In a first as president, Trump says he’ll attend the White House correspondents’ dinner
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump He said he will attend this year’s White House Correspondents’ Association evening meal on April 25, marking the first time he has done so as commander in chief.
“The White House Correspondents’ Association has very kindly asked me to be this year’s Dinner Honoree, a long and storied tradition that began in 1924 under the administration of then-President Calvin Coolidge,” Trump posted on the social media site Monday evening.
He noted that the final episode came during celebrations marking the anniversary of America’s founding. 250th birthdayHe added that “it would be an honor for me to accept their invitation.”
Trump has been invited every year, but he never attended the dinner during his first term and skipped last year’s meeting.
“For more than 100 years, White House Correspondents’ Association journalists have enjoyed an enjoyable evening with the president,” Weijia Jiang, president of the association, said in a statement. “We are pleased that the president has accepted our invitation and look forward to hosting him.”
The event was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, but President Joe Biden attended every dinner during the final three years of his term. So far, every president since Coolidge except Trump has participated. “The press boycotted the event because they treated me extraordinarily poorly and never went,” Trump wrote in his post.
“But I’m looking forward to being with everyone this year. I hope it will be something very special.”
The reporters’ dinner began in 1921. Three years later, Coolidge became the first president to attend.
While all presidents except Trump have gone, not all of them have served their terms each year. Jimmy Carter and Richard Nixon chose not to, and Ronald Reagan, who was recovering from an assassination attempt at the time, missed the 1981 installment but called in from Camp David.
Before becoming president, Trump attended a reporters’ dinner and was mocked by then-President Barack Obama in 2011. Obama had joked: “Whatever you say about Mr. Trump, he will definitely bring some changes to the White House. Let’s see what we have there.”
The screens then flashed to the White House, where a huge neon sign read “Trump White House Hotel Casino Golf Course” with gold pillars and a massive chandelier blocking the front entrance.
This joke, made years before Trump became a politician, has proven prophetic. During his second term, Trump leveraged his construction background to renovate the White House in unprecedented ways.
These restructuring efforts include: laying asphalt on grass Installing a patio near the Rose Garden reminiscent of the Mar-a-Lago club in Florida and attaching partisan plaques to portraits of all the presidents Walk of Fame Along the colonnade. Room graced the Oval Office plenty of gold decorations and Demolished the East Wing starting work on a big project ball-room.
Returning from a weekend at Mar-a-Lago on Sunday, Trump stopped to admire two new additions to the area around the Rose Garden, statues of Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin that were erected there while he was away.
“Incredible statues. Come and look at them,” Trump told a group of nearby reporters.
