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Donald Trump's team is pushing back against a claim that he is canceling scheduled interviews because he is "exhausted."
Trump was reportedly scheduled to appear on The Shade Report for a sit-down interview, but that meeting never materialized. Politico's Playbook reports that a senior Trump adviser allegedly told a producer that the former president is "exhausted and refusing interviews."
The adviser reportedly suggested the site — which is popular with young, Black readers — interview rapper Waka Flocka Flame instead, as he has said he is voting for Trump, according to The Daily Beast.
After the Politico report came out, Trump's team pushed back, denying that the 78-year-old was worn out from the campaign trail, calling it "unequivocally false."
Trump has been busy with events. After his bizarre town hall where he spent half an hour swaying to music on stage, he went on to participate in a contentious interview with Bloomberg Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait in which he was educated that his plan to increase tariffs would end up costing Americans thousands of dollars every year.
But as busy as he's been, he has also been canceling on planned appearances. Not only did he back out of The Shade Report, but he also canceled an upcoming appearance on CNBC's Squawk Box and previously ducked out of a 60 Minutes interview earlier this month. Vice President Kamala Harris took his spot instead.
Trump's team has been doing its best to portray the former president as vibrant and involved in the weeks leading up to the election. His national press secretary Karoline Leavitt issued a statement saying that he is "running laps around Kamala Harris on the campaign trail."
"And he has done media interviews every day this week. He has more energy and a harder work ethic than anyone in politics," she said.
She further said Trump has "never backed down from any interview," though it's hard to argue that when he has, in fact, done so.
Not only has he canceled interviews, but Trump has also refused to participate in a second debate with Harris, even though she has publicly challenged him to a second debate numerous times. Immediately after their first debate, Trump made an unprecedented move by wandering into the spin room after the event to grab more, unmoderated air time for himself.
Harris has recently been busy with interviews herself, but only after months of criticism from both Republicans and members of the press that she had been refusing to sit down for interviews.
While Trump has given more interviews than Harris, they tend to be on podcasts or right-wing-friendly media. Harris, by contrast, recently appeared on Fox News, where she had a widely watched, contentious interview with host Bret Baier.
