Camp David: Inside the secretive retreat where Trump is taking his Cabinet

US President Donald Trump is swapping the White House Cabinet Room for one of America’s most secluded presidential settings on Friday, taking his top administration officials to Camp David for a Cabinet meeting that will mix government business with the history and privacy of the storied Maryland retreat.

The gathering will be the first Cabinet meeting held at Camp David during Trump’s second term. An attempt to hold one there in May was abandoned because of bad weather.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the change of scenery would offer Cabinet members a different experience.


The meeting “will be a lot of fun and something different for the Cabinet to experience together,” she said.

Trump has previously used Camp David for a Cabinet gathering during his first presidency, but his visits to the retreat have become less frequent since returning to the White House.

Trump’s marathon Cabinet meetings get a new setting

The location may be different, but attention will also be on whether another feature of Trump’s Cabinet meetings follows him to Maryland: their unusual length.

Public portions of the meetings have sometimes stretched for hours as Cabinet officials take turns discussing their departments and administration priorities.

The appearances have also become known for officials repeatedly praising Trump and his leadership while delivering their updates.

Unlike many previous presidents, Trump has allowed reporters to remain in the room for extended portions of the proceedings. The White House has portrayed that access as evidence of the president’s commitment to transparency.

But even Trump has acknowledged that the format can drag on.

At a Cabinet meeting in May, he joked about how much his officials had to say and recalled one session lasting several hours.

“Everybody around here has got a lot to say,” Trump said, before adding that the marathon format had been “a little much.”

More recently, Trump has encouraged officials to shorten their remarks and reduced the number of people delivering lengthy oral reports.

Whether the Camp David setting produces another extended public session — or a considerably tighter meeting — will be one thing to watch on Friday.

Why Camp David is different from the White House

Hidden in Maryland’s Catoctin Mountains, Camp David has offered American presidents something difficult to find at the White House: isolation.

The 180-acre retreat is operated by the US Navy and protected by Marines, giving presidents a highly secure location where they can conduct sensitive meetings while remaining removed from Washington.

The president has access to a private cabin known as Aspen, while roughly a dozen additional cabins accommodate guests.

There is also a main lodge equipped with conference rooms, a dining area and a presidential office, meaning presidents can conduct official business without returning to the White House.

But Camp David was primarily designed as a place to escape the pressures of the presidency.

The retreat includes a heated swimming pool, fitness facilities, a bowling alley, movie theatre, tennis and basketball courts and a chapel.

Its combination of privacy, security and recreational facilities has made it a presidential getaway for more than eight decades.

Why was Camp David created?

Camp David's origins stretch back to World War II and President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Roosevelt enjoyed relaxing aboard the presidential yacht, but travelling on open water became a security concern for the military and Secret Service during the war.

He subsequently asked the National Park Service to identify a secluded retreat within about 100 miles of Washington where he could rest safely.

The site that became Camp David was selected in 1942.

Roosevelt initially called the retreat “Shangri-La”, borrowing the name from the fictional paradise in James Hilton’s novel “Lost Horizon”.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower later changed the name to Camp David, drawing inspiration from his grandson and father.

Every US president since Roosevelt has used the retreat.

Camp David has witnessed major moments in US history

Despite its reputation as a presidential escape, Camp David has repeatedly found itself at the centre of consequential American diplomacy.

Its most famous chapter came in 1978, when President Jimmy Carter brought Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin to the retreat for intensive negotiations.

The talks produced the Camp David Accords, which laid the groundwork for a historic peace treaty between Egypt and Israel.

Carter returned to the retreat the following year for another politically significant gathering, meeting Americans from different walks of life as his administration grappled with an energy crisis and declining public confidence.

Those discussions preceded his nationally televised address commonly remembered as the “malaise” speech, despite Carter never actually using the word.

Successive presidents have continued using Camp David for diplomatic discussions, strategy sessions and private meetings where the security and seclusion of the compound offer advantages unavailable in Washington.

Trump has his own history with Camp David

Trump made greater use of Camp David during his first term than he has so far during his second.

One of the most dramatic episodes involving the retreat came in September 2019, when Trump revealed that he had planned secret negotiations there with Taliban and Afghan leaders.

The meeting was scheduled shortly before the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Trump abruptly cancelled the talks following a bombing in Kabul that killed 12 people, including an American soldier.

The president has visited Camp David relatively sparingly since beginning his second term, with one of his most recent trips coming around Father’s Day in June.

Friday’s Cabinet gathering therefore marks a notable return to a presidential property that has played a role in everything from Middle East peace negotiations to wartime presidential security.

This time, however, the agenda is more domestic: bringing Trump’s senior officials out of Washington for the administration’s 13th Cabinet meeting of his second term — and giving one of the White House’s most closely watched political rituals a very different backdrop.

(With AP inputs)