President Trump has pulled back on his habit of taking questions in press scrums as the Iran war rages and the price of gasoline has 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 reporters across outlets — in favor of one-on-one phone calls with reporters.
From April 1 to April 17, Mr. Trump participated in five press gaggles, half as many as 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 press gaggles 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 prices crossed an average of $4 a gallon on March 31 — a threshold they 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. His targeting of civilian infrastructure drew criticism. 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 media questions. On April 6, he held a press conference in the White House briefing room and answered press questions at the White House Easter Egg Roll. He then skipped answering reporters’ questions in a public setting 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. He gave a prime-time address on the war to the nation on April 1, but the press pool was not invited to watch or ask questions afterward.
He attended the Supreme Court oral arguments on birthright citizenship the same day but did not interact with the press.
The number of closed press events this month drew attention. Last week, meetings with Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, a reception for the America250 committee and a Passover greeting with Jewish leaders were among the events entirely closed to the press. The White House is normally known for granting the media abundant access to Mr. Trump.
At the same time, the president’s cellphone number has become the hottest secret in town. Scores of reporters are using it to conduct brief one-on-one interviews with the president.
A 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 cellphone interviews 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 presidential rhetoric scholar 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.”
Mr. Biden was known for avoiding press gaggles. He frequently walked past them or answered a question or two before departing.
During the first 15 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, Santa Barbara.
During the same period of his first term, Mr. Biden 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 president has shifted from on-camera gaggles to one-on-one phone calls because phones are more convenient for everyone, a White House source said. Gaggles require logistics: coordinating them with Mr. Trump’s schedule and finding 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 the strategy surrounding the Iran war have curbed Mr. Trump’s willingness to answer questions in public. Since the war began Feb. 28, Mr. Trump has 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’s enrichment of uranium.
Peter Loge, an associate professor of media and public affairs 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. Loge 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.
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