Call him, beep him if you want to reach him—that’s how easy it’s been for an ever-widening circle of journalists hoping to hear directly from the president.
President Donald Trump, 79, has given an unprecedented amount of access to reporters by indiscriminately answering phone calls to his personal cell—but that open line of communication has sown chaos in the White House, according to insiders.
A report in The Atlantic, published on Saturday, found that Trump’s old-school habit of answering the phone has created a cutthroat market for his number. One anonymous administration official said that the calls were getting “out of control.”
Reporters, world leaders, lobbyists, and countless others have been vying for scoops and influence, raising concerns among White House officials who aren’t able to push back.
“He enjoys it,” an anonymous White House official told The Atlantic. “He knows how to handle the press.”
The president’s phone will light up with notifications from a bevy of unknown numbers during meetings. He has given reporters a number of scoops, each one of which unleashes a new wave of calls hoping to also catch Trump in an idle, chatty moment.
Trump has answered dozens of calls from ABC News, Axios, CBS News, CNN, The Daily Mail, The Daily Telegraph, Fox News, MS NOW, NBC News, The New York Times, the New York Post, Politico, The Times of Israel, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and more. He has even been getting phoned by independent writers who publish on Substack.
In response to this report, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told the Daily Beast that Trump is the “most transparent and accessible president in history.”
“The press can’t get enough of Trump, and they know it,” she continued. It was the same statement his administration provided to the Atlantic.
Journalists have been offering to trade high-profile contacts for Trump’s phone number. With the Trump administration becoming more restrictive in its press conferences, phone calls with the president have become the most effective way to get off-the-cuff information. His responses can lack context or accuracy, frustrating some officials.
“You are talking to someone on the fly, who is yip-yapping or chitchatting,” one official told The Atlantic.
Indeed, the president’s phone conversations have caused confusion. He called into Fox Radio following the appointment of Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whom the U.S. and Israel killed with air strikes on Feb. 28. Trump admitted that he was unsure if the new leader was dead or alive.
“I think he’s damaged, but I think he’s probably alive in some form,” Trump told Fox Radio host Brian Kilmeade.
CEOs, crypto bros, and other interest groups have been jockeying for the president’s number, too. They have offered big bucks for access to the president. Officials have expressed concern that Trump may be susceptible to bad information and bad actors. Others worry that these people will simply waste his time.
Still, the president has always enjoyed being called on. In his 1987 book Trump: The Art of the Deal, he bragged about receiving up to 100 calls a day. That number has likely ballooned with his elevated position of power. As such, his digits have been “offered for sale to deep-pocketed interests seeking influence,” the report stated.
