President Donald Trump will not attend the White House Correspondents' Dinner scheduled for April 26, marking yet another year he has opted out of the annual event.
Trump previously declined to attend all four dinners held during his first term in office. His continued absence, first reported by Axios, highlights the strained relationship between his administration and the White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA).
In February, the White House took control of assigning press pool rotations for journalists covering the president, a role that had long been handled by the WHCA. The move drew sharp criticism from the press corps.
“If the White House pushes forward, it will become even more clear that the administration is seeking to cynically seize control of the system through which the independent press organizes itself, so that it is easier to exact punishment on outlets over their coverage,” the WHCA board wrote in an email to members following th edecision.
Additionally, controversy stirred when the White House restricted access to Associated Press reporters for refusing to adopt the administration’s preferred terminology, “Gulf of America,” instead of “Gulf of Mexico,” in their reporting. The WHCA accused the administration of using press access as leverage to control media narratives and punish journalists.
“The reason the White House wants control of the briefing room is the same reason they took control of the pool: to exert pressure on journalists over coverage they disagree with,” the board added in its email. “This was explicit with The Associated Press, where the president and his staff plainly said their removal from covering presidential events was punishment for their style guide.”
Trump’s refusal to attend the dinner comes despite the WHCA removing comedian Amber Ruffin from the dinner’s lineup over comments in which she said the Trump administration is full of “murderers.” The WHCA said the decision was “to ensure the focus is not on the politics of division but entirely on awarding our colleagues for their outstanding work and providing scholarship and mentorship to the next generation of journalists.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also confirmed she will not be attending the event. Speaking on former press secretary Sean Spicer’s podcast last month, Leavitt remarked, “This is a group of journalists who’ve been covering the White House for decades… They started this organization because the presidents at the time were not doing enough press conferences. I don’t think we have that problem anymore under this president.”
