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WASHINGTON (AP) – No, thank you. President Donald Trump said he had better things to do than attend the "boring" and "negative" dinner of the White House Correspondents Association.
Trump announced on Friday that he would hold one of his political rallies to counter the lavish April 27 dinner press schedule, skipping the event for the third year in a row.
"The dinner is so boring and so negative that we are going to have a very positive gathering," he said.
Presidents and first ladies traditionally attend this event, a fundraiser for college scholarships where politicians, journalists and celebrities rub shoulders. A number of awards for reporting are also distributed at dinner.
Trump has not attended the dinner since taking office, but he had suggested that he appear this year after the organizers had dropped the usual format featuring a comedian and instead invited the author Ron Chernow, Pulitzer Prize winner, to speak.
Association President Olivier Knox said in a statement: "We look forward to a pleasant evening at which we will celebrate the First Amendment and the great journalists of the past, present and future."
Trump, who has long had conflicting media relations, also held dinner-night rallies in 2017 and 2018. Throughout his presidency, he criticized "fake media" and "dishonest" journalists, highlighting journalists and media outlets.
True to his habit, Trump tweeted Friday that the press "does not support the fact that this administration has done more than virtually all other administrations since its first two years."
He added, "They are really the PEOPLE'S ENEMY!"
Trump said his team had not yet chosen a venue for his April 27 rally, but said, "It will be a big event."
The association decided to move to a featured speaker rather than a comic after a decidedly anti-Trump performance of comedian Michelle Wolf last year, which seemed too dashed against the affair's attachment. White House press Sarah Huckabee Sanders and other members of the White House staff.
Chernow, a biographer of presidents and state men, including George Washington and Alexander Hamilton, should talk about the importance of the first amendment. Chernow, like many historians, strongly opposed Trump's bid in 2016 and called him a "demagogue."
Although Trump did not attend dinner as president, he left in the past. President Barack Obama mocked him on the occasion of the 2011 dinner.
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