By Alejandra Jaramillo, CNN
(CNN) — President Donald Trump said Monday he will attend this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner, a notable reversal after boycotting the annual event traditionally attended by presidents.
“The White House Correspondents Association has asked me, very nicely, to be the Honoree at this year’s Dinner, a long and storied tradition since it began in 1924, under then President Calvin Coolidge,” the president said in a Truth Social post, adding that in honor of the nation’s 250th birthday, he will attend and “work to make it the GREATEST, HOTTEST, and MOST SPECTACULAR DINNER, OF ANY KIND, EVER!”
Trump was the first president to not attend the White House Correspondents’ Dinner while in office, boycotting the annual Washington gathering during his first term and the first year of his second. He has frequently criticized the event and the news media more broadly, at times labeling journalists “the enemy of the American people,” a sentiment he referenced in his Monday post.
“Because the Press was extraordinarily bad to me, FAKE NEWS ALL, right from the beginning of my First Term, I boycotted the event, and never went as Honoree,” he said, before signaling a change in tone: “I look forward to being with everyone this year.”
“For more than 100 years, the journalists of the White House Correspondents’ Association have enjoyed an evening with the president,” said Weijia Jiang, president of the association, going on to highlight the dinner’s tradition of celebrating the First Amendment and awarding scholarships.
“We’re happy the president has accepted our invitation and look forward to hosting him,” said Jiang, CBS News’ senior White House correspondent.
Although Trump has never attended as president, he did attend the dinner before taking office, most famously in 2011, when then-President Barack Obama roasted him during his remarks.
Relations between the White House and the White House Correspondents’ Association have remained strained since the start of Trump’s second term. The administration has altered long-standing press access arrangements, including changing the management of the White House press pool and restricting access to the press secretary’s office.
The dinner, set for April 25 at the Washington Hilton, is known for its laughs and lighthearted moments. In more recent years, they have featured a speaker — usually a comedian — roasting the commander in chief.
Last year, the association scrapped plans to feature comedian Amber Ruffin as the dinner’s headliner and instead said it would focus the event on celebrating the First Amendment and the role of a free press, a move widely viewed as reflective of tensions with the Trump administration.
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CNN’s Donald Judd contributed to this report.
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