Trump won't let anyone from the White House go to the White House Correspondents' Dinner

White House.
(Image credit: Alex Wong / Getty Images)

President Trump isn't just skipping this year's White House Correspondents' Dinner; he's making sure the entire administration does the same.

No one from the Trump administration will be going to the yearly gathering of journalists on Saturday, as Trump has personally ordered an administration-wide boycott, Politico reports.

The president had previously said he would not personally be going to the 2019 White House Correspondents' Dinner, which he also skipped in 2017 and 2018. But even in those years, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders still went, CNN notes. The White House last year criticized comedian Michelle Wolf for her jokes about Sanders, though, including when she said she "burns facts, and then she uses that ash to create a perfect smoky eye."

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This year, the White House Correspondents' Dinner isn't having a comedian at all, and Trump once suggested this might inspire him to turn out. But he later announced he wouldn't do so and would hold a rally instead, calling the dinner "so boring" and "so negative."

White House Correspondents' Association President Olivier Knox responded to reports of Trump's boycott by saying that "we're looking forward to an enjoyable evening of celebrating the First Amendment and great journalists past, present, and future."

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Brendan Morrow

Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.