Published On 3/6/2026
The interrogation session of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio before the Foreign Affairs Committee in the House of Representatives, today, Wednesday, turned into an intense political confrontation regarding the mental and physical state of President Donald Trump, after Democratic members accused the administration of covering up what they described as increasing indications of his inability to fully perform his duties, citing video clips that they said showed him asleep during government meetings and official events.
The controversy began when Senator Cory Booker, one of the committee members, showed a video clip from a government meeting held last December, and asked Rubio to focus on the president appearing in the recording, saying that Trump appeared to be asleep while the Secretary of State was speaking.
The representative asked the American minister directly whether he had participated in other meetings during which Trump fell asleep, but Rubio categorically denied the matter, stressing that he had not seen him asleep during any official meeting.
Rubio said that the real problem with Trump is not too much sleep, but quite the opposite, adding that the president communicates with him late at night and early in the morning, and that he works long hours almost continuously. He added that Trump was present in the Oval Office until the late hours after midnight a few days ago, considering that the accusations directed against him do not reflect the reality of what he sees daily.
However, the congressman continued to pressure the minister, as he showed a second video clip from another government meeting, accusing Rubio of lying to Congress after he insisted that the president was not asleep.
Booker said that the issue goes beyond a mere photo shoot because Trump, according to his description, discusses issues related to war, peace and national security while he seems unable to remain alert during official meetings, wondering what could happen during closed meetings if the president appears in this way in front of the cameras.
The controversy escalated when a member of the committee asked the Secretary of State whether he had attended any secret meetings during which the US President fell asleep, but Rubio came back to categorically deny this, stressing that Trump did not sleep in any of the meetings in which he participated, and that the clips shown do not prove what his critics are trying to show.
Memorial Day
Not only did the critical representatives present recordings from government meetings, but they also presented a television clip broadcast by a French channel that addressed the spread of a video of the American President during the “Memorial Day” ceremony, as a number of social media users considered that Trump was struggling to sleep while delivering official speeches on the occasion.
The television report indicated that the clip raised a wide wave of questions about the health condition of the American President, especially since the occasion was dedicated to honoring American soldiers who were killed during military service.
During the session, some members of Congress went further, considering that the issue was not related to fleeting moments of fatigue, but rather to what they described as indicators of a decline in the president’s health and cognitive abilities, citing contradictions that they said had appeared in some of his recent statements related to Iran and foreign policy issues.
Senator Cory Booker accused the US administration of not being frank with public opinion about the president’s health status, pointing out that Americans deserve to know the truth about their president’s ability to manage sensitive international files, especially in light of the successive crises that the United States is facing around the world.
But Rubio strongly rejected these accusations, describing the questions asked as not serious and not commensurate with the importance of the issues before the Foreign Affairs Committee.
The US Secretary of State confirmed that the President has exceptional energy, and that he works long hours that exceed what many younger officials do, noting that he accompanied him on several foreign trips and saw him working continuously while most of the delegation members were asleep.
Rubio said that Trump does not suffer from any cognitive problems that hinder him from performing his duties, considering that his political opponents are trying to build a media narrative that does not match the reality that those close to him see on a daily basis.
The session witnessed a sharp exchange of accusations between the two parties, as some representatives accused the minister of ignoring the video evidence, while Rubio responded that Trump’s opponents were interpreting the video clips according to their prior political convictions.
