President Donald Trump struggled to stay awake during the inaugural meeting of his Board of Peace initiative on Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026, with cameras repeatedly capturing the 79-year-old commander-in-chief with his eyes closed as world leaders addressed the gathering in Washington, D.C.
The president spoke to the audience for more than 45 minutes before taking his seat on stage at the Donald J. Trump U.S. Institute of Peace, where he spent the next several hours fighting drowsiness during the three-hour event. Trump’s eyelids grew noticeably heavy as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair spoke, less than an hour after the president completed his own remarks.
At one point, Trump jolted back into a straighter position when applause rang out, snapping his eyes open. He appeared slumped slightly to the side with his eyes closed as the Bahraini delegation spoke, and jolted upright again when Kuwait’s representative took the podium. Cameras caught Trump’s eyelids drooping during Major General Jasper Jeffers III’s presentation on the Gaza stabilization force as well.
The drowsy display marks the latest in a series of public gatherings where the oldest president ever elected has appeared to nod off in front of cameras. Trump’s eyes were completely shut at multiple points during a whole-milk legislation signing ceremony last month. He struggled to stay awake during a marijuana rescheduling executive order signing, looked exhausted at his Cabinet meeting in December, and fell asleep at a Rwanda-Democratic Republic of the Congo peace agreement signing.
The president has defended his moments of apparent sleep during meetings. At his most recent Cabinet gathering late last month, on Jan. 29, Trump insisted he did not sleep through his December Cabinet meeting but argued he only closed his eyes because it got “pretty boring.” He also claimed cameras had simply captured him blinking, though video footage contradicted that explanation.
In a separate interview with New York magazine, Trump elaborated on his Cabinet meeting behavior, saying the sessions were “boring as hell” and admitting he “can’t wait to get out.”
White House staff secretary Will Scharf offered a different explanation for Trump’s closed eyes. “It’s not dozing. Sometimes if he’s thinking about something — and I made that mistake at first too — he adopts a pose,” Scharf told reporters. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt described Trump as “actively listening” during such moments.
The drowsy display came despite Trump declaring his Board of Peace the “most prestigious board ever put together” at the beginning of the event. At the end of the three-hour gathering, Trump remained seated as other world leaders gathered around him while he signed fundraising pledges. The president handed off documents to those next to him to hold up and distributed pens as if participating in a bill-signing ceremony at the White House.
Trump’s habit of closing his eyes during meetings, combined with his well-documented late-night social media posting on Truth Social, has intensified scrutiny of the 79-year-old’s fitness for office.
Trump has attributed various physical symptoms to health conditions, including bruising on his hands to heavy aspirin intake to thin his blood and swollen ankles to chronic venous insufficiency. His physician, Navy Capt. Sean Barbabella, has maintained that the president remains in “excellent health.”
The president opened the Jan. 29 Cabinet meeting by speaking for nearly 25 minutes straight before announcing that not everyone would be allowed to speak to save time. “We’re not going to go through the whole table,” Trump said.
Trump has insisted he feels the same as he did 40 years ago, though video evidence continues to show him struggling to maintain alertness during extended public events and meetings with world leaders and top administration officials.
