Trump niece Mary hilariously mocks former president for 'repeatedly falling asleep' during hush money trial and claims 'narcolepsy runs in the family'

Former President Donald Trump's niece Mary became the latest liberal to mock her uncle's appearance at trial last week where he was accused by a reporter of falling asleep.

The former president is reported to have nodded off several times during jury selection in his hush money criminal trial in NYC on Monday.

His team vehemently denies the claims, saying his eyes may have been closed because 'he reads a lot', but an expert has pointed to his diet as a possible reason.

Mary Trump, the president's liberal niece who is often viciously critical of her uncle, joined that media on a radio show Saturday. 

After joking with SiriusXM host Dean Obeidallah that she was 'a little sleepy' ahead of her appearance on his program, she then joked she's 'a little worried that narcolepsy runs in the family.'  

When Obeidallah further probed at the former president's seeming lethargy, his niece suggested it could be the trial getting to him.  

'I think we can’t underestimate the extent of the depth of the narcissistic injury he’s suffering,' she said.

'One, he’s in a situation in which he has no control and and worse, he is under the control of somebody else. There is somebody else in that room with all of the authority, and he has none.'

She added that she couldn't help laughing at her uncle between the rumors of him sleeping and the reveal of the potential jurors' posts about him on social media because he 'is so mean to other people.'

Mary Trump added that the trial is something he has 'probably been dreading for the last five and a half decades.'

'So part of him was probably always terrified that it was going to come, but also, he probably never believed it would because he always gets away with everything. And here we are. And trust me, he understands how serious this is.'

Trump - who often refers to President Biden as ‘Sleepy Joe’ - appeared fatigued in court and was seen by several reporters to have dozed off in his chair at the start of his criminal trial, where he faces 34 felony counts relating to falsifying business records to cover up a dalliance with a porn star. 

After the lunch break, he again closed his eyes several times and appeared to catch himself falling asleep, stiffening his posture.

'Trump appears to be sleeping,' New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman tweeted from the room and repeated on CNN.

'His head keeps dropping down and his mouth goes slack.'

The claim sparked a wave of hashtags on social media and was leapt on by the Biden/Harris campaign - but furiously denied by Team Trump.

'This is 100% Fake News coming from 'journalists' who weren't even in the court room,' they said in a statement. 

Biden's campaign team issued a release purportedly about poll ratings entitled 'Wake Up Donald: After Stormy Abortion Ban Coverage, Trump Poll Memo Attempts to Hush Panic'.

There was even less restraint on social media where hashtags including 'DonSnoreleone', 'The Nodfather', and 'Sleepy Don' quickly went viral.

The former president appeared slightly pink-eyed in photos taken in court, but most reporters claimed that Trump remained focused throughout.

'Donald Trump sat stony faced, eyes narrowed and lips pursed as his lawyers did battle with prosecutors over how many salacious (and untrue) National Enquirer headlines could be shown to jurors and whether they could hear him say 'grab them by their p*****s' or whether they could only read transcripts of the famous Access Hollywood tape,' DailyMail.com's Rob Crilly reported.

'Trump dominated the space among his legal team.

'He leaned back in his chair or shifted forward to look at a video screen, like a silverback gorilla reminding the courtroom of who was boss.

'When a decision went against him—like when Judge Juan Merchan ruled he would not be recusing himself—he briefly showed his frustration, giving a furious little nod.

'But at other times he did his impression of a legal scholar: Brow furrowed, head tilted as if he were considering the judge's ruling on admitting Molineux evidence.'

Dr Chris Winter, a neurologist from Virginia, told DailyMail.com Trump may have been struggling due to a lack of caffeine - because he didn't have access to his beloved Diet Cokes.

Trump is said to drink up to 12 cans of the stuff every day - which racks up about as much caffeine as four 12-ounce cups of coffee.

The case centers on a $130,000 payment that Trump's lawyer and personal fixer, Michael Cohen, made shortly before the 2016 election to porn actor Stormy Daniels to prevent her claims of a sexual encounter with Trump from becoming public.

Prosecutors say Trump obscured the true nature of the payments in internal records when his company reimbursed Cohen, who pleaded guilty to federal charges in 2018 and is expected to be a star witness for the prosecution.

Trump has denied having a sexual encounter with Daniels, and his lawyers argue the payments to Cohen were legitimate legal expenses.

Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records and has pleaded not guilty.

He could face up to four years in prison if convicted, though it's not clear that the judge would opt to put him behind bars.