Jonathan Karl Describes Bizarre Trump Transition Process at Mar-a-Lago: ‘Like Grand Central for Political Influence’

ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl peeled back the curtain on President Donald Trump’s chaotic post-2024 election transition, calling the scene at Mar-a-Lago “like Grand Central for political influence” in Tuesday’s episode of Mediaite’s Press Club.

Speaking to Mediaite founding editor Colby Hall about the reporting process for his new book Retribution: Donald Trump and the Campaign That Changed America, Karl described a surreal atmosphere inside Trump’s Florida estate as loyalists, job-seekers, and power players vied for proximity to the freshly re-elected president.

“There was a sense — and a lot of commentary at the time — that Trump was so much more disciplined than last time,” Karl said. “That [Chief of Staff] Susie Wiles really had the trains running on time, that he’s making his announcements of who he intends to nominate so much quicker. In reality, the process was just unbelievable. It was like Grand Central for political influence at Mar-a-Lago.”

Karl recounted a vivid scene in which “a candidate for Attorney General was sitting next to a candidate for another Cabinet post,” as former Fox & Friends Weekend host Pete Hegseth “moseyed past.”

The two candidates thought he was there to interview Trump, that “he wouldn’t be there for a job,” Karl said. “Then he ends up being announced the next day as the Defense Secretary nominee.”

Others, like FBI director Kash Patel, were “waiting in the lobby so that when Trump walks in and out, he can do the elevator pitch as he’s walking across.”

The journalist also revealed that the chaos extended beyond the property’s walls.

“There’s a yacht in the Intracoastal Waterway, just down from Mar-a-Lago, owned by a guy named John Rich, who’s a retired coal magnate. It’s the unofficial, ‘True Believer of MAGA’ transition team,” Karl said.

Calling the entire episode “quite remarkable,” Karl said the jockeying for power around Trump’s second term defied the narrative of a more “professional” operation, instead revealing a return to the freewheeling spectacle that defined the first.

Watch the entire conversation on Press Club via YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.