsey Graham's funeral? We examined footage 46%
By Taija PerryCook21%
7/30/2026, 2:33:04 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 22 faulty reasoning types, including Negativity Bias, Ambiguity (Equivocation), and Anchoring Bias, with Confirmation Bias as the most egregious example at 25.5% saturation with 93 hits. Analysis detected 748 faulty-reasoning hits from 364 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 42.7% and a BS Rank of 46% (13,854 of 25,253 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 54.90% of the article peer group.
During Sen.
Lindsey Graham's funeral at the Washington National Cathedral on July 28, 2026, videos circulated online purportedly showing U.S.
President Donald Trump falling asleep during the service.
Graham died on July 11 after reportedly suffering from an aortic tear.
Trump has frequently faced scrutiny for publicly dozing off — especially considering he nicknamed former President Joe Biden, "Sleepy Joe" — including at a White House Cabinet meeting in December 2025 and during an announcement in the Oval Office in June 2026.
The claim that the president nodded off during Graham's funeral spread across multiple platforms, with videos of different lengths showing the same moment.
One X post (archived), that featured footage of the moment in question, read, "Trump appears to be completely passed out asleep at Lindsey Graham's funeral."
Snopes readers also wrote in, looking to verify the video clips.
In the clip, Trump was slumped to his side for approximately four seconds before abruptly lifting his head up, indicating he had nodded off.
Combing through livestreamed footage of the funeral revealed the clips are authentic, though it's not possible to determine whether he actually fell asleep or "completely passed out asleep," as claimed, without confirmation from the president or his team.
As far as Snopes could observe, at no point did Trump close his eyes for more than a few seconds, consecutively.
When asked if the footage showed Trump sleeping, White House spokesman Davis Ingle said: "President Trump was reflecting on the loss of his dear friend Lindsey Graham, for whom he had just delivered a beautiful eulogy.
Anyone suggesting otherwise is a depraved moron."
The moment in question occurred at around minute 1:22:07 of the Washington National Cathedral's official livestream, while Fox News host Sean Hannity was speaking.
Moments where he appeared to be falling asleep contrasted with moments where he was alert, such as just before he approached the stage to give his eulogy.
For further reading, we've previously examined footage purportedly showing Trump falling asleep during a UFC fight at the White House and another claim that he fell asleep during the 2026 Memorial Day ceremony.
Analysis
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