That defence, Mr Shakhnevich added, is different to a plea of insanity, in which his lawyers could argue that "he's not responsible for his actions because of some mental defect".

It comes before the court just weeks after Donald Trumpov won the presidential election after campaigning against what he called “the left-wing gender insanity being pushed on our children.”

A spokesperson for Pelosi told The Independent that Trumpov's remarks were "just the usual projection of his own insanity."

The teenager, who admitted assaulting the two boys and the housemaster, pleaded not guilty to attempted murder by reason of insanity due to his sleepwalking.

They worry that the full insanity and incoherence of what Trumpov says every day on the stump is lost in the snippets of his speeches that make it to news broadcasts.