By Kristen Holmes, Kevin Liptak, CNN
(CNN) — Vague descriptions of presidential signing ceremonies, policy meetings and industry executive sit downs — mostly behind closed doors — began peppering President Donald Trump’s public schedule at the end of last year.
The additions to the schedule, which is blasted out to the media every night, were no accident. Trump himself had given the directive to beef up the information.
Despite near-daily appearances before cameras, some of them stretching for hours, Trump, 79, had become frustrated at a perception — fueled by analyses of his daily public schedules — that his days were lighter now than during his first four years in office. In his mind, it only contributed to questions swirling about his health and stamina, sources said.
Shortly after, his team began noting private meetings on the daily schedule sent to reporters and posted online. Aides said the goal is to better reflect what they believe are jam-packed days. They’ve also started listing meetings and interviews that typically wouldn’t appear on the public calendar.
Some, like “Policy Time” or “Signing Time,” located in the Oval Office, offer few details. Trump, who has insisted he will never use an autopen to sign documents, often has stacks of papers awaiting his signature.
The additions to Trump’s public schedule were his idea, multiple sources told CNN. Long wary of appearing to slow down, despite his advanced age, Trump personally asked that more events be listed on his schedules.
He had been enraged after a November article in The New York Times suggested his aging was impacting his job. The newspaper’s analysis of Trump’s official public schedules found his total number of official appearances had decreased by 39% compared to his first year in office in 2017, that his events were starting later on average, and that he had taken fewer domestic trips.
The president wanted it to be known that even if his public schedule didn’t always reflect it, he was still holding meetings and working throughout the day, sources said. Some meetings that otherwise would have gone unlisted have begun to show up on the public schedule, including closed-door sessions with Cabinet officials, executives and outside visitors.
When asked about the changes to the schedule, the White House provided a week’s worth of his private daily schedule, detailing meetings and phone calls that took place between January 5 and January 9, often from early morning until late in the evening.
In total, the private calendar included 61 phone calls, 67 meetings and several other events. While names were removed, the calls included foreign leaders, CEOs, media personalities, lawmakers and members of his administration, as well as calls with his family.
The earliest day of the week began at 7:15 a.m., with calls to family, an “external stakeholder” and a head of state. Other days began later, closer to 11 a.m. Most of the days stretched past 7 p.m., according to the schedules.
It’s not the first time Trump, who is sensitive to the allegation he isn’t constantly working, has dictated how his public schedule should appear. As his first term wound down in 2021 — and as he went to lengths to overturn the previous November’s election results — Trump personally dictated a paragraph that would appear on the daily guidance for several weeks.
“President Trump will work from early in the morning until late in the evening,” it read. “He will make many calls and have many meetings.”
While some allies have suggested it is not necessary for the president to prove to the public he is working, Trump himself ha