WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Over the weekend, President Donald Trump mingled with guests at a children’s charity gala inside his private Mar-a-Lago club, quipping to the crowd in gowns and tuxedos, “Have a good time, everybody. We gotta go work.” Beyond the club’s ornate doors and layers of security, however, the estate was operating as a temporary command post. In a curtained room converted into a situation center, the president and senior aides monitored an operation called “Operation Epic Fury,” watching B-2 bombers strike Iranian military targets and Israeli forces pursue senior Iranian leaders — an effort that culminated in the reported killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The White House circulated images of the makeshift center, showing banks of classified phone lines and display monitors.
In the predawn hours on Saturday, Trump used Mar-a-Lago’s presidential press room to announce a “massive and ongoing” U.S. military operation in Iran. By evening he had shifted from directing the operation to attending a Republican fundraiser — all without departing the Palm Beach compound.
This Iran action marks the sixth major military move Trump has overseen from Mar-a-Lago during his second term, underscoring how the property has evolved from a social venue into a site for presidential decision-making. Traditionally, presidents convene crises in the White House Situation Room — recently renovated at a reportedly high cost — or at Camp David. But Trump has repeatedly favored working from his private club and primary residence, which he acquired in 1985.
During the overnight operation, Vice President J.D. Vance was photographed in the White House Situation Room alongside figures identified as Tulsi Gabbard and Scott Bessent. Trump has spent seven of the first nine weekends of the year at his so-called “Winter White House.” In January, at his West Palm Beach golf course, he announced a tariff affecting certain European countries tied to a dispute over Greenland. The previous weekend he observed strikes on ISIS targets in Syria from Mar-a-Lago after a nearby dental appointment. On Jan. 3, while wrapping up a holiday at the club, he announced an unprecedented operation that led to the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro; the White House also released the first photographs showing officials in the Palm Beach situation room during that operation.
The pattern recalls Trump’s first term. After hosting Chinese President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago in 2017, he oversaw U.S. strikes in Syria in response to chemical weapons use. That year he also drew criticism for discussing a North Korean missile launch in front of fellow diners, including then-Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. In late 2020, while at Mar-a-Lago, he ordered a drone strike that killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, briefly addressing the nation from the club’s draped room before making fuller remarks at the White House days later.
So far in his second term Trump has visited Mar-a-Lago 21 times — seven more visits than at the same point in his first term, according to NBC News research. Democrats in Congress and national security experts have raised alarms about conducting sensitive business and hosting foreign leaders at a private club. Past reporting noted cybersecurity vulnerabilities at Mar-a-Lago’s Wi-Fi, and in 2019 a Chinese national was arrested after allegedly attempting to enter the club with a thumb drive purportedly containing malicious software.
A White House official told NBC News that the U.S. Secret Service, working with local partners, manages security at Mar-a-Lago and provides a “sophisticated and fully secure array of communication systems” enabling the president to direct operations remotely. Still, critics insist the president should be at the White House during crises. Former national security adviser John Bolton said the White House is “the seat of government” and better suited for critical in-person deliberations, noting that the vice president led the Situation Room during the most recent operation. A former Trump administration official argued the president “should not be down there,” describing Mar-a-Lago as an environment where aides flatter him.
White House spokesperson Davis Ingle defended the practice, saying the United States has the operational capacity to let the president securely conduct business from any location, “no different than he has at the White House.” Supporters of the Mar-a-Lago setup, including Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., have said intelligence teams can establish secure facilities anywhere and dismissed some complaints as overblown.
Beyond crisis management, Mar-a-Lago has become a winter hub for official business, Republican politics and social gatherings tied to the MAGA movement. The estate has hosted staff weddings and events attended by Cabinet members and advisers. Several foreign leaders have met Trump there in recent months: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy have visited, and Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico described his meeting at Trump’s private home as informal and open. A White House official noted that presidents have sometimes met foreign visitors outside the White House.
Informal diplomacy around South Florida has extended beyond Mar-a-Lago’s gates. Figures including U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who live in Florida and serve as informal intermediaries, have helped mediate talks and hosted Russia’s special envoy Kirill Dmitriev in Miami as part of Ukraine-related discussions.
Growing tensions prompted Palm Beach officials to announce indefinite road closures around Mar-a-Lago as a “precautionary measure” to protect the community and the president. With an expanding list of sensitive operations green-lit from the club, Mar-a-Lago is increasingly seen as more than a glamorous resort — it is now firmly associated with high-stakes presidential decisions.
The president’s local imprint was further cemented when a four-mile stretch of Southern Boulevard, the route from Palm Beach International Airport to Mar-a-Lago, was renamed “President Donald J. Trump Boulevard,” the thoroughfare now regularly used by club members and presidential staff arriving at the resort.