In a highly unusual move, President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday night left his Manhattan residence without notifying the reporters covering him or giving any indication of where he was going.
The maneuver seemed to deliberately limit access to the media.
The only way the press eventually ascertained his whereabouts was after a Bloomberg reporter, who happened to be dining at the 21 Club, tweeted a photo of Trump and some of his transition team in the Midtown steakhouse.
Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks later told NBC News. "He is having dinner with his family."
Wife Melania, daughter Ivanka Trump, her husband Jared Kushner, sons Donald Jr. and Eric Trump were all at the restaurant.
This came after Hicks had told his press pool the day had ended, and the only indication of his departure was an unannounced motorcade. Trump's communications team did not respond to emails from the pooler requesting guidance.
With his Tuesday night actions, the Trump Administration is shaping up to be the least accessible to the public and the press in modern history.
A week after the election, Trump hasn't yet held a press conference, the longest any recent president has waited to speak to the press. That continues a weeks-long drought that's been going on since mid-summer, when Trump last answered questions from the press.
Trump has also refused to travel with the press corps since the election, a continuation of his campaign practice of flying in a separate plane from the media that covered him.
The media covering the president-elect have also not yet been offered briefings on his transition efforts, which was a typical practice for past presidents that allowed the public to keep apprised of the details of the new government.
And until recently, Trump's staff weren't releasing readouts of his calls with foreign leaders, leaving the press — and the public — to receive their guidance from foreign governments.
