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From left to right, former White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, actor Michael Kelly and Capitol File editor Michael Clements, attend the closing dinner of House correspondents White at the Dupont Circle Hotel at the Dupont Circle Hotel on April 27th. (Nick Klein)
Party in Washington.
In the end, it turned out that to have a good time, the reporters did not need all the menu extras that had come to define the congested dinner of White House correspondents: the sexy celebrities of Hollywood, the sources of administration to chat or even a comedian to shout.
"Who needs them?" Asked Jeff Ballou, editor at Al Jazeera, while he was walking in the phalanx of cocktail parties preceding dinner at Washington's Saturday Hilton. "It should be about us."
While President Trump could have made a point of skip (again) dinner – and ordered the members of his administration to do the same – the weekend was not entirely devoid of fans of this administration. There were many recognizable stars of the Trump Film Universe during the dinner weekend festivities (let's call it the WHCD loophole, will we?).
[Trump wasn’t at the White House correspondents’ dinner — again — but his presence was felt]
The NBC / MSNBC post-evening event was held at the Embassy of Italy in Washington. (Evelyn Hockstein for the Washington Post)
The first time we met Kellyanne Conway, Senior Advisor at the White House, Friday night, in the stylish lounge of David Bradley, President of Atlantic Media.
Wait, we asked, was she violating her boss's ban on having fun with WHCD?
"You would call it a ban, is not it?", She asked, slipping reflexively into a critical media mode. The president did not mean that no one working for him could attend parties, she explained, but not at dinner. "Besides, these are our neighbors!", She said about the Bradley, who live in the observatory circle, very heavy in embassies. "I could not be rude!"
So Conway was free to mix that with Adrienne Arsht and other celebrities under the pretty tent in her neighbor's yard. The next day, she again appeared at the pre-party A-List, known as Garden Brunch, dressed in a butterfly-print romper, passing in front of Jay Leno to kiss Greta Van Susteren.
[[[[What you missed at the White House correspondents dinner, Trump digs at Ron Chernow jokes]
Trump's former press secretary, Sean Spicer, appeared in almost every major weekend affair, including Washington's Where's Waldo. There, he was filming "Extra" during the Friday evening preparatory evening organized by the United Talent Agency in Fiola Mare, Georgetown. Another Spicer sighting at the Hilton receptions before dinner. Once again at Capitol File Magazine's after-party at the Dupont Circle Hotel, we heard a guest refer to the former goal of "Saturday Night Live": "The Angry Little Man, Here." What is his name?"
Actor Jay Leno, left, talks to US Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein at the garden brunch at Beall-Washington House on April 27th. (Paul Morigi / Getty Images)
Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein – he of "landing the plane" that was He was also spotted at the Garden Brunch, wearing the khakis and blue blazer of the Washington weekend, chatting with Leno, one of the few celebrities to attend the evenings surrounding the dinner. Oh, and wait, there was Rudy Giuliani, posing for pictures while former Obama advisor, Valerie Jarrett, was chatting across the room with Hilary Rosen. Former Maryland Congressman John Delaney (D), a presidential candidate, gave a serious interview to the cameras parked outside, while the guests were peeking at a poke bar. There were enough mini-quiches to feel like Alice in Wonderland during a snack.
Such were the VIP comments this weekend, which have always featured many blends between Hollywood and Washington. But with Trump in power, the imported celebrities stayed away, leaving Washington to do what he's used to doing. At the annual dinner, the show is unusual: real business cards. After three years of decline (or resurgence, depending on who you ask for), dinner may have once again found good networking roots. The distribution of contact information has replaced ubiquitous smartphones to take selfies, shoptalk has replaced "who is it?" Whispers and the place was always crowded despite the exceptional exodus.
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright attends the CBS News / Politico pre-party at the Washington Hilton. (Allison Shelley)
"I've been coming to dinner for years now and it's the most important year," said former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright as she stepped down with the Maryland governor. Larry Hogan (right) and British Ambassador Kim Darroch. during the evening preceding the dinner organized on Saturday by CBS News and Politico in the tent on the Hilton's terrace.
Hogan was one of the few politicians elected to make the scene – wait, the majority leader in the House, Steny H. Hoyer! (We mentioned the celebrity sightings were nasty, no?)
"It's the same number of parties, but with people a little less interesting," said Friday evening a veterans dinner correspondents at the pre-holiday of Washington diplomats and ambassadors of Qatar to the United States Institute of Peace. The most famous faces there? Karen Huger and Sonja Morgan from Bravo's Real Housewives franchise.
Another party-goer who just made his way through the packed crowd at UTA's Friday party echoed the same sentiment: "It's also ridiculous," he said, "and that's just us." Only U.S It was the theme of the whole weekend, it seemed – a Washington affair that will never die despite alarmist headlines and endless complaints about the lack of what one of the guests called "the sizzle ".
In the left, Vaughn Hillyard, Jesse Rodriguez, Kory Apton, MSNBC President Phil Griffin, Josh Lederman and Betsy Korona at the NBC / MSNBC post-soiree at the Italian Embassy in Washington. (Evelyn Hockstein for the Washington Post)
The after-parties also had a clubhouse feel. At the Italian embassy, where the NBC / MSNBC event took place, CNN's Wolf Blitzer and MSNBC host Ali Velshi posed together for a photo – which was photographed under the bombs by Spicer. Blitzer, who has attended so many dinners he can not count, told us earlier in the night that he hoped the weekend would advance. "It's for a good cause," he said about the different parties, before adding diplomatically that he loved them all in the same way.
Another draw no one can resist? Booze free.
Matt Schlapp, the president of the US Conservatives syndicate and husband of Mercedes Schlapp, Trump's social assistant, the same man who suspected last year's dinner complaining about comedian Michelle Wolf, looked after a martini near the bar.
And if the celebrities are gone? So, if the historian Ron Chernow, who did an affable job as entertainment of the night – even though several dinner guests jumped before his speech – replaced the comedian? What if the president did not want to attend the three o'clock dinner? He's not going anywhere anytime soon.
The House of Cards star, Michael Kelly, who co-hosted the Capitol File's after-party and was one of the few famous faces of the weekend, said that "we're not going to be here." he was happy to skip this year's dinner for "obvious reasons", but he will be just as happy to return to the Hilton Ballroom in the future.
"I look at it like a back and forth," he said. "I am a political nerd. I love this city so I will be back. "
And dinner will be there waiting.
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