For the second straight year, President Donald Trump, will not attend the White House Correspondents’ Association annual black-tie dinner, the president of the group said on Friday.
Last year, Trump was the first US president to skip the event in 36 years. Most officials in his administration also snubbed the dinner.
“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 we celebrate the First Amendment,” Margaret Talev, the president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, says.
Talev, a correspondent for Bloomberg, said White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders would represent the Trump administration at the 28 April dinner.
Trump had said in an interview that he probably would not attend the dinner, which normally features big names from the worlds of politics and entertainment as guests of media organisations.
Trump, who frequently complains about media coverage of his administration, said he would sit out the event, adding that reporters had treated him unfairly.
However, Trump had attended the dinner before becoming president, notably in 2011, when former U.S. President Barack Obama publicly ribbed Trump about questioning whether Obama was born in the United States.
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