Rep. Ted Lieu, a Democrat from California and a strong critic of President Trump, showed a video of Trump appearing to sleep during a Cabinet meeting at a House hearing on Wednesday. He brought this video to the hearing with Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Lieu, who is part of the progressive wing of his party, had an argument with Rubio over the video and at one point said Rubio was lying to Congress.
Lieu started his questioning by saying, “Thank you, Secretary Rubio, for coming today.
You have been in meetings with President Trump. I’m going to show you a video from last December of one of these meetings. It’s a Cabinet meeting. I’m going to ask you to focus on President Trump, and you will see that he is sleeping while you are talking.”
Rubio could be heard saying, “Oh my God.”
Lieu then told him to show the video, and Rubio laughed out loud.
The video showed Rubio speaking next to a slumped-over Trump, who was saying, “Products they make, and what American farmers grow and produce, has a fair shot to be sold around the world.
On issue after issue, that’s been the case. You talk about foreign aid reforms. This is not our money. This is taxpayer money.”
Lieu asked Rubio, “Have you been at more than one meeting where President Trump has fallen asleep?”
Rubio replied, “I’ve never seen him fall asleep.
On the contrary, the guy doesn’t sleep, which is a big problem, because he calls me at two in the morning, he calls at five in the morning, and you know, I like to sleep a little bit — maybe not 12 hours, but at least six. So he works. The other day he was at the Oval Office until 12:30 a.m. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Lieu then said, “I’m going to show you in a moment a video that shows you just lied to Congress,” as Rubio joked, “Oh, okay.”
Lieu continued, “This is a video of a Cabinet meeting from last month where Donald Trump is sleeping while you are talking.
Please show this video,” and then played another clip.
“You are literally talking about issues of war and peace, and Donald Trump is sleeping right next to you.
If Donald Trump cannot stay awake at these important meetings where the cameras are rolling, imagine what he’s like when the cameras are not there. So I’m going to ask you: have you been at classified meetings where Donald Trump has fallen asleep?” Lieu pressed, becoming more animated.
Rubio responded, “I’ve never been in any meeting where he was falling asleep.
And the things you’re showing me now — he was not falling asleep — and I think it’s outrageous that I’m before the Foreign Affairs Committee of the United States House of Representatives answering questions about sleep.”
Lieu said, “You’re lying to Congress, Secretary Rubio.
So I’m going to show you another video in a moment. The president’s inability to stay awake on the job has caused other countries to perceive him differently. They mock him. They see he is weak and he is feeble. This is a video of a French news channel talking about Donald Trump falling asleep at a Memorial Day ceremony. Please show this video,” and played a clip from French news.
“Donald Trump’s inability to stay awake on the job shows that there’s something very wrong with his health or cognitive abilities.
And in fact, on a number of occasions, Donald Trump will contradict himself in literally the same meeting or interview. In this video I’m about to show, it shows that Donald Trump says the Iranian military is both destroyed and not destroyed at the same time, something that Dina Titus alluded to. Please show this video,” Lieu said, and then played a clip of Trump.
Leadership that we’ve actually left their military alone — people would be surprised to hear that — because mistakes have been made in wars where you wipe out everybody and then you have a country that, you know, for 40 years can never rebuild.
You look at what happened with Iraq. We did position them — they have no military, all they have is good talk and they have a fake press.
Lieu concluded his time by saying, “So, Secretary Rubio, instead of holding North Korean-style cabinet meetings where everyone goes around the room kissing Donald Trump’s ass, I’m going to ask you to come clean with the American people and the White House as well.
There’s something wrong with Donald Trump’s health or cognitive abilities. There’s a reason he keeps going to the hospital and they keep giving him cognitive tests. We have not seen the president in eight days. The American people deserve the truth. I yield back.”
About the Author
