Overview

• Atlantic journalists Ashley Parker and Michael Scherer secured direct access to Trump by calling his personal cell phone after their planned White House interview was canceled.
• Trump initially scrapped the interview and publicly disparaged the reporters on Truth Social, calling Parker a 'Radical Left Lunatic' and claiming Scherer 'virtually always LIES.'
• Despite the public hostility, Trump answered their cold call on a Saturday morning, leading to an unscheduled phone interview while he was at his Bedminster golf club.
• The sequence included a 1:28 a.m. accidental 'butt-dial' from Trump, which the reporters described as surreal but emblematic of his unconventional communication style.
• Nine days after the unscheduled calls, Trump invited Parker, Scherer, and Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg to the Oval Office for a formal interview on April 24, highlighting his contrasting public and private media engagement strategies.