Trump schedule leak: How the US President operates very differently to his predecessors

US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump. Photo / AP

A leak of Donald Trump's schedule has revealed he enjoys a lot of unstructured private time in an arrangement very different to his predecessors, Axios reported.

Sources reveal the US President doesn't spend much time in his office.

The leaked schedules, which cover almost every working day since the Midterms on November 6, show Trump spends about 60 per cent of his day in "Executive Time", according to Axios.

Trump wakes early — often before 6am — and his schedule suggests he is in the Oval Office from 8am to 11am, but sources have told Axios that he is never usually there during those times.

Instead he spends his morning in the executive residence (where he lives with his family reading newspapers, watching TV and talking to aides, friends and other members of Congress and advisers on the phone.

The Oval Office is in the West Wing of the White House grounds and separated from the President's residence.

His predecessors took a different tack.

In particular George W. Bush had a tightly packed schedule that was booked out months in advance.

He would get to the Oval Office by 6.45am and had his first meetings about 8.15am.
He would finish his workday at about 5.30 or 6pm.

Barack Obama would have about six meetings in a day and would usually be at the Oval Office between 9am and 6pm. He would also have evening meetings about three times a week.

Obama also had unscheduled time but these were rare and usually happened before an important event such as a foreign trip or State of the Union address.

Trump's schedule is most similar to Bill Clinton's during his early days in office as Clinton was often late and deviated from his schedule.

However, he eventually settled into a routine starting with meetings at about 9am and continuing well into the evening.

In a statement to Axios, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said: "President Trump has a different leadership style than his predecessors and the results speak for themselves."

EXCLUSIVE from @alexi and @jonathanvswan: A White House source has leaked nearly every day of Trump's private schedule for the past three months — and he's spent around 60% of that time in "Executive Time." https://t.co/eTa9NPkVaQ

— Axios (@axios) February 3, 2019

According to the 51 schedules obtained by Axios, Trump doesn't usually have his first meeting until about 11am.

Overall Trump has spent about 297 hours in Executive Time in the past three months compared to only 77 hours were spent in meetings.

But the schedule doesn't tell the full story, Axios noted.

"He's always calling people, talking to people," one senior White House official told Axios. "He's always up to something; it's just not what you would consider typical structure."

In fact, Axios suggests that Trump sometimes has meetings during Executive Time because he doesn't want West Wing staff to know about them and leak the details.

These meetings are generally noted in a more detailed schedule only shared with a few people.

"For example, the private schedule we obtained said Trump had a 'media engagement' at 4.30pm this past Wednesday. The more detailed schedule revealed it was an interview with the right-wing Daily Caller, according to a source with direct knowledge," Axios reported.