REUTERS/Carlos Barria
President Donald Trump’s workdays frequently don’t start until 11 a.m., part of an apparent shrinking of his schedule that is increasingly heavy on so-called executive time, Axios reported Sunday evening. The schedule, more detailed than the public schedule released by the White House, showed that on Tuesday Trump had his first meeting at 11 a.m., with White House Chief of Staff John Kelly. What followed was an hour of “executive time”—understood to be time for television, Twitter, and phone calls with friends—followed by an hour-long lunch, then another hour and 15 minutes of “executive time.” Trump then had a 45-minute meeting with National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster, 15 minutes of “executive time,” and one last meeting before ending his day at 4:15 p.m. Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders disputed that the cumulative two-and-a-half hours of “executive time” before clocking out at 4:15 p.m. amounted to executive sloth. “The time in the morning is a mix of residence time and Oval Office time but he always has calls with staff, Hill members, Cabinet members and foreign leaders during this time,” Sanders said. “The president is one of the hardest workers I’ve ever seen and puts in long hours and long days nearly every day of the week all year long.”