Trump Spends Most of His Workday in "Executive Time"

Mornings in the Trump White House follow a certain routine. The first three or so hours of the workday, usually from 8 a.m. until 11 a.m., the U.S. president spends in “Executive Time”, according to leaked White House schedules published by news website Axios. Even though the official schedule places Trump in the Oval Office for those time slots, he is not usually there, according to Axios’ sources, instead spending mornings at his residence watching TV, reading the papers and phoning friends, officials and advisors. Smaller allotments of “Executive Time” are usually scheduled in the afternoons.

While Trump is certainly not alone in his love for a home office environment, his work schedules have been criticized for different reasons. The fact that the president does not structure his time but holds meetings and calls people spontaneously has been deemed unsuitable for a national leader. Also, Trump has been accused of using “Executive Time” to conceal who he is meeting. According to Axios’ information, meetings have in fact taken place during “Executive Time” in the time between Nov 7 and Feb 1, for which schedules were leaked. While sensitive meetings are routinely excluded from White House schedules, staffers under former presidents could expect to know about most other meetings the president was having.

The Trump White House has since responded to the critique saying that the president was in fact having numerous calls and meetings not included in the schedules and that he had worked “harder for the American people than anyone in recent history.”