Donald Trump giving his border wall speech in the Oval Office
A new report released Sunday reveals that since the day after the 2018 midterm elections in November, President Donald Trump has spent roughly 60% of his scheduled time in unstructured “executive time.”
Axios issued the report, citing 51 private schedules given by an unknown White House official. The report shows Trump spent 297 hours on “executive time” — in other words, time during each day devoted to watching television, holding meetings and making phone calls.
“He’s always calling people, talking to people,” a top White House source told Axios. “He’s always up to something; it’s just not what you would consider typical structure.”
SLIDESHOW: DONALD TRUMP’S 30 CRAZIEST TWEETS
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Some of Trump’s schedules reveal slightly different events during the day than others, however. One such schedule, for example, listed an interview the president had with The Daily Caller last week, while the other more broadly marked that down as “media engagement” for the same time slot.
In January 2018, CNN reported that Trump would start most days at 5:30 a.m. EST and would spend most mornings sitting in the White House residence’s Yellow Oval Room skimming headlines from major newspapers like The Washington Post, The New York Times while Fox & Friends played on a TV in the background.
Of course, Trump is known for tweeting in both complaining and bragging tones about several issues, including special counsel Robert Mueller‘s Russia probe, the economy, congressional Democrats’ opposition to his stance on border security and other topics. This likely comprises a significant portion of Trump’s day, and his advisers clearly haven’t reigned in his daily use of electronic devices.
Madeleine Westerhout, director of Oval Office operations, slammed the leak of Trump’s schedules in a tweet on Sunday, calling the move a “breach of trust.”
“What a disgraceful breach of trust to leak schedules. What these don’t show are the hundreds of calls and meetings @realDonaldTrump takes everyday,” she wrote. “This POTUS is working harder for the American people than anyone in recent history.”
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