President Donald Trump stormed back into power on Monday and wasted no time throwing open up press access, that had gotten notoriously restrictive in former President Joe Biden’s administration.
The president engaged freely with reporters in the Oval Office and on his first trip across the country to visit disaster areas in North Carolina and California as well as a Las Vegas casino and after a meeting of House Republicans in Florida.
The president answered 136 different questions from reporters in the first week of his presidency, according to a DailyMail.com analysis including several questions from Daily Mail reporter Rob Crilly who traveled with the pool of reporters on the trip.
Trump enjoys sparring with the press, as he appreciates having an audience reacting to the flurry of activity underway in his second term in office.
Trump began his first day in the Oval Office, answering 38 questions from reporters for about 15 minutes after he signed several executive orders to mark his first day in office.
The following day he stopped briefly in the West Wing colonnade to reply to a shouted question about the inaugural church service, where an Episcopalian bishop lectured him about LGBTQ Americans being afraid and urging him to have mercy on illegal immigrates facing deportation.
Trump stopped for some ‘Chopper Talk’ with reporters on his way to Marine One as he took five questions for about three minutes prior to his trip to North Carolina and spoke to reporters at the airport after he landed at the airport.
He took six questions for about seven minutes about FEMA, the price of oil, and deportation flights before taking his motorcade to view the damage caused by Hurricane Helene.
Trump paused and took eleven minutes of questions at the end of his Hurricane Helene briefing. Taking 15 additional questions from reporters before leaving for California.
He briefly spoke to reporters for three minutes after landing in Los Angeles where he was greeted by California Gov. Gavin Newsom and took two questions.
After tangling with state officials during the wildfire briefing, Trump spoke again with reporters for two minutes and took six additional questions before leaving California for his hotel in Las Vegas.
In Las Vegas, Trump ignored reporter’s shouted questions as he shot craps in the Casino following his speech about ending taxes on tips for service workers.
On the flight from Las Vegas to Florida, Trump surprised reporters aboard Air Force One by coming back and speaking to them on the record for about 20 minutes and answering 34 questions.
“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.
After Speaking to House Republicans on Monday, Trump again popped into the press cabin to talk to reporters on the trip home to Washington D.C, taking 29 questions for 12 minutes.
After Trump’s busy first week as president, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt finally announced Tuesday that her first press briefing in the White House briefing room would take place that afternoon.
‘See you at the podium! 1PM ET!’ she wrote on social media.