Skip to the story
All stories

Trump appears sleepy at 9/11 Pentagon ceremony

Viewers and a Reuters photograph noted the former president's eyes were closed during the event.

AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made

Published Updated
Viewers watching a livestream of President Donald Trump at the Pentagon 9/11 remembrance ceremony commented that he appeared “tired,” with some accusing the commander-in-chief of falling asleep (AFP/Getty)

What this story says

  • Former President Donald Trump attended the 25th anniversary 9/11 ceremony at the Pentagon.
  • Viewers and a Reuters photograph showed Trump with his eyes closed and head nodding.
  • The White House stated Trump was "solemnly listening" and remembering victims.
  • Vice President JD Vance attended the New York City ground zero ceremony.

Who covered it

Left 21%(23)Centre 51%(58)Right 28%(31)

Percentages are shares of the 112 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 21 of the 133 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .

Trust

86/100

Craft

79/100

Hype

55/100

133 sources · methodology

Missing from the right

Only 31 of the 112 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated right.

A reader who follows the right would not have seen this. We report the absence rather than explain it: outlets choose what to cover for many reasons, and we have no evidence about which one applies here.

Former President Donald Trump attended the 25th anniversary 9/11 ceremony at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. During the event, viewers and online commenters reported that Trump appeared sleepy, with his eyes closed and head nodding. A Reuters photograph captured Trump with his eyes shut and chin lowered toward his chest. The White House issued a statement saying the president was "solemnly listening" and remembering the victims. Vice President JD Vance was in New York City at ground zero for a separate commemoration.

Disagreement on Trump's state during the ceremony

The White House stated that Donald Trump was "solemnly listening" and remembering the victims. White House spokesman Davis Ingle told The Independent that anyone claiming the president was asleep was lying. However, The Independent also reported that dozens of people online commented that Trump looked "sleepy" and accused him of falling asleep. LADbible reported similar comments from viewers, with one person writing, "Trump is literally falling asleep at the wheel at the Pentagon Ceremony."

What the coverage left out

None of the reports printed below mention Vice President JD Vance's activities at the New York City ground zero ceremony. The right-rated outlets did not run this story at all.

Coverage settled. We checked this 18 times and stopped on 17 Sept 2026, 06:00. The figures above are what it finished at.

How other outlets pictured it

Which photograph to run is each newsroom’s own choice. The leaning beside a name is that outlet’s published rating, not a claim that the pictures divide along it. Every picture is shown from the outlet’s own server and links to the article it ran in.

Trump
Mirror USLeft

How each side covered it

Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.

Left

23 rated outlets

  • The left-leaning outlets focused on Donald Trump appearing to fall asleep during the 9/11 Pentagon ceremony. The Independent and Mirror US published full reports, stating viewers accused him of being tired and sleepy. Raw Story and Alternet digests also highlighted this.
  • These reports noted Trump's eyes were closed and his head slumped. The Independent quoted the White House stating he was "solemnly listening." Mirror US mentioned his head nodding and mouth drooping, and that he previously said he sleeps little.
  • Several outlets mentioned past instances of Trump appearing tired at public events. The Independent noted scrutiny over his health and his past attacks on Joe Biden as "Sleepy Joe." Alternet digests suggested signs of a "neurological issue."

Centre

58 rated outlets

  • The centre-rated LADbible report highlighted that Donald Trump "appears to fall asleep" during the 9/11 memorial. It noted viewers were "outraged at the president" and that he had been criticised for appearing to nod off. The report included social media comments from viewers stating Trump was "asleep" or "falling asleep at the wheel." It also mentioned that this was not the first time Trump had been accused of sleeping during events.

Right

31 rated outlets

  • The right‑rated digests led on the remarks of widow Terry Strada at the 25th‑anniversary ceremony. They reported that she urged President Trump and Vice President Vance to hold Saudi Arabia accountable, cited the claim that fifteen of the nineteen hijackers were Saudi nationals, and repeated her demand for the administration to release hidden information.
  • None of the digests mention the president’s physical condition, the specific language of his anti‑terrorism pledge, or any cost figures related to the ceremony. They also omit reference to any broader policy discussion beyond the call for Saudi accountability, leaving those aspects unreported by the right‑rated sample.

Questions about this coverage

How did the left and right cover Trump appears sleepy at 9/11 Pentagon ceremony?
Of the 112 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 21% are rated left, 51% are rated centre, 28% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 133. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
Is Trump appears sleepy at 9/11 Pentagon ceremony left or right?
Neither side dominates it. Of the 112 rated outlets on this story, 21% are rated left, 51% are rated centre, 28% are rated right, and no side holds the 70% this site would want before calling a field one-sided. A story is not left or right in any case; the outlets that carried it are what carry ratings.
Is the coverage of Trump appears sleepy at 9/11 Pentagon ceremony biased?
Trump appears sleepy at 9/11 Pentagon ceremony is one event reported by 133 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
Which side is not reporting Trump appears sleepy at 9/11 Pentagon ceremony?
When we first saw this story, outlets rated right had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
Which outlets covered Trump appears sleepy at 9/11 Pentagon ceremony?
133 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
What did Donald Trump do at the 9/11 ceremony?
Donald Trump attended the 25th anniversary 9/11 ceremony at the Pentagon. Viewers and a Reuters photograph indicated he appeared sleepy, with his eyes closed and head nodding during the event. The White House stated he was "solemnly listening" and remembering the victims.
What did the White House say about Trump appearing sleepy?
The White House issued a statement saying that Donald Trump was "solemnly listening" and remembering the victims. A White House spokesman told The Independent that anyone claiming the president was asleep was lying.
Where was Vice President JD Vance during the ceremony?
While Donald Trump attended the 25th anniversary 9/11 ceremony at the Pentagon, Vice President JD Vance was in New York City at ground zero for a separate commemoration.

Read it at the source

138 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.

Left

27
Show 19 more

Centre

59
Show 51 more

Right

31
Show 23 more

Not rated

21
Show 13 more

How did this read?

About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.

Trump at Pentagon 9/11 ceremony | MediaBias News