On September 11, 2026, the 25th anniversary of the attacks, Trump and first lady Melania Trump attended the memorial ceremony at the Pentagon. The ceremony opened with the reading of the names of the 184 people killed there, according to the Associated Press. The attacks were carried out by al-Qaida hijackers and killed nearly 3,000 people.
Video from the ceremony circulated widely. The Daily Beast described Trump's eyes closing for extended periods and his head rocking as the names were read and a bell was rung, and again while a choir performed. The New Republic described him slumped in his chair with his eyes closed and his head hanging down at multiple points, while others onstage, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, were clearly awake.
Precision is warranted. Closed eyes during a memorial reading are not by themselves proof of sleep. The outlets that published the video describe him as dozing, based on extended periods with his eyes shut and his head moving; the video can establish that he appeared to, which is how this entry records it.
The most charitable context is his schedule. He had spoken on back-to-back nights at the Republican midterm convention in Dallas, the first speech running about 106 minutes and ending around 11 p.m. Eastern, posted to Truth Social at 6:54 a.m. the next morning, spoke again until after 11 p.m., according to The Daily Beast, then flew back to Washington, and arrived at the Pentagon before 9 a.m.
When he spoke, he tied the day to the current war. “We will never, ever forget,” he said. “That's why we fight today. We don't have a choice. There can only be victory. We fight hard. We fight to win.” He added that the United States would “ensure the world's No. 1 sponsor of terror, the Islamic Republic of Iran, will never have a nuclear weapon.”
The tracker has recorded similar on-camera moments before (see Trump Appears to Doze at His May 27 Cabinet Meeting, the Day After His Walter Reed Checkup and Trump Pointed Between His Eyes to Show Children in the Oval Office Where Iranian Protesters Were Shot). Three days earlier, at a White House event honoring 9/11 first responders, he told a disputed story about being carried away by firefighters near Ground Zero (see Trump Says Two Firemen Lifted Him Up and Ran With Him at Ground Zero, and He Was Miles Away That Day).