Trump announced his decision on Twitter late Saturday afternoon. The dinner is scheduled for April 29.
Shortly after Trump’s tweet, the president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, which sponsors the annual event, said in an email that the dinner would take place even without Trump’s attendance.
“[The dinner] has been and will continue to be a celebration of the First Amendment and the important role played by an independent news media in a healthy republic,” said Jeff Mason, WHCA president. “We look forward to shining a spotlight at the dinner on some of the best political journalism of the past year and recognizing the promising students who represent the next generation of our profession.”
Since Trump’s inauguration, calls to boycott the annual event have grown louder amid his increasingly fraught relationship with the press. Throughout his campaign, Trump regularly lashed out at the press, singling out news outlets for being “dishonest” and at one point barring The Washington Post from covering his campaign events. Since his election, he has accused certain media outlets of publishing “fake news.” Earlier this month, the tense relationship reached a boil when Trump called the media “the enemy of the American People.”
In response to concerns, the White House Correspondents’ Association released a statement earlier this month saying the dinner would take place. Vanity Fair, the New Yorker and Bloomberg canceled their parties, which had usually drawn celebrities.
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