Inside Mar-a-Lago, the chaotic Trump epicenter: patio pitches, transition meetings and rogue guests

Mar-a-Lago is the epicenter of Donald Trump’s presidential transition, and foreign leaders, contractors and those seeking a job in the administration have descended on Palm Beach, Florida, filling hotels and seeking rental properties for the next three months to get as much face time as possible with the president-elect and his top advisers.

Mar-a-Lago is the epicenter of Donald Trump’s presidential transition, and foreign leaders, contractors and those seeking a job in the administration have descended on Palm Beach, Florida, filling hotels and seeking rental properties for the next three months to get as much face time as possible with the president-elect and his top advisers. Members of Trump’s other properties throughout the country who normally get reciprocity to visit the clubs — but don’t for Mar-a-Lago — have reached out to the property’s management begging to get access. And some Mar-a-Lago members have been offered money by those seeking to be taken to the club as a guest and rub elbows with Trump, three sources familiar with the situation told CNN. There are no restrictions on who members can bring as guests, and outsiders are trying to take advantage of that while it still holds. “I don’t even know what member I went in with,” one source who visited Mar-a-Lago with several former administration officials said of a trip to the club last week. While some guests just want to see the scene up close, others have a different agenda — securing a job in the next administration. “Someone came up to me last night [at Mar-a-Lago] and said they were up to be press secretary,” one source close to the president-elect said. “I have never seen this person in my life.”