Trump ends White House Correspondents’ Dinner boycott, will attend next month
President Donald Trump will attend this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner, marking the first time he has appeared at the event while serving as president.
Trump did not attend during his first term and skipped last year’s dinner as well. His decision to accept this year’s invitation represents a notable break from his long-standing boycott of the event, which presidents have traditionally attended.
In a Truth Social post Monday, Trump referenced that history.
“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,” he wrote.
He added that this year would be different.
“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!”
White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) President and CBS News correspondent Weijia Jiang welcomed Trump’s decision to attend.
“For more than 100 years, the journalists of the White House Correspondents’ Association have enjoyed an evening with the president, a dinner that celebrates the First Amendment while supporting the work we do including awards honoring excellent journalism and scholarships to help the next generation of reporters who someday will be the ones asking the questions at the White House,” Jiang said. “We’re happy the president has accepted our invitation and look forward to hosting him.”
Trump is the first sitting president to not have attended the dinner since Calvin Coolidge started the tradition.
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President Joe Biden speaks during the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) dinner at the Washington Hilton, in Washington, DC, on April 27, 2024. (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images) -
US President Barack Obama speaks at the annual White House Correspondent’s Association Gala at the Washington Hilton hotel April 30, 2011 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Martin H. Simon-Pool/Getty Images) -
President George W. Bush conducts the Marine Corps Band during the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner at the Washington Hilton April 26, 2008 in Washington, DC. A host of celebrities attended the annual event. (Photo by Kristoffer Tripplaar-Pool/Getty Images) -
President George H.W. Bush attending the annual White House Corrsepondents Association Dinner, laughs as Impressionist Jim Morris began his Bush bit in silence – just moving his head, sort of stammering, trying to get some words out. The president [Bush], watching Morris do his inarticulate-thing, started laughing hard, finally held his big white dinner napkin over his face. To the President’s left is Jememiah O’Leary that year’s WHCA president. (Photo by Mark Reinstein/Corbis via Getty Images) -
President Bill Clinton applauds following a performance by R&B singer Aretha Franklin at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington, D.C., May 1, 1999. The event was attended by numerous celebrities. Others are unidentified. (Photo by MARIO TAMA/AFP via Getty Images)
While this will be Trump’s first time attending as president, it is not his first appearance at the dinner.
He famously attended as a guest in 2011, when then-President Barack Obama mocked him during his speech – a moment that became one of the most memorable exchanges in the event’s history.
The dinner, which is set for April 25, comes amid ongoing tensions between Trump and the media. Since beginning his second term, the Trump administration has changed longstanding press access arrangements.
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Though the annual event started in 1921, Calvin Coolidge was the first president to attend the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in 1924.
In the little more than a year since his return to office, the Trump administration has tried to ban the Associated Press from covering events at the White House and filed lawsuits against multiple media outlets Trump says portray him unfavorably, including CBS, ABC, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and the Des Moines Register. Credentials for several journalists covering the Pentagon have been revoked.
Trump has also pushed for funding cuts to public media, like NPR and PBS, and used the Federal Communications Commission to pressure media companies, though it’s meant to be an independent agency.
This year’s headline entertainer will be mentalist Oz Pearlman. Historically, comedians have hosted the dinner, often delivering pointed jokes about the president. The WHCA moved away from that format last year, canceling comedian Amber Ruffin’s appearance after criticism from the White House.
Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
