White House stenographers are struggling to keep up with President Donald Trump as he has stormed back into office with a flood of public remarks.
Trump spoke publicly for nearly 7 hours and 44 minutes in the first week of his presidency, according to a tally reported by the Associated Press and spoke 81,235 words.
On his first day alone, Trump delivered a 30 minute inauguration speech, followed by a second 30 minutes speech to an overflow crowd, he hosted two different speeches in Congress and had lunch before traveling to the Capitol One arena for a nearly 30 minute speech for the inauguration parade.
Later that day he spoke for about 47 minutes and signed executive orders in the Oval Office and spoke at three separate inaugural balls.
Later that week, Trump traveled to North Carolina, California, Las Vegas and Florida for public events highlighting his commitment to disaster assistance, tax policy and a speech to the congressional retreat in Florida.
He also spoke to reporters on Air Force One on two different occasions on the trip, answering questions for about 20 minutes.
It’s a sharp contrast from former President Joe Biden who spent 2 hours and 36 minutes on camera in his first week, and spoke just 24,259 words as president.
The president answered 136 different questions from reporters in the first week of his presidency, according to a DailyMail.com analysis.
U.S. President Donald Trump takes questions from reporters in the White House press briefing room
President Donald Trump speaks as he meets with homeowners affected by Hurricane Helene
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a briefing on wildfire damage
‘You’re getting a little but more access to your president than you did the last one,’ he told reporters, referring to former President Biden who was notoriously stingy with his time with the press.
‘By about 5000 percent,’ he added.
The White House is considering bolstering the stenographer team with additional staff, according to sources speaking to the Associated Press, as they do not expect Trump to let up his pace of public remarks and press events.
The president also held a press conference on Thursday to address the mid-air collision in Washington, DC between a military helicopter and a passenger plane killed 67 people.
The press conference lasted about 35 minutes as the president vowed to get to the bottom of the cause of the accident.
‘We do not know what led to this crash, but we have some very strong opinions and ideas, and I think we’ll probably state those opinions now,’ he said, blaming former President Joe Biden for watering down standards for air traffic controllers.
Later Thursday, he held another event in the Oval Office to sign executive orders addressing the crisis.
When asked if he was going to visit the crash site, he reminded the reporter that it was in the Potomac river.
‘I have a plan to visit – not the site. Because what – you tell me. What’s the site? Water. We’re going to go swimming?’ he asked.
