After exiting Marine One last Saturday evening, President Donald Trump – donning a red MAGA cap and signature blue suit and red tie – walked across the South Lawn glancing up briefly to acknowledge the assembled media but declining to answer their shouted questions.
Then, the president suddenly stopped and looked skyward.
Exactly what he saw is unclear, but it was the only indication upon his return to the White House that day that anything was amiss.
For just over 30 hours prior, the president had left Washington DC for the weekend, heading to his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
He had told reporters then that he would decide whether or not to strike Iran ‘within the next two weeks,’ reiterating a White House statement released the day before.
It seemed to the world, for the time being at least, the escalating war between Israel and the Islamic Republic would be put on hold as Trump’s diplomatic team pursued talks to end the conflict. But now we know that even Trump had returned to the White House on Saturday, ‘Operation Midnight Hammer’ was already underway.
After exiting Marine One last Saturday evening, President Donald Trump – donning a red MAGA cap and signature blue suit and red tie – walked across the South Lawn glancing up briefly to acknowledge the assembled media but declining to answer their shouted questions.
The president suddenly stopped and looked skyward. Exactly what he saw is unclear, but it was the only indication upon his return to the White House that day that anything was amiss.
Now the Daily Mail has reconstructed the critical hours between the president’s final public ruse and the moment inside the White House Situation Room that he and his national security team learned that the bombs have reached their targets.
At 1:00 am Eastern Standard Time on Saturday, B-2 stealth bombers had been deployed from Whiteman Air Base in Missouri en route to Iran. Their flight path taking them over the eastern seaboard – and, perhaps even, the White House.
By that afternoon, the commander-in-chief was reportedly in a ‘loose and… easy going mood,’ socializing with friends in his Bedminster clubhouse and introducing OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman around the room.
Now the Daily Mail can reveal that around 4:00 pm, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth phoned the president at Bedminster to inform him that the secret strike on Iran was proceeding as planned.
The president then affirmed to his defense secretary that the time had come to confront Iran’s nuclear program and he instructed Hegseth to continue the operation.
White House sources claim the administration pursued a diplomatic resolution with Tehran right up to this last hour, but Trump’s longtime friend and special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, who was leading the negotiations, told the president that talks behind the scenes were going nowhere.
All that remained was for Trump to return to the White House and, from the basement-level situation room, give the final attack order.
At 1:00 am Eastern Standard Time on Saturday, B-2 stealth bombers had been deployed from Whiteman Air Base in Missouri en route to Iran. (Pictured left, Fordow before the US strike. Right, Fordow after the strike)
At 6:01 pm, the president had already landed back at the White House and proceeded to the Situation room – still, Daily Mail is told, wearing his MAGA hat, where he was met by his top advisers.
By this time, dozens of escort and support aircraft and seven B-2 stealth bombers were crossing from the Mediterranean Sea into the Middle East.
Simultaneously, US submarine assets had moved into position in the Persian Gulf. And a separate ‘decoy’ mission of B-2 planes was dispatched west from Whiteman Air Base and those aircraft were spotted over Russia, leading to the first public reporting on the operation.
In the Situation Room, Vice President JD Vance joined the president after returning from a fundraiser in California held late Friday evening. Secretary Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine and CENTCOM General Michael Erik Kurilla, as well as CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, were also present.
Representing the president’s diplomatic team was Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Middle East envoy Witkoff.
Of course, Trump’s Chief of Staff Susie Wiles was in attendance, along with White House counsel Dave Warrington, deputy chief of staff for legislative affairs James Blair, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt and deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino.
‘He had a lot of trust in his national security team,’ White House press secretary Anna Kelly exclusively told the Daily Mail. ‘Ultimately, what he always does is listen to the people around him whom he places a lot of trust in and then he makes the final call on what he believes is best for the country.’
Just 40 minutes after Trump entered the White House, the bombers dropped 14 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs on two targets and pivoted quickly back to the United States.
In the Situation Room, Vice President JD Vance joined the president after returning from a fundraiser in California held late Friday evening.
Secretary Hegseth (pictured, left), Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine and CENTCOM General Michael Erik Kurilla, as well as CIA Director John Ratcliffe (above, middle) and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, were also present.
Of course, Trump’s Chief of Staff Susie Wiles (pictured, left) was in attendance, along with White House counsel Dave Warrington, deputy chief of staff for legislative affairs James Blair, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt and deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino.
The execution of the strike took only 25 minutes.
By 7:50 pm the president had announced news of the ‘very successful attack’ against the three main nuclear facilities in Iran, Fordow, Natanz and Esfahan.
‘The strikes were a spectacular military success,’ Trump said in the televised address. ‘Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.’
There was no sign of Iranian fighters in the skies, and the American strike team faced no surface-to-air attacks. The 125 aircraft involved in the mission returned safely to American soil.
‘All planes are safely on their way home,’ the president announced to the world.
The White House was quick to stress to the Daily Mail – that apart from the apparent excellence demonstrated by the US military – the president’s staff did well to keep the covert operation a secret.
‘I think it all starts with Susie,’ one source close to the administration told the Daily Mail. ‘She has no tolerance for people who play games, leak on their colleagues, and aren’t team players.’
Among the ‘team’ assembled by Wiles is White House communications director Steven Cheung, who – the source says – enforced message discipline, ensuring that the president’s diversionary messages weren’t undermined by other voices in the administration.
However, the mainstream media reporting on the strike, did not exactly mirror the White House’s self-congratulatory mood.
By mid-week, a preliminary military intelligence assessment, which was shared with Congress, was leaked to CNN, the New York Times and others, indicating the level of damage done to Iran’s nuclear sites wasn’t as severe as the president claimed.
The White House now suggests that leaks were orchestrated by critics in Congress. ‘Go figure: Almost as soon as we put the information on [the system used to share intel with Congress], it leaks,’ an administration source told Axios on Wednesday.
‘Susie Wiles’ leadership as Chief of Staff has made this one of the most disciplined and effective administrations in recent history. Leaks have been virtually nonexistent. The only major breach came from the Department of Defense—hardly a reflection on the White House—and an investigation is already underway to identify the career officials behind it,’ said former Homeland Security Department special assistant, Ashley Davis.
‘Meanwhile, the real story is being buried: our military just pulled off one of the greatest operations in modern history against a nation long known for supporting terrorism,’ continued Davis. ‘Yet Democrats are trying to shift the focus to a leaked memo from a single DOD division. That won’t hold with the American people.’
By 7:50 pm the president had announced news of the ‘very successful attack’ against the three main nuclear facilities in Iran, Fordow, Natanz and Esfahan.
The White House has now responded to the authorized release of classified information by limiting the dissemination of intelligence about the strikes, sparking more outrage from Democrats in Congress.
By Thursday morning, Secretary Hegseth was in front of the microphones at a Pentagon news conference, stressing the apparent success of the strikes and referencing that leaked assessment.
‘This report acknowledges it’s likely severe damage,’ Hegseth said. ‘Again, this is preliminary, leaked — because someone had an agenda to try to muddy the waters and make it look like this historic strike wasn’t successful.’
On Friday, five days after the strikes, Iran’s Foreign Minister seemed to support Hegseth’s conclusion calling the damage to Tehran’s nuclear facilities ‘excessive and serious.’
