Donald Trump’s team has denied claims that he is turning down media interviews because he is “exhausted.”
Trump’s campaign was in talks with The Shade Room, an online media platform, to arrange a sit-down interview, which ended up failing to materialize.
A Trump adviser told the media company that the Republican nominee was “exhausted and refusing [some] interviews but that could change,” Politico’s Playbook reported, citing two people familiar with the conversations.
Trump’s national press secretary Karoline Leavitt denied that he was exhausted in a statement to Playbook, stating: “President Trump is running laps around Kamala Harris on the campaign trail.”
“And has done media interviews every day this week. He has more energy and a harder work ethic than anyone in politics.”
Trump’s decision to skip an interview with The Shade Room comes after he also declined to participate in a 60 Minutes election special. Harris sat for interviews with both outlets.
The former president also has backed out of loosely planned talks with CNBC’s “Squawk Box” and NBC. His campaign gave Playbook explanations for why these were canceled, including an overbooked schedule and an objection to 60 Minutes‘ live fact-checking.
Leavitt told Playbook that claims that Trump was backing out of media appearances were “B.S.”
“President Trump has never backed down from any interview. This is a man who held a CNN town hall in the middle of the Republican primary, for goodness’ sake,” she said.
Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump, holds a town hall at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center on October 14, 2024, in Oaks, Pennsylvania. His team has denied that he is ducking media interviews out of exhaustion.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Trump also refused to participate in a second debate with Harris, which the vice president challenged him to multiple times.
In contrast, Harris has been on an active media blitz in recent weeks.
Her recent media activity follows months of criticism for largely avoiding the press since she became the Democratic Party‘s presidential candidate in July.
Trump has given interviews more frequently than Harris, although these have often tended to be with right-wing media outlets and friendly YouTubers and podcasters.
While Trump has elected to skip certain media appearances in recent weeks, the Republican presidential nominee has remained active in campaigning and appearing in the media.
In the past week, he hosted a town hall for undecided Hispanic voters for Univision and sat down for an interview with Bloomberg’s editor-in-chief.
He also delivered a stand-up style speech at the Al Smith charity fundraising dinner on Thursday, which Harris chose not to attend, in a break from tradition of presidential candidates attending.
Newsweek reached out to Trump’s campaign for comment via email.
