President Trump has pulled back on his habit of taking questions in press scrums as the war in Iran rages and gasoline crossed the $4 threshold for the first time in nearly three years.
Instead, Mr. Trump appears to be eschewing the traditional press gaggle — in which the president takes multiple questions on camera from various reporters from different outlets — for one-on-one phone calls with reporters.
Between April 1 and April 17, Mr. Trump participated in five press gaggles, half of the number that he participated in during the same period in March, according to an analysis of his schedule and media interactions by The Washington Times.
In February, Mr. Trump held nine gaggles with the press in just the first 17 days of the month — an average of about one every other day.
The retreat from the press gaggles coincides with a difficult period in his presidency.
Gasoline crossed an average of $4 a gallon on March 31 — a threshold it hadn’t reached since August 2022 under President Biden — because of the Iran war, which entered its fifth week three days earlier.
On March 30, Mr. Trump threatened to destroy all of Iran’s power plants, oil wells and desalination plants, which was met with criticism because he was targeting civilian infrastructure. The Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway through which 20% of the world’s oil travels, was effectively shut down by an Iranian blockade.
From April 1 through April 5, Mr. Trump did not publicly answer questions from the media. On April 6, he held a press conference in the White House briefing room and answered press questions at the White House Easter Egg Hunt. He then skipped publicly answering reporters’ questions for the next three days.
During March, Mr. Trump’s longest stretch without publicly interacting with the press was three days. In February, he never went more than two days without appearing on camera to answer press questions.
All told, Mr. Trump held 15 gaggles in February and 20 throughout March.
The president appeared on camera several times during the periods he did not face reporters. For example, he gave a prime-time address to the nation on April 1 on the war, but the press pool was not invited to watch or ask questions afterwards.
He also attended the Supreme Court oral arguments on birthright citizenship the same day, but did not interact with the press.
Eyebrows have also been raised this month at the number of closed press events. This past week, meetings with Agriculture Secretary Brook Rollins, NATO Secretary Mark Rutte, a reception for the America250 committee, and a Passover greeting with Jewish leaders were among the events entirely closed to the press, in a White House normally known for abundant media access to Mr. Trump.
At the same time, the president’s cell phone number has become the hottest secret in town, with scores of reporters using it to conduct brief one-on-one interviews with the president.
A partial list of media outlets that have published quotes obtained by calling Mr. Trump on his cellphone includes The New York Times, The Washington Post, Bloomberg, CNN, New York Post, Fox News, the Free Beacon, The Hill, The Daily Telegraph and Times of Israel. The Washington Times is among the outlets that have conducted a cell-phone interview with Mr. Trump.
“I think the president is having trouble controlling his message because gas is at $4 a gallon and he’s had an ability to spin the issue at the moment, but it’s much harder to spin when it’s affecting people directly,” said Robert Rowland, a professor of presidential rhetoric at the University of Kansas.
“If a member of the press calls the president, they want him to take their call so they may not be as aggressive as they otherwise would,” Mr. Rowland said. “But if it’s a gaggle, you are going to want to follow up and force him to answer the question.”
President Biden also became famous for avoiding press gaggles, frequently walking past them or answering a question or two before departing.
During the first year and three months of his second term, Mr. Trump has had 318 press interactions, which include gaggles, press conferences and sit-down interviews, according to the American Presidency Project at the University of California at Santa Barbara.
In the same period, Mr. Biden, in his first year, had 164 press interactions, President Obama had 27, and President George W. Bush had 143. Mr. Trump had 113 during the same period of his first term.
The White House denied that Mr. Trump is dodging press questions and skipping gaggles.
“President Trump is the most accessible and transparent president in American history,” said White House spokesman Davis Ingle.
The shift to one-on-one phone calls from on-camera gaggles is because the phones are more convenient for everyone, according to a White House source. Gaggles require logistics, coordinating it with Mr. Trump’s schedule, and finding the time and space for journalists to set up their cameras and video equipment. Whereas, Mr. Trump can simply pick up the phone at his convenience without scheduling or setup.
Another possible explanation is that the sensitivity of negotiations and strategy surrounding the Iran war has curbed Mr. Trump’s willingness to answer questions in a public setting. Since the war began on Feb. 28, Mr. Trump told reporters on several occasions that he couldn’t answer their questions because doing so would telegraph military plans to the Iranians.
During his April 6 press conference, Mr. Trump repeatedly said he couldn’t answer questions about Iran enriching uranium.
Peter Lodge, who teaches presidential communication at George Washington University, said Mr. Trump is simply switching methods of talking to the press. He said Mr. Trump likes to engage reporters, and the phone calls create a more freewheeling atmosphere than the rigid press gaggles.
“The president is still talking to people, he’s just changing the format,” Mr. Lodge said. “One of the things I really respect about this president is he happily engages with almost any reporter at any time.”
“He likes the back-and-forth, and a gaggle is kind of an inefficient way to do that. Answering a phone call from journalists is, frankly, a more fun way to talk to journalists,” he said.
