Trump reportedly had about 300 hours of unstructured 'Executive Time' since the midterms, 77 hours of meetings

(Image credit: Al Drago-Pool/Getty Images)

published 4 February 2019

President Trump's public schedule is usually pretty empty. According to 51 internal White House schedules leaked to Axios, his private calendar is pretty empty, too. "The schedules, which cover nearly every working day since the midterms, show that Trump has spent around 60 percent of his scheduled time over the past 3 months in unstructured 'Executive Time,'" Axios reports. You can read the schedules for yourself, but here's a visualization — Executive Time is orange.

Overall, since Nov. 7, Trump has spent about 297 hours in Executive Time and 77 hours in scheduled meetings, plus 39 hours having lunch and 51 hours traveling, according to the private calendars Axios obtained. Trump's Executive Time typically lasts until 11 a.m.; he is listed as being in the oval Office from 8-11 a.m., but he's never there during that period, six people with direct knowledge tell Axios. Instead, he's upstairs in the residence, watching TV, reading newspapers, and calling people. The private schedules aren't complete, either, though, Axios says: Trump has impromptu meetings, and there's a third daily schedule, "kept within a very small, tight circle," with an extra meeting or two not listed on the private calendar.

"The president sometimes has meetings during Executive Time that he doesn't want most West Wing staff to know about for fear of leaks," Axios reports. "And his mornings sometimes include calls with heads of state, political meetings, and meetings with counsel in the residence." White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told Axios that "Trump has a different leadership style than his predecessors and the results speak for themselves." And in case they don't, Sanders suggested that Trump's unscheduled hours "allows for a more creative environment that has helped make him the most productive president in modern history." Read more at Axios.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.