President Donald Trump said Monday that he will go to the White House correspondents' dinner this year, the first time he’ll be in attendance while he was in office.
Although it’s customary for presidents to attend the dinner, Trump skipped the event each year during his first term, in addition to the first one in his second term.
“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,” Trump said on Truth Social.
Trump has previously attended the dinner, but not as president. He attended the dinner during former President Barack Obama’s eight years in office and was the target of Obama’s jokes at the 2011 event.
White House Correspondents' Association president Weijia Jiang said in a statement Monday that the association welcomed Trump's decision.
"We’re happy the president has accepted our invitation and look forward to hosting him," Jiang said. "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."
The White House Correspondents’ Dinner dates back to 1921. The first president to attend the annual event was Calvin Coolidge in 1924.
This year's dinner is scheduled for April 25.
Trump has sued numerous news outlets in recent years, including the BBC, CBS, ABC, the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and the Des Moines Register. Several have settled with Trump, including CBS’ parent company Paramount, and ABC, which agreed to pay $16 million and $15 million, respectively.
The Trump White House, which has feuded with the correspondents’ association in the past, exerted control over media access last year when it said it would decide which outlets could be a part of the White House press pool that reports on daily activities. The correspondents association, which functions independently from the White House, had historically coordinated pool coverage.
