Why I Cold-Called President Trump at 4:30 in the Morning
"How did a New York Times reporter reach the president right after he announced that the United States had captured Venezuela’s leader?
By Tyler Pager
Reporting from the Residence Inn by Marriott West Palm Beach Downtown, where I called President Trump from this morning.
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At 4:21 a.m. on Saturday, President Trump announced on social media that the United States had captured Nicolás Maduro, the leader of Venezuela. Ten minutes later, Tyler Pager, a White House reporter for The New York Times, called Mr. Trump. After three rings, the two were talking.
And by 9:45 a.m., Mr. Pager was at Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump’s private club and residence in Florida, to go through security screening ahead of the president’s news conference.
He shared more about the call and the events this morning. Here is the edited and condensed exchange.
Let’s start from the beginning. When and how did you learn of the U.S. strike in Venezuela, and what did you do next?
I woke up shortly after 1 a.m. on Saturday morning after our colleague Anatoly Kurmanaev, who is in Venezuela, messaged a group of reporters and editors that Caracas had been bombed. I immediately started texting sources to try and figure out what was going on. Because the operation was still underway, officials at the White House and in the government were hesitant to engage. They did not want to do anything that might jeopardize the mission.
My colleagues and I have been covering the Trump administration’s pressure campaign against the Maduro government for almost a year, and we reported that senior officials were drawing up plans that included trying to capture Maduro. So when the explosions were first reported, we had a strong sense that the United States was involved.
We got official confirmation at 4:21 a.m. when the president posted on Truth Social that the United States had captured Maduro and his wife and flown them out of Venezuela.
How does one call the president? Were you shocked when he answered, and did he answer directly or was he patched in?
I just called him directly and he picked up. I wasn’t that surprised because the president’s phone habits are pretty well-documented — he regularly picks up calls from reporters.
He said, “Hello,” and I jumped right in. I told him I was calling from The New York Times and had questions about the operation.
You have President Trump’s cell number. How often have you used it? Do you set a bar for how often you call it?
This is the first time I have ever called the president on his cellphone. There is an extremely high bar to reach him directly, and I called him only after consulting with Dick Stevenson, the Washington bureau chief.
How do you decide what to ask? Obviously, you don’t want him to end the call, but you also want to be direct, to get information.
As soon as Mr. Trump announced that the United States had captured Maduro, we immediately had many questions. The two biggest ones: Did the president seek congressional authorization to carry out this mission? What would the next steps be for Venezuela?
Does he usually tell you to call the White House press office?
In our brief conversation, he did not complain that I had called. At the same time, he did not really answer my questions, instead directing me to tune into his news conference a few hours later.
Did you have questions prepared? How long did the call last?
Throughout the early morning hours, I was in constant communication with Dick Stevenson — as well as Eric Schmitt, who covers the military, and Julian Barnes, who covers intelligence. The three of us have worked closely on this coverage over the past year, and we were all trying to figure out exactly what happened after Anatoly first alerted us to the explosions. So just before I called the president, I checked in with the three of them and put together a list of questions.
I got in four questions — in 50 seconds — before the president hung up.
What does it tell you that he actually answered the phone — and a few questions?
Mr. Trump has been talking to reporters for decades, dating back to his time as a real estate developer in New York. And we know that he likes to be accessible — not just to reporters, but to lawmakers, staff, friends and foreign leaders. It is certainly a different style than that of his predecessors.
As a point of comparison, during my four years covering Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s presidency, I never had an interview with him. And I tried! In fact, while I was working on a book about the 2024 presidential election, I was stonewalled in my efforts to interview Mr. Biden after he left office. I eventually reached him directly on his cellphone, and after a short interview, his aides changed his phone number. I wrote about that experience in July of last year.
Tyler Pager is a White House correspondent for The Times, covering President Trump and his administration.
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