WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says he will attend this year’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on April 25, his first appearance as commander in chief.
“The White House Correspondents’ Association has been kind enough to invite me to serve as the recipient of this year’s dinner, a long and storied tradition that began in 1924 under then-President Calvin Coolidge,” Trump posted on his social media site Monday night.
He noted that the latest issue was launched during celebrations marking America’s 250th birthday, adding “I am honored to accept their invitation.”
Trump has been invited every year but never attended the dinner during his first term and did not attend last year’s gathering.
“For more than 100 years, reporters from the White House Correspondents’ Association have enjoyed an evening with the president,” Jiang Weijia, the association’s president, said in a statement. “We are delighted that the President has accepted our invitation and look forward to hosting him.”
The event was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and 2021, but President Joe Biden attended every dinner during his final three years in office. Every president since Coolidge attended, except Trump—until now. Trump wrote in the post that he “boycotted the event and has never attended” “because the media has treated me very poorly.”
“But I’m looking forward to being with everyone this year. Hopefully it will be something very special.”
The Correspondents’ Dinner was first held in 1921. Three years later, Coolidge became the first president to attend.
While all presidents except Trump have gone, not all have gone every year during their term. Jimmy Carter and Richard Nixon chose not to do so, and Ronald Reagan, then recovering from an assassination attempt, missed the 1981 episode but called in from Camp David.
Trump attended a correspondent’s dinner before becoming president and was mocked by then-President Barack Obama in 2011. “Whatever you think of Mr. Trump, he’s definitely going to bring some changes to the White House. Let’s see what we do there,” Obama joked.
The screen then flashed to the White House with a giant neon sign that read “Trump White House Hotel Casino Golf Course,” along with gold pillars and a giant chandelier blocking the front entrance.
The joke was made years before Trump became a politician, and it proved prophetic. In his second term, Trump used his construction background to transform the White House in an unprecedented way.
The renovations include paving the lawn near the Rose Garden, installing a patio reminiscent of his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida and affixing partisan plaques to all the president’s portraits on the Walk of Fame along the colonnade. He also decorated the Oval Office with extensive gold ornaments and demolished the east wing to begin construction of a large ballroom.
Returning from a weekend at Mar-a-Lago on Sunday, Trump stopped to admire two new structures in the area surrounding the Rose Garden, statues of Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin that had been erected there in his absence.
“Incredible statues. Come look at them,” Trump told a group of reporters nearby.
