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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
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 86%(6)Centre 14%(1)Right 0%(0)

Percentages are shares of the 7 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 3 of the 10 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

10 sources · methodology

Thin on the right so far

None of the 7 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated right.

This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.

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.

Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 3 times, most recently on 11 Sept 2026, 17:30, and will add the sides that appear.

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

6 rated outlets

  • Six left-rated reports focused on accusations that Donald Trump appeared to be asleep during the 9/11 Pentagon ceremony. The Independent, in its full report, stated that viewers commented Trump looked "sleepy" and accused him of falling asleep, with some saying his eyes were closed for extended periods. The White House's statement that Trump was "solemnly listening" was presented alongside these observations. Raw Story and Alternet highlighted a Reuters photograph showing Trump with his eyes shut and chin lowered. Mirror US reported Trump "struggles to stay awake" with his head nodding. The New Republic stated directly that Trump "falls asleep on stage." The Independent digests also noted online comments about Trump appearing "sleepy" and slumped in his seat.

Centre

1 rated outlet

  • 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

0 rated outlets

No outlet rated right has run this story so far. We are still checking, and will say plainly if that does not change.

Questions about this coverage

How did the left and right cover Trump appears sleepy at 9/11 Pentagon ceremony?
Of the 7 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 86% are rated left, 14% are rated centre, 0% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 10. 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?
Too few of the outlets on this story carry a published leaning rating to say. 7 of them do, and this site does not characterise a field under 12: at that size one newsroom filing moves the share by ten points. The percentages above are the count as it stands.
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 10 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?
10 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

10 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

6

Centre

1

Right

0

No outlet in this group ran the story.

Not rated

3

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