Reporters have shared the secrets to cold calling President Donald Trump, including waiting until the middle of the night when he can’t sleep.
Access to the president has never seemed so attainable, with reporters ringing Trump’s personal cell phone at all hours of the day. Semafor did a deep dive into the president’s cell phone usage, finding Trump has done more than 30 phone interviews since Operation Epic Fury began more than two weeks ago.
The ongoing U.S. and Israeli strikes against Iran have created a lot of media buzz, with the president giving phone interviews to multiple outlets. In these interviews, Trump has given different answers as to the current state of the war.
In an Axios interview last week, Trump said the Iran war would end “soon” because there is “practically nothing left to target.” In an interview with NBC News over the weekend, the president said he’s not ready to make a deal to end the war “because the terms aren’t good enough yet.”
In a recently published article about Trump’s use of phone interviews with the press, Semafor explained how reporters are increasingly using cold calls to contact the commander-in-chief.
Trump’s cell phone number is widely shared in Washington and Semafor’s sources all have a different answer on the best time to call the president in hopes of the latest scoop.
Most of the sources said it’s best to call Trump late in the evening when he’s watching TV, but one person who spoke to the president recently said to call him early in the morning. Others who spoke to Semafor cautioned against an early call, as Trump had snapped at some reporters when they reached him then.
One source with Trump’s number said the only way to ensure an answer from the president is to call in the middle of the night when he can’t sleep.
When asked about Trump’s use of phone interviews, White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told The Independent, “President Trump is the most transparent and accessible president in history. The press can’t get enough of Trump, and they know it.”
While reporters may be able to reach Trump by phone, the calls are often only about a few minutes long, according to Semafor.
One unnamed White House official told the publication the president is also “often preoccupied” during the calls.
The official said Trump puts the caller “on speaker in front of a large group of people, and he is loosely chatting and has fun messing with them.”
“Reporters who think they are being serious journalists by calling him are frankly doing themselves a disservice,” the official said.
