John Michael Raasch is the Daily Mail’s Political Correspondent in the US, covering everything from early morning news scans to frantic days at the White House, Capitol Hill and Mar‑a‑Lago.
He explains how he chases breaking stories, navigates high‑pressure moments like questioning President Trump during a dramatic Venezuela crisis and builds sources from pubs to the West Wing.
Raasch also lifts the curtain on exclusive interviews, including his behind‑the‑scenes access to Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and the colourful cast of characters who wander through her office.
For those who don’t know your day-to-day, what does your role at Daily Mail involve?
My day to day usually involves an early alarm, a gallon of coffee and about 15 minutes of peace before I begin frantically scanning X, Truth Social and all the political news I can find. Depending on the news of the day I either head to the office, the White House or Capitol Hill. Once there, I’ll check in with my editors and figure out what the strategy will be and whether I need to immediately flip copy or if I have time to craft some texts or pick up the phone to call sources.
But if I am at the White House, usually there is a run of show I need to follow – anything from Marine One helicopter departures to press conferences to watching the Stanley Cup-winning Florida Panthers celebrate their victory by gifting Trump a golden hockey stick (I witnessed all three last week).
I also sometimes shoot a TikTok or participate in a podcast, though mainly I just try to ping as many people as possible and craft copy around it. Around quitting time I will head to a pub for a source meeting, or if they’re a big fish, possibly a light dinner.
You recently spent some time with none other than President Trump! Take us inside the moment: what was it like raising your hand and asking a question of Trump at Mar-a-Lago? And did anything about that room surprise you?
White House pool duty is not always glamorous, in fact, you often spend a ton of time in a dated press van with no wifi crammed next to many colleagues from different outlets. But my most recent pool experience was something no one bargained for.
Waking up early on Saturday a couple weeks back I quickly learned after my routine news scan that US special forces conducted a cinematic operation that resulted in the capture of ex-dictator Nicolas Maduro and his wife – around this time I was sure that we would not be trailing Trump to the golf course. The schedule had changed, we were going to Mar-a-Lago for a press conference about what many at the time thought could be an emerging war.
As smoke billowed over Caracas I hunched over my laptop like Quasimodo, turned the TV onto cable news and immediately began trying to find a question to ask the president that hadn’t been asked yet. Just before 9:00 am, I put on my best suit (the only one I had) and headed to the press vans before they whisked us to Mar-a-Lago in record time.
Once we were swept away by security, we were led into the mansion’s tea room, a glass lined room that faces the ocean, but on this occasion it was completely covered with curtains to make sure the press conference looked incredible on TV. Then we waited – for over an hour – I was at the front of the rope, close to where the president would be standing. I got no less than 300 messages from friends, family, old flames and even some foes about how I was directly in the pool camera’s line of sight.
The moment was a lot, I nearly fainted after standing for so long, kind of like a groomsman who locked his legs for too long. After some air squats, I was able to get in a question about whether Trump wanted to work with the opposition leader or Maduro’s second in command. The president told me he wanted to work with Delcy Rordriguez, she was respected in Venezuela and will work to make the country great.
After fielding a barrage of inquiries, Trump ended the event and the press and I were just as quickly whisked back to the hotel where I would begin furiously writing. Though shoutout to the team who wrote up the event while I was in there, I got a free byline or two that day and major credit to those who got that copy out while I was fighting for a question while doing a poor type of aerobics.
You scored an exclusive with White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt recently. Any fun behind-the-scenes stories you can share from your sit-down?
I’ve had a couple meetings with Karoline at this point and the thing that always stands out is how cordial she is, that is, if you’re not coming at her or the administration knives out. She has a really sunny demeanor that often gets drowned out by the tough-on-fill in the blank attitude that her boss and the administration typically put on.
Her office is actually quite large, has a fireplace, a couch with two chairs facing each other, and four TVs with all the major cable networks on them CNN, Fox News, MSNBC. Leavitt’s desk is typically strewn with papers – she may be the only 28-year-old on earth that still reads multiple hard copies front to back, though after all, it is her job.
She, like the big boss, enjoys diet coke, which typically stands on her side table next to a giant Stanley cup. Every time I have had a meeting in her office I typically run into someone from MAGAworld. The first time I was told to go in, Stephen Miller’s wife, Katie Miller, was chatting away about an upcoming playdate with Leavitt’s son. Miller politely asked me for 2 more minutes and I dutifully went out to the hall to wait as they wrapped – though Leavitt seemed much less enthused than Katie did.
During another meeting with Katie Davies, we both walked in to find Marco Rubio discussing strategy with Leavitt and Communications Director Steven Cheung. Again, we were asked for another couple minutes before Rubio scurried away. Next time I go in, I hope Trump will be there so I can finally ask him for a sit-down interview.
