GET SERIOUS

Karoline Leavitt Tries to Clean Up Trump’s Sloppy War Launch

The president was seen dancing at a gala before green-lighting the Iran strikes from his private club.

President Donald Trump will be keeping tabs on the war he launched with Iran from his private Mar-a-Lago club throughout the day.

That’s according to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who shared an update on social media more than eight hours after Trump posted a video on social media that the U.S. was conducting an ongoing major military operation.

“President Trump monitored the situation overnight at Mar a Lago alongside members of his national security team,” Leavitt tweeted.

She also shared that the president spoke by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by phone and that the president and his national security team will “continue to closely monitor the situation throughout the day.”

In a later post Saturday afternoon, Leavitt also revealed Trump had spoken to the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE and the NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.

For a period early Saturday, it appeared the president might also speak from his private club on Saturday, but there has been no update on him giving public comments or taking questions.

The White House on Saturday afternoon released an image on X showing the president seated at a table at Mar-a-Lago with CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.

Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino was also in the room but not at the table. A poster on display behind the president showed a map of the region with the words “Operation Epic Fury” printed in the lower right corner of it.

“President Donald J. Trump Monitors U.S. Military Operations in Iran: Operation Epic Fury, February 28, 2026,” the White House wrote on X.

Another series of images posted by the White House showed the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine standing in front of two screens.

It also shared an an image of Vice President JD Vance back in Washington, DC seated in the Situation Room along with DNI Tulsi Gabbard and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

It’s not the first time the president has watched a high-stakes military operation from his private club with makeshift blackout curtains and a group of aides seated around a table.

He was there during the operation to take out former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro while also at Mar-a-Lago in early January.

In his own video posted overnight at 2:30 am ET announcing the strikes, Trump declared, “The lives of American heroes may be lost, and we may have casualties.”

“That often happens in war,” Trump said. “But we’re doing this not for now. We’re doing this for the future, and it is a noble mission.”

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In the hours before Trump flew to Florida, he was in Texas for a speech and stopped at a Whataburger for some fast food.

Before her update, Leavitt shared a post about how just eight hours before launching military strikes on Iran, the president was announcing “Hamburger for all” at a Whataburger restaurant in Corpus Christi, TX.

In her more serious update, the press secretary said that leading up to what has been named “Operation Epic Fury,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio also called all members of the so-called Gang of Eight to inform leaders in Congress about the attack, and he was able to reach and brief seven of the eight members.

But in the hours following the news of the attack, multiple lawmakers have blasted the president for starting an illegal war with Iran because the president did not seek prior authorization from Congress.

The condemnations have largely come from Democrats, but some Republicans, including Rep. Thomas Massie and Sen. Rand Paul, have slammed the operation and are among those demanding that lawmakers return to Washington to vote on the president’s military action.

While preparations were underway Friday evening, the president also managed to put in an appearance at a black-tie gala before the attack was revealed.

In one video from the lavish event, the president was seen dancing to “God Bless the U.S.A. before telling the room of guests that he had to ”go to work."

WAR-A-LAGO

Trump Dances YMCA as Troops Are Warned They May Die in Iran

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While Trump had repeatedly threatened Iran, Americans living abroad in the Middle East were largely not given a warning ahead of strikes. The State Department on Friday did authorize the departure of non-emergency U.S. government workers and their families at the embassy in Israel due to risks.

In his video the president said bombs would be dropping “everywhere” in Iran and urged people to stay indoors.

Now Americans in the region are living under the threat as Iran retaliates with a series of strikes across the region.

In response to an inquiry about its messaging to those abroad, the State Department referred Daily Beast to the TraveGov X page, where the government has been posting urging U.S. citizens in different countries in the region to limit their movement, shelter in place and warning of travel disruptions.

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