“The White House has informed us that the president does not plan to participate in this year’s dinner but that he will actively encourage members of the executive branch to attend and join us as celebrate the First Amendment,” Margaret Talev, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, said Friday in a statement.
Statement on President and WHCA Dinner pic.twitter.com/WiemgnIvcq
— WHCA (@whca) April 6, 2018
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders will attend the April 28 dinner to represent the administration at the head table, Talev said.
In an interview that aired Friday on WABC Radio's "Bernie and Sid" radio show, Trump said he was unlikely to attend the annual dinner, calling the press “so bad” and “so fake.”
Trump says it’s “probably pretty unlikely” that he’ll attend the WH Correspondents’ Dinner. Tells @bernieandsid it’s because the press is “so bad and so fake.”
— Steven Portnoy (@stevenportnoy) April 6, 2018
“I want to get it straightened out with the press before I do it,” he said.
Trump also skipped the dinner last year, opting instead to hold a rally in Pennsylvania.
>> Related: Trump tweets he won't attend White House correspondents' dinner
The last president to skip the event was Ronald Reagan, who missed the dinner in 1981 after being shot in an assassination attempt days earlier. Still, Reagan called into the event.
President Richard Nixon also skipped the dinner twice.
The annual dinner, a fundraiser for college scholarships and a venue for reporting awards, mixes politicians, journalists and celebrities and is typically attended by the president and first lady. Remarks by a comedian, often roasting the president, and a humorous address by the president himself, often roasting the press and political opponents, have highlighted the event.
Officials with the White House Correspondents’ Association announced in February that comedian Michelle Wolf will host this year’s dinner.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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