Two reporters say that President Trump ‘butt-dialed’ one of their numbers at 1:28 a.m., weeks after canceling an interview with them
Two reporters from The Atlantic, Ashley Parker and Michael Scherer, said they believed they received a presidential butt-dial at 1:28 a.m. in a newly published piece.
Parker and Scherer had a photo shoot and interview set up at the White House with President Donald Trump when the president suddenly cancelled on them that very week and blasted them on Truth Social.
Not to be deterred, the reporters set about to find his phone number, and called the President. To their surprise, he picked up. “So we called his cell and he picked up and spoke at length,” Scherer claimed on X. Even more to their surprise, the President now had their number – and accidentally called it weeks later in the middle of the night, Scherer went on to say.
“I should just say it was two conversations and actually one late night, 1:28 A.M. butt dial from the president,” Parker told Morning Joe on Monday.
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On March 17, Trump tore into Parker on Truth Social, calling her a “Radical Left Lunatic” and Scherer someone who “virtually always LIES.”
Not taking it personally, the reporters went on to find a direct line to Trump. “Don’t ask how we got his number,” they wrote in the article. They only added that “the White House staff have imperfect control over Trump’s personal communication devices.”
They said they called him one evening, catching him off guard at first, but once they introduced themselves on the line, Trump began to talk to them at length, they report. Scherer then went on to say, “He called weeks later at 1:28 am.”
Parker elaborated during an interview with MSNBC’s Morning Joe. “I should just say it was two conversations and actually one late night, 1:28 A.M. butt dial from the president,” she said to host Joe Scarborough.
Since the alleged butt dial, the pair tried again to set up an interview with Trump, as they had a successful initial phone conversation discussing his various ‘accomplishments,’ but they were denied. Nearly nine days later, though, Trump invited Parker, Scherer, and Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg for a sit-down at the Oval Office.
The interview, later published, did address some of the Hegseth scandal that involved said editor. “I think he’s gonna get it together,” they say Trump told them, adding that, “I had a talk with him, a positive talk, but I had a talk with him,” speaking of Hegseth.
