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“Good morning from West Palm Beach. I’m your transition pooler today,” the New York Times’ Michael Shear wrote on December 9 to a group of fellow reporters who’ve teamed up to take turns covering the postelection news out of Mar-a-Lago as Donald Trump puts together his government. But he doesn’t have much to report. “I have reached out to the transition about today’s schedule and have not heard back. I will pass along anything I hear.”
Republicans petitioning the once and future president for jobs have descended on Palm Beach, and so too have the journalists looking for scoops; Shear was part of an unofficial press pool set up by the White House Correspondents’ Association. But there hasn’t been much that they couldn’t have found out by just checking their TruthSocial accounts from anywhere.
This transition looks different than it did in 2016, when Trump essentially held auditions for Cabinet positions at Trump Tower — blocks from the mainstream media’s own offices — and the press was allowed to set up in the lobby and talk to candidates on their way to and from the elevator.
This time around, in Florida, the press is being kept at a safe distance. Trump’s team has declined to even acknowledge the legitimacy of the pool and is not coordinating with it. Incoming press secretary Karoline Leavitt and incoming communications director Steven Cheung get back to reporters only sometimes, and they’re not even announcing Trump’s movements or holding press conferences. This shutout has frustrated reporters. I’m told the WHCA executive board went down to the Sunshine State on Wednesday for a meeting with Trump’s press people at Mar-a-Lago, presumably to push for more access and establish a working relationship.
And there’s a lot to work on. “The fake transition press pool was set up without our knowledge nor were we asked to participate,” Cheung told me over text. “Since this was done secretly, we have no obligation to provide additional information to an unofficial pool that has already been caught spreading fake news. If we were approached beforehand, we would have gladly worked out a partnership to everyone’s benefit.” Cheung recently lashed out publicly at the pool after Andrew Feinberg, the White House correspondent for London’s Independent, set off speculation in tweeting that, per the CBS-TV pool crew, there were ambulances leaving Mar-a-Lago. Thirty minutes later, Feinberg updated his report to say that the ambulances were a “false alarm” and just part of J.D. Vance’s motorcade. “Some idiot at CBS overreacted and set off the fire alarm for no reason thinking they were going to get the scoop of a lifetime,” Cheung posted on X. “Fucking dummy.”
The bigger question is whether the Trump campaign’s shutting out the transition pool is a preview of what’s to come in the White House briefing room, where the new administration is expected to shake things up. “There’s never been a more accessible and transparent president than Donald J. Trump,” Cheung said in his statement. “Any potential changes will be made to benefit the American public.”
Open questions include what they’ll want to do to the seating chart (typically handled by the WHCA), or if they have plans to change how many reporters get to travel with Trump, or who gets hard passes into the White House. It’s not like reporters can’t do their jobs if they’re not in the briefing room; in fact, almost all good reporting happens outside it. But it’s yet another press tradition that this White House could blow up.
And so for now, the press is soldiering on. But reporters can’t exactly hang out by the bar at Mar-a-Lago watching the comings and goings and trying to buttonhole insiders; a staffer or member has to invite you in, which was always hard to pull off, and now that the place is operating on a White House–level security system, it’s even harder. And it’s not like you can contact Trump’s press team for a pass because, well, they don’t want you there.
Hotel rooms on the island of Palm Beach are hard to come by and expensive — the Colony is made for heiresses and hedge-funders, not reporters on a budget — so most journalists are exiled about half an hour’s drive west in West Palm. Since it’s high season, it’s also getting expensive on the mainland. CNN had a room block at the Ben, one of the nicer mainland spots, with “rooftop heated saltwater pool and cabanas” and “downtown’s only water-facing rooftop lounge,” and was broadcasting from its balconies until a few weeks ago, when it relocated to a more long-term solution. And with the West Palm Hilton selling out, some reporters have been forced to retreat to the Courtyard by Marriott out by the airport.
Hanging around Palm Beach was more of an obvious scene right after the election. “There was such a rush for everyone to come to Mar-a-Lago, because he hadn’t given out any Cabinet positions,” one reporter noted. So you could see familiar MAGA faces like Jason Miller, Corey Lewandowski, Kristi Noem, and Ronny Jackson hovering nearby, at the Hilton pool or the Ben lobby or at the Breakers bar. “But now the people around there are people they’re interviewing for, say, the deputy assistant Treasury secretary, and I don’t know who those people are by sight,” another reporter noted. Their appearance on the flight down might be a hint, though. “They’re people who don’t have luggage — the white guys who appear in a suit and a briefcase,” this reporter said.
Given you can’t get into Mar-a-Lago, reporters are competing to take sources out to dinner or drinks. But even that has proved challenging. “If you want a job in the administration, my impression is people have been told not to engage with the press,” said one reporter who’s been down there. “People are really paranoid and don’t want to be seen having coffee with reporters around Palm Beach.” Or, in the case of CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins and Trump lawyer (and soon-to-be deputy attorney general) Todd Blanche, lunch. A recent photograph of the two together at a restaurant has only upped the paranoia. (“Todd is an informant on Trump World for Kaitlin [sic] — but they’ve been done over by an eagle-eyed onlooker!” crowed a “source” to OK Magazine. “Next time Kaitlin [sic] gets a scoop on the inner workings of the president-elect’s transition, you’d have to finger Todd as the likely culprit.”) “Nobody wants to have that photo taken,” the reporter noted.
Despite these obstacles, it can still be a productive trip if you’re a well-sourced reporter who can lure insiders outside the MAGA-plex. But most reporters find it “an incredible waste of time,” as one put it. “I’m getting more in D.C. than I was when I was in Palm Beach. Although it is nicer to work from Palm Beach,” said another.
“I’ve broken a fair amount of news about discussions at Mar-a-Lago and I’m nowhere near it,” said another reporter. “You don’t actually have to be there. And if you’re a cash-strapped news org, why are you spending this money? Maybe I’m just jealous.”
“I’m not going to lie: Going to Palm Beach in November and December is not a bad gig if you have to have one,” a reporter conceded. Still, “people have nothing to do.” Might as well enjoy the weather while you’re down there and the lifestyles of the local aspiring oligarchs. “You can walk down Worth Avenue and look at the stores, even though you can’t afford anything, and people think you’re ready to shoplift because you look poor,” they joked. Some organizations — including the Times, I’m told — will have staffing shifts down there through the holidays.
How long the unofficial WHCA pool will last remains to be seen. One reporter told me they asked a colleague the point of doing this without the Trump team’s participation. “They were like, ‘Well, the idea is that if we do this, maybe it will help inspire more normalcy from the Trump people.’ Which I think is a very lofty goal.”
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