Trump pressed for ‘Time’

President Trump defended his use of “Executive Time” to watch television, read newspapers and call aides and lawmakers at the beginning of his workday, claiming he “probably” works more than his predecessors in the White House.

“The media was able to get my work schedule, something very easy to do, but it should have been reported as a positive, not negative,” he tweeted Sunday. “When the term Executive Time is used, I am generally working, not relaxing. In fact, I probably work more hours than almost any past President.”

The news site Axios, citing 51 private schedules provided by a White House source, revealed Trump spent 60 percent of his time since the day after November’s midterm elections in “Executive Time” in his private quarters.

The report said he spent 297 hours and 15 minutes in “Executive Time” out of the total 502 hours and 55 minutes covered in the schedules.

By contrast, he spent 77 hours, 5 minutes in meetings during that period.

But Trump disputed that in his tweets.

“The fact is, when I took over as President, our Country was a mess . . . I had no choice but to work very long hours!” he posted.

Axios noted Trump typically rises early — before 6 a.m. — but doesn’t have anything on his schedule until his first Oval Office meeting of the day around 11 a.m.

After Axios published his schedules on Feb. 3, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders chalked it up to Trump’s “different leadership style than his predecessors.”