The US President Donald Trump on Tuesday ordered his administration to boycott the traditional annual reception of the Association of Correspondents at the White House, which will be held this Saturday, April 27, Politico reported referring to its sources in the White House.
The president, who has considered the event to be “so boring and negative,” has for the past two years used the evening instead to hold a political rally, where he has railed against the news media. He is set to do so again this year in Green Bay, Wisc.
According to Politico, Trump’s decision is a demonstration of his neglect of the Association, which has been preparing for this reception for three months.
“White House officials did not attend the 2017 dinner as a gesture of support for the president, who did not attend. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House deputy press secretary at the time, told ABC that it was "kind of naïve" to ignore the tension between the White House and the press corps, even for an evening,” the source noted.
Media criticism
On Tuesday morning, Trump again criticized The New York Times, demanding an apology.
“I wonder if the New York Times will apologize to me a second time, as they did after the 2016 Election. But this one will have to be a far bigger & better apology. On this one they will have to get down on their knees & beg for forgiveness-they are truly the Enemy of the People!” Trump tweeted.
On Monday, The New York Times published an article by columnist Paul Krugman, who once again accused the president of obstructing the investigation of interference attributed to Russia in the US presidential election in 2016, and the entire Republican Party in the absence of faith in American values.
Earlier, Trump has repeatedly accused the US liberal media of being biased towards him and the decisions of his administration. The president argued that such TV channels as CNN, NBC, ABC, as well as a number of publications, including The New York Times, publish deliberately false information.
About the dinner
The dinner of the Association of Correspondents at the White House is traditionally one of the main events of the year in the high life of the US capital. Last year, it took place at the Washington Hilton hotel. The evening, as usual, collects Washington's political journalists, as well as government officials, foreign diplomats and stars of US show business.
The association was created in 1914, and six years later, it was created the tradition of holding its annual dinners. In 1924, the 30th US President Calvin Coolidge became the first president of the United States to attend this event. Since then, every head of state has attended the Association's dinner at least once during his time in office.
Initially, the dinner was mainly resolved various organizational issues and exchanged experiences and contacts, but later these dinner turned into social events with the participation of a large number of celebrities. For example, in 1993, the famous actress and singer Barbra Streisand performed at the dinner, in 2006 the famous TV satirist Stephen Colbert took part in it, and in 2012 - the Hollywood actor and director George Clooney. These techniques are also designed to help strengthen press freedom in the US. In addition, they raise funds for the payment of scholarships to beginning journalists and for the implementation of charitable projects.