Democrat Representative Ted Lieu confronted Secretary of State Marco Rubio at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Wednesday, playing back-to-back video clips of Donald Trump appearing slumped with his eyes closed during Cabinet meetings and pressing him repeatedly on whether the president had fallen asleep at classified briefings.
Rubio denied everything, rambled about 2am phone calls, called the questions “outrageous,” “ridiculous and absurd” and “a joke,” and was shown a French news programme clip claiming other nations now mock Trump as “weak” and “feeble.” Lieu’s parting shot: “Just keep lying, Secretary Rubio. Just keep lying.”
The videos – and what Rubio said about them
Lieu opened by playing footage from a December 2025 Cabinet meeting showing Trump appearing slumped over with his eyes visibly closed while Rubio himself was speaking at the same table. He then asked Rubio directly, point-blank, whether he had ever attended meetings where the president had fallen asleep.
Rubio’s response was immediate, rambling and notable for not addressing the footage. “I’ve never seen him fall asleep. On the contrary, the guy doesn’t sleep, which is a big problem, ’cause he calls me at 2 in the morning, he calls me at 5 in the morning. I like to sleep a little bit, maybe not 12 hours, at least six. The other day he was at the Oval Office at 12:30 a.m.”
Lieu cut him off and played a second clip – from the previous month – showing Trump in a similarly drowsy-looking state at another Cabinet session. He accused Rubio of lying.
“You are literally talking about issues of war and peace, and Donald Trump is sleeping right next to you,” Lieu said as Rubio repeatedly attempted to interrupt. “If Donald Trump can’t stay awake at these important meetings where the cameras are rolling, imagine what it is like when the cameras aren’t there. So I’m going to ask you: have you been at classified meetings where Donald Trump has fallen asleep or had trouble staying awake?”
Rubio shot back that the questions were “outrageous” for a committee hearing of this nature and insisted the footage did not show what Lieu said it showed. “This is a joke!” he said at one point.
The French news clip – and what other nations are saying
Lieu then introduced a clip from a French news programme in which Trump’s apparent inability to remain alert during official meetings was discussed and the president was characterised as appearing “weak” and “feeble” to international observers. He used this to argue that Trump’s condition – whatever its nature – had consequences beyond domestic politics.
A US president whose closest allies are watching footage of him appearing to nod off during Cabinet meetings where war, diplomacy and nuclear policy are being discussed is a president whose credibility and capacity are being assessed on that basis by foreign governments and their intelligence services.
As we reported in our Trump and Netanyahu piece, the president this week gave three directly contradictory statements about the Iran war within hours of each other. The BBC’s North American correspondent described the messaging as “increasingly confusing and prone to change at a moment’s notice.” Whether that represents a communications operation under strain or a president whose cognitive consistency cannot be relied upon is precisely the question Lieu was asking.
The final exchange
Lieu saved his most direct demand for last. “Secretary Rubio, instead of holding North Korean-style Cabinet meetings where everybody goes around the room kissing Trump’s ass, I’m going to ask you to come clean with the American people. 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.”
Rubio continued to call the questions “ridiculous and absurd” and denied the characterisation of the Cabinet meetings. Lieu closed the exchange: “Just keep lying, Secretary Rubio. Just keep lying.”
The hospital visits – and what Dr. Oz said
The questions at the Foreign Affairs Committee hearing arrived alongside separate attention on Trump’s repeated hospital visits since taking office. Trump has undergone four medical checkups in that period.
Dr. Mehmet Oz – Trump’s head of Medicare and Medicaid Services, a television personality whose appointment drew considerable scepticism – was pressed about this at a Tuesday press briefing. Asked why someone described as being in “perfect health” would require four checkups in a limited period, Oz described them as “routine.”
Pressed further on why routine visits were occurring at that frequency for a supposedly healthy man, Oz offered: “I think he likes the results.”
The question of what a man described as in “perfect health” learns from four checkups that he enjoys enough to repeat was not answered further.
The specific problem with Rubio’s defence
Rubio’s central argument – that Trump cannot possibly be falling asleep in the daytime because he calls him at 2am and 5am – contains a logical gap large enough to drive a Cabinet table through. Insomnia and daytime drowsiness are not mutually exclusive. They are, in fact, frequently associated with each other. The argument that Trump is awake at 2am therefore proves he is alert at afternoon Cabinet meetings is not a medical position. It is a deflection.
What Rubio’s defence actually confirmed, in its specific framing, is that the President of the United States regularly contacts his Secretary of State at 2am and 5am, apparently does not maintain conventional sleep patterns, and was in the Oval Office at 12:30am as a notable recent event. As we reported in our midnight Truth Social pity party piece, Trump has a documented pattern of late-night social media posting, including extended Truth Social declarations at midnight. Whether this is evidence of vitality or of disrupted sleep is, as Lieu suggested, a question the American public is entitled to have answered with something more than “he likes the results.”
