Paying members at Mar-a-Lago over the weekend gained a bit of access to something not listed in the club’s membership benefits. The guests at the estate witnessed President Donald Trump at a dinner table into the situation room as he and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe responded to North Korea’s test of a ballistic missile.
The entire affair was documented by a member of Mar-a-Lago, retired investor and actor Richard DeAgazio, who posted photos on Facebook and interacted with members of the President’s staff.
In one post, which shows President Trump on the phone while sitting next to Prime Minister Abe, DeAgazio wrote, “It was fascinating to watch the flurry of activity at dinner when the news came that North Korea had launched a missile in the direction of Japan.”
The image shows Trump and his staff looking over briefing documents regarding the situation with North Korea while using their smartphones to provide light—a decision that could potentially expose the documents to prying eyes if any of the devices were compromised.
DeAgazio continued in the caption to say he and other members of Mar-a-Lago were “at the center of the action.”
From his other posts, it appears that description is apt. DeAgazio shared photos of himself with Trump’s chief strategist Steve Bannon and, most interestingly, with a man who DeAgazio said was charged with carrying the “nuclear football.”
DeAgazio identified the man holding what he purported to be the briefcase that contains the tools for the President to authorize a nuclear attack as Rick. In a comment, DeAgazio said Rick is a U.S. Army officer and also said the man did not disclose any information about the briefcase to him; DeAgazio looked up the information about the football himself after assuming that is what the officer was carrying.
Other Mar-a-Lago members commented on the photo to indicate they too had seen the officer and the briefcase, with one noting they had assumed it contained a gun.
The posts from DeAgazio have since been taken down, but archived versions have preserved the surprising amount of access granted to the members of Mar-a-Lago during the weekend visit from the President.
According to a story from CNN, President Trump also visited a wedding taking place in the Grand Ballroom to pose for pictures and give a brief speech, in which he said the couple had been “members for a long time” and had “paid me a fortune.”
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