\n First, though, the ballroom summoned.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cHave a good time, everybody,\u201d Trump called out to the black-tie crowd gathered for a charity gala after briefly jerking his arms around to his anthem, \u201cGod Bless the USA.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cI gotta go to work.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Behind the black curtains, photos released by the White House showed Trump, tieless and wearing a white hat emblazoned with \u201cUSA,\u201d watching the unfolding action, which would include the killing of Iran\u2019s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n Through most of Sunday, those images and two taped videos \u2014 the first<\/a> announcing the extraordinary operation, in which Trump\u2019s face was half obscured by the hat, and the second<\/a> addressing Khamenei\u2019s demise and the deaths of three American service members \u2014 were all the public saw of the president. He did not deliver a live formal address or convene a televised news conference.\n <\/p>\n \n That left the White House-provided photos of Trump as the primary images of his role in the operation, which he ordered after making little attempt to explain his strategic objectives or gain public buy-in.\n <\/p>\n \n In one photo, he leans into his chief of staff, Susie Wiles, as she gestures with her right hand. A black smart watch on Wiles\u2019 wrist set off internet speculation she may have compromised the room\u2019s security, an idea quickly shot down by the device\u2019s maker.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIt\u2019s called a whoop,\u201d wrote Will Ahmed, the founder of the company that makes the watch. \u201cIt does not include a microphone, GPS, or cellular capability of any kind and has long been on the NSA approved (Personal Electronic Device) list.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Wiles\u2019 watch aside, Trump\u2019s use of Mar-a-Lago<\/a> to oversee the most sensitive military operations has always generated a degree of anxiety among national security professionals. The potential intersection of paying club members with the country\u2019s most sensitive national security secrets gives some intelligence officials agita. The Secret Service screens guests before they enter but doesn\u2019t determine who can access the club.\n <\/p>\n \n That has occasionally made for some jarring scenes. Early in his first term, Trump huddled<\/a> over iceberg wedge salads on the patio with then-Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe after a North Korean missile launch. Guests watched on, listening as the men discussed how to respond and posting photos of the episode on social media.\n <\/p>\n \n Trump and his aides have since enacted tighter rules for guests taking photographs. And the club\u2019s classified communication apparatus has been expanded and fortified, in part through repeated use.\n <\/p>\n \n The list of highly classified operations green-lit from Mar-a-Lago is now a long one.\n <\/p>\n \n It was in a windowless basement room that Trump met with top national security officials in 2020 to make a final decision on taking out Iran\u2019s top military commander, Qasem Soleimani<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n It was from another secure room that Trump authorized strikes on Syria for the use of chemical weapons in 2017, before returning to dinner with China\u2019s leader to recount them over chocolate cake. \u201cHe was eating his cake,\u201d Trump would say later of his guest, Xi Jinping. \u201cAnd he was silent.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n In the last year alone, Trump was at Mar-a-Lago as the US began an air campaign against Houthi rebels<\/a> in Yemen, observing the first salvos on monitors fresh from the golf course; as American Tomahawk missiles were fired<\/a> into alleged ISIS camps in Nigeria on Christmas Day; and as the audacious mission to capture Venezuelan leader Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/a> played out in Caracas just after New Year\u2019s.\n <\/p>\n \n The club, which was built by cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post in the 1920s, has certain natural protections. It is anchored to a coral reef by steel and concrete, making it hurricane resistant. Its walls are made from thick Dorian stone from Italy.\n <\/p>\n \n Newer fortifications include snipers, bomb-sniffing dogs and boats patrolling the Intracoastal Waterway, along with miles of secure telephone and internet cables.\n <\/p>\n![\"In](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1772422569_512_hcrt2-mxkaadox3.jpg\")
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