Trump to attend White House Correspondents Dinner after longtime boycott
President Trump said on Monday he will attend this year’s White House Correspondents Association dinner, breaking his boycott of the annual Washington gala.
“In honor of our Nation’s 250th Birthday, and the fact that these “Correspondents” now admit that I am truly one of the Greatest Presidents in the History of our Country, the G.O.A.T., according to many, it will be my Honor to accept their invitation, and work to make it the GREATEST, HOTTEST, and MOST SPECTACULAR DINNER, OF ANY KIND, EVER!” Trump said in a post on his social media platform TruthSocial.
“Because the Press was extraordinarily bad to me, FAKE NEWS ALL, right from the beginning of my First Term, I boycotted the event, and never went as Honoree. However, I look forward to being with everyone this year. Hopefully, it will be something very Special,” he continued.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt reposted Trump’s message on X, writing “Will be fun!”
The White House Correspondents Association plans the dinner, which largely supports its journalism scholarships for undergraduate students. It’s largely attended by White House correspondents, editors and news organizations from a plethora outlets based in Washington.
Trump’s appearance at the dinner, which is slated for April 25, will mark the first time Trump has attended the event as president. The last time Trump attended the event was in 2015 before he was elected. The president’s decision to boycott the dinner broke with years of precedent by sitting presidents.
Trump has been heavily critical of the dinner during his time in office. He was famously roasted by former President Obama in 2011 over incessant birther conspiracies about Obama not being born in the U.S. Obama shot back heavily that year, and that dinner is known conventionally by Trump allies as a moment in which he opted to run for president in 2016.
The WHCA clashed with the Trump administration once he took office for a second time, opting to take over the press pool and expand it with several conservative-leaning independent outlets. Trump still frequently engages with traditional media, having answered the calls of half a dozen journalists just over the weekend to talk about Iran.
They included reporters from the Washington Post, MS Now, ABC News, Daily Mail and New York Post.
This year, mentalist Oz Pearlman will serve as the dinner’s entertainer.
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