Donald Trump 'starts his working day at 11am - later than at beginning of presidency'

President has first meeting at 11am after spending morning in residence watching TV and tweeting, report claims

Donald Trump's days finish around 6pm, according to his private schedule (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty)

President Donald Trump’s official schedule has shrunk significantly since the start of his presidency, reportedly to make time for more tweeting and television.

The US President demanded more "executive time," according to private schedules obtained by Axios, which officials said "almost always means TV and Twitter time alone in the residence".

The schedules say Mr Trump has "executive time" in the Oval Office each day between 8am and 11am, according to Axios. Schedules sent to the White House press pool routinely show Mr Trump's first meeting beginning at 11am.

Former President George W Bush usually arrived at the Oval Office by 6.45am, while Barack Obama preferred to work out and got to the office between 9am and 10am.

Mr Trump's days are also shorter than during the early days of his administration, Axios reports, and finish around 6pm when he returns to his residence. Schedules released to the press show Mr Trump's last meeting of the day has routinely begun between 1 and 4pm.

The President's schedule for last Thursday – the day before he departed for a retreat with Congressional leaders – showed his last meeting at 3:30 pm, with the Chairwoman of the Republican National Committee.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders responded to the report by saying the President “always” has calls with staff, Hill members, cabinet members and foreign leaders during his so-called executive time.

“The President is one of the hardest workers I've ever seen and puts in long hours and long days nearly every day of the week all year long,” she said. “It has been noted by reporters many times that they wish he would slow down because they sometimes have trouble keeping up with him."

Mr Trump's penchant for TV and Twitter is well-documented, with the New York Times reporting he spends an average of four hours a day – and sometimes double that – watching television. The President regularly sends early-morning tweets based on news he likely saw on television, such as the firing of the Today Show's Matt Lauer, which he tweeted about five minutes after it appeared on Fox and Friends.

But Mr Trump has strongly denied spending much of his time watching TV, even lashing out at journalists who reported on the subject. After the Times report was published, Mr Trump lashed out on Twitter, calling it "bad reporting" from the "failing @nytimes".

On a trip to Asia in November, the President insisted that he "do[es} not watch much television".

"People that don’t know me, they like to say I watch television — people with fake sources," he told reporters on Air Force One. "You know, fake reporters, fake sources. But I don’t get to watch much television. Primarily because of documents. I’m reading documents. A lot."