Photo credit: John Harrington
Café Milano turned into Washington’s unofficial newsroom as ABC News’ chief correspondent Jonathan Karl was toasted by Franco Nuschese for the release of his latest political chronicle: Retribution. The Georgetown power canteen—equal parts embassy salon and congressional clubhouse—was buzzing well before the first glass of prosecco was poured. The mood? A cross between a press gaggle and a reunion of the capital’s well-briefed survivors.
Karl, as ever, wore the calm precision of a reporter who’s seen too much to be starstruck. Retribution—his multiple deep dive into the Trump years—arrives as both an insider’s postscript and a moral inventory of how Washington has weathered its most combustible era. Guests leaned in for his off-record asides, though most conversations revolved around who might be next to write the definitive chapter.
Politicos, producers, columnists and the occasional Cabinet veteran filled the room, trading gentle jabs about polling numbers and the latest staff reshuffles. The Milanese-style buffet kept the chatter flowing, along with the steady parade of sparkling wine and handshakes that signal campaign season’s unofficial opening. By night’s end, one thing was clear: in a town addicted to revelation, Karl’s even-handed prose remains its most trusted confession booth.
“Can we get your attention? You know that I have the power to close the bar,” joked Nuschese. And just like that, the room fell into a hush of mock obedience—because when Franco Nuschese says it, you know he’s half-joking but wholly capable of following through.
The Karl daughters took the mic to toast their father — and as every parent knows, that’s always a moment to brace yourself.
“We love this tradition — thank you, Franco, and the incredible Café Milano team for hosting such a wonderful evening for the third time,” began Anna, Jonathan Karl’s youngest daughter (and, as she noted with a grin, his unofficial social-media manager). “And thank you to everyone here for always showing up for our dad. It’s amazing to see people from every part of his life gathered to celebrate his work. If you’re not already following him on Instagram or TikTok, please do — I need all the help I can get! And don’t worry, I promise there will be no TikTok dances.”
Her sister Emily picked up the mic. “I have seen him do those TikTok dances,” she laughed, “and we’ll do our best to make sure they never see the light of day.” Then, turning serious, she added, “This is Dad’s fourth book in this series — 1,535 pages and nearly half a million words. For perspective, Alexander Hamilton’s Federalist Papers total around 200,000 words. So congratulations, Dad, on more than doubling that and truly writing like you’re running out of time. It’s been a whirlwind watching you write — and, honestly, hearing about it — but we are so incredibly proud of you. So without further ado, please join me in welcoming the man of the hour, Jonathan Karl.”
Anna, Jonathan and Emily Karl
“Thank you all for being here. I have a lot of people I want to thank, but I’m not going to go through all of it. The acknowledgements is one of the longest chapters in the book. But first I want to say that it’s been a real honor and a privilege to be a reporter covering history unfolding,” said Jonathan. “It’s what I dreamed about doing when I was in fifth grade and never stopped dreaming about. So to have the opportunity to have covered and asked questions of seven different presidents so far to be able to cover this incredible system that we have in good times and in bad has been a true honor and a privilege. And I would like to say that as I wrote this book, it occurred to me that the very idea of fair non-biased, fact-based journalism is under assault right now. And that means that the truth itself is under assault. I have tried to be a reporter that sticks to the facts, tried to be a reporter who understands what I am, the people I’m covering and treats them fairly and with respect, even when they don’t like when I’m reporting. Sometimes that creates some interesting moments over the last few years.”
“This work is truly the most ambitious that I’ve undertaken,” he added, “because the campaign that we witnessed was unlike any campaign certainly in our lifetimes, and the consequences were so incredibly high and are so incredibly high now. So I wanted to tell that story and get it down for history.
You’ve heard Emily and Anna, but Maria was the first person to read anything that I wrote, which was indecipherable, and she helped me get it down. My mom is here. My mom who tells me she’s turning like 29 or something. I don’t know. How old are you going to be? I came from South Dakota with members of the South Dakota Book Club, and my mom truly laid the groundwork for all of this. And to my Sicilian friends and family, I didn’t do anything wrong.”
Bob Woodward and Jonathan Karl
“And let me just say a word that Bob Woodward basically invented the genre. He showed us how it’s done, the idea of a journalist who covers the day-to-day ins and outs of a president, of what is happening here in Washington, to take a step back and try to do some more in-depth reporting that you just can’t do in day-to-day journalism, whether it be on television or a newspaper, and to go and to develop sources, earn people’s trust, and how do you earn people’s trust? You earn their trust. They know that you are going to treat them fairly, and you are going to accurately convey the information that they are providing to you and treat them with respect as you would anybody. So Bob Woodward taught me how this is done, and I’m so honored that he is here today. So thank you to Bob. So you never really know how to end one of these things. So I’m just going to end by saying thank you. Thank you all for being here. As my daughter said, from all aspects of my life, I am incredibly blessed to have good friends, supportive friends, and entertaining friends too. So thank you all. Cheers.”
