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


A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Thank you for signing up to TheWeek. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
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.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
Sign up to our 10 Things You Need to Know Today newsletter
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Peter Weber is a senior editor at TheWeek.com, and has handled the editorial night shift since the website launched in 2008. A graduate of Northwestern University, Peter has worked at Facts on File and The New York Times Magazine. He speaks Spanish and Italian and plays bass and rhythm cello in an Austin rock band. Follow him on Twitter.
-
Wrecking ball
Cartoons
By The Week Staff Published
-
Lost and found
Cartoons
By The Week Staff Published
-
10 things you need to know today: September 24, 2023
Daily Briefing Nagorno-Karabakh's Armenian population to leave region amid fears of persecution, Atlantic coast remains under flood warnings from Ophelia, and more
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Biden creates White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention
Speed Read The office will be led by Vice President Kamala Harris
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Rishi Sunak lambasts China after allegations of spy in UK Parliament
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Judge denies Mark Meadows' request to move Georgia case to federal court
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson dies at 75
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Clarence Thomas officially discloses trips from billionaire GOP donor
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Judge schedules Trump federal election plot trial for crowded March 2024
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Trump surrenders in Georgia election subversion case
Speed Read
By Catherine Garcia Published
-
Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, Putin ally-turned-rival, presumed dead in plane crash
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published