Trump to attend press dinner after years of boycotts
President Donald Trump, famous for his clashes with journalists and accusations against the “fake news” media, will attend the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner for the first time as president.
Every year since its founding, the WHCA has invited the incumbent president to its annual celebration of press freedom.
Everyone except Trump has joined at some point during their presidency.
After Trump’s boycott of the black tie event during his first term and in 2025, Trump’s attendance in 2026 has become a matter of great expectation in Washington, especially given the president’s combative and complicated relationship with the media.
He filed lawsuits against media outlets, dismissed reports as “fake news” and personally attacked journalists.
His administration banned the Associated Press from the White House press pool and restricted reporters’ access to the Pentagon, among other moves.
However, he provides far greater access to journalists than his immediate predecessors, speaking regularly on his mobile phone and frequently answering their questions during media appearances.
Some in the Washington press corps oppose Trump’s presence at the Washington Hilton on Saturday.
“Trump’s entire presidency is, of course, an affront to the free press,” HuffPost editor-in-chief Whitney Snyder wrote in a column explaining the paper’s decision to skip the dinner.
More than 350 former and current journalists, including former news anchor Dan Pretty, signed a letter calling for the WHCA to use the dinner as an opportunity to “strongly demonstrate opposition to President Trump’s efforts to trample on freedom of the press.”
WHCA says the dinner reinforces the importance of press freedom.
“As we celebrate America’s 250th birthday, our choice to gather in the same room as journalists, news producers, and the president is a reminder of what a free press means to this country and why it must be here to stay,” WHCA president Weijia Jiang said in a statement. he said.
A White House spokesman told Reuters, referring to Trump’s March 2 Truth Social post; here the president said he had previously skipped the event because the press was “extraordinarily bad” to him, but agreed to hold it in 2026.
“In honor of our Nation’s 250th Birthday,” he wrote, “and in honor of the fact that these “Reporters” now recognize that I am truly the GOAT, one of the Greatest Presidents in the History of our Country, it would be My Honor to accept their invitation and work to make this THE GREATEST, HOTEST, and MOST AMAZING DINNER OF ANY KIND!”
For many Trump chroniclers, the dinner holds a legendary place in his story.
In 2011, Trump, as an ordinary citizen, attended the dinner where Democratic president Barack Obama humiliated him from the stage.
Trump did not appear to take the jokes well, and a story emerged that the incident helped crystallize Trump’s decision to run in 2016; Trump denied this theory.
