Karoline Leavitt Tries to Clean Up Trump's Sloppy War Launch - The Daily Beast

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.”

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 has also not yet released any images of Trump or his team watching the operation unfold from Florida.

It’s not the first time the president has watched a high-stakes military operation from his private club. 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.”

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."

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. The Daily Beast reached out to the State Department for comment on its message to those abroad.