President Donald Trump surprised guests at a Mar-a-Lago fundraiser just prior to launching top-secret military strikes in Iran.

The president made a brief surprise appearance at the Place of Hope’s 2026 LEXUS Hope Bash Gala, according to images and video posted on social media, greeting guests and thanking them for coming. 

As the song ‘God Bless the USA’ played, the president danced briefly to the song before bidding the guests farewell, telling them he had to go back to work. 

‘Good song, huh?’ he said. ‘Have a good time, everybody… I gotta go to work.’

The president also briefly spoke with independent journalist James O’Keefe about his recent work exposing allegations of fraud.

 ‘I briefed him on our upcoming investigations domestically that I believe will lead to arrests and he was very supportive,’ O’Keefe wrote on social media. 

The bombs started dropping early Saturday morning as the president announced the mission on social media, wearing the same suit and white USA hat. 

Earlier in the day, the president traveled to Corpus Christi, Texas to promote the economy with Texas lawmakers. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe quietly traveled to Mar-a-Lago to prepare for the military operation while the president was in Texas. 

Vice President JD Vance traveled to the White House to monitor the military strikes in Iran from the Situation Room a source familiar told the Daily Mail. For security reasons, the president and the vice president are rarely in the same location when the president is not at the White House.

The vice president was joined by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and Department of Energy Secretary Chris Wright. 

 In Texas, the president surprised a local Whataburger Friday evening where he shook hands with the patrons and proclaimed, ‘Hamburgers for everybody!’ before picking up a to-go order for the plane ride to Florida.    

The vice president has not addressed the attacks publicly since they began. 

On Thursday, the vice president reassured the American people that any action in Iran would be different from previous American wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. 

‘The idea that we’re going to be in a Middle Eastern war for years with no end in sight — there is no chance that will happen,’ he told the Washington Post. 

 President Trump issued a video statement on social media early Saturday morning,  demanding the Iranian military to surrender and urging the people to rise up and seize control of their country.

‘Now is the time to seize control of your destiny, and to unleash the prosperous and glorious future that is close within your reach. This is the moment for action. Do not let it pass,’ the president said.

The United States military confirmed that the operation was the first use of low-cost Unmanned Combat Attack System (LUCAS) one-way attack drones. 

‘I built and rebuilt our military in my first administration and there is no military on earth even close to its power, strength or sophistication,’ the president added in his video statement, boasting of the unprecedented display of air power.