President Trump on Monday repeated his declaration that he is one of the most hardworking presidents in U.S. history.
“No president ever worked harder than me (cleaning up the mess I inherited)!” Trump tweeted.
{mosads}The comment echoed a series of tweets from the president over the weekend, in which he defended his use of “Executive Time” and said that he “had no choice but to work very long hours” due to the state of the country when he assumed office.
“When I took over as President, our Country was a mess. Depleted Military, Endless Wars, a potential War with North Korea, V.A., High Taxes & too many Regulations, Border, Immigration & HealthCare problems, & much more,” Trump tweeted Sunday.
Those comments were in reference to a leak of his daily schedules, published by Axios, showing that in recent months Trump has spent a number of hours in unscheduled “Executive Time,” reportedly watching television, making phone calls and reading newspapers.
Trump added over the weekend that his use of “Executive Time” “should have been reported as a positive, not negative.”
“When the term Executive Time is used, I am generally working, not relaxing,” he tweeted. “In fact, I probably work more hours than almost any past President.”
Since the weekend tweets, Axios has obtained a new set of leaked Trump schedules and reported that the president spent approximately half of his time in “Executive Time” from Monday to Thursday last week.
The White House is reportedly internally investigating the source of the leaked private schedules.