President Donald Trump will skip April’s White House Correspondents’ Association (WCHA) annual dinner this year, in what is seen as another snub against the organization amid his long feud with the left-leaning Washington D.C. press corps.
Axios first reported earlier this week that the president would not be attending the yearly April 26 dinner, after previously shunning it during his first administration.
President Trump has had a poor relationship with the mainstream media, which he has accused of having a major bias against him and his supporters.
In February, the White House stripped the WCHA of its control over the rotating pool of reporters covering the president, which it traditionally had control of since 1914.
“Moving forward, the White House Press Pool will be determined by the White House Press Team,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced at the time.
“Legacy outlets who have participated in the press pool for decades will still be allowed to join,” she said, adding, “but we will also be offering the privilege to well-deserving outlets, who have never been allowed to share in this awesome responsibility.”
“A select group of D.C.-based journalists should no longer have a monopoly over the privilege of press access at the White House,” Leavitt continued.
The WHCA pushed back, stating in March that “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 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.”
“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,” the WHCA continued.
The Trump administration most notably removed reporters from the Associated Press and other media outlets from the White House press pool, after using “Gulf of Mexico” instead of “Gulf of America” in its style guide.
After challenging that decision, a U.S. District Court judge earlier this month, reinstated the Associated Press into the White House Press Pool on First Amendment grounds.
Trump’s White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has also said that she would be avoiding the dinner, after announcing it on a podcast interview with former White House press secretary Sean Spicer in March.
“This is a group of journalists who’ve been covering the White House for decades,” Leavitt told Spicer during her interview.
“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,” she added.
In another blow to the dinner, no comedians will be hosting the dinner as usual this year, after the WHCA pulled the host, Amber Ruffin, following negative comments she made about President Trump.
The WHCA said it sacked Ruffin “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.”
Meanwhile, the White House is reportedly floating the possibility of hosting a rival event that same night, reported Politico, as it also happens to be First Lady Melania Trump’s birthday.
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