--- title: Donald Trump to Skip White House Correspondent's Dinner description: President Donald Trump announced in a tweet that he will skip this year's White House Correspondents' Dinner canonical: https://time.com/4683002/president-trump-skip-white-house-correspondents-dinner/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-25T23:23:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T03:31:31.234Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump Announces He'll Skip White House Correspondents' Dinner og:description: Trump's tweet ends months of will-he, won't-he speculation about his attendance og:url: https://time.com/4683002/president-trump-skip-white-house-correspondents-dinner/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt99a3ad93b0488e01/6988bbf9f887dc830fe99374/donald-trump-dinner.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4135 og:image:height: 2326 og:image:alt: U.S. President Donald Trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump Announces He'll Skip White House Correspondents' Dinner twitter:description: Trump's tweet ends months of will-he, won't-he speculation about his attendance twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt99a3ad93b0488e01/6988bbf9f887dc830fe99374/donald-trump-dinner.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Announces He'll Skip White House Correspondents' Dinner by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Feb 25, 2017 11:23 PM UTC  President Donald Trump speaks to a packed ballroom during the CPAC conference at the Gaylord Hotel and Convention Center in Oxon Hill, Maryland on Feb. 24, 2017. President Donald Trump speaks to a packed ballroom during the CPAC conference at the Gaylord Hotel and Convention Center in Oxon Hill, Maryland on Feb. 24, 2017.Melina Mara—The Washington Post/Getty Images by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Feb 25, 2017 11:23 PM UTC [President Donald Trump](http://time.com/4681555/trump-us-nuclear-arsenal/) announced in a tweet Saturday that he will skip this year’s [White House Correspondents’ Dinner](http://time.com/money/4312847/white-house-correspondents-dinner-scholarship-fundraiser/). “I will not be attending the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner this year,” the president tweeted. “Please wish everyone well and have a great evening!” Trump’s tweet ends months of will-he, won’t-he speculation about his attendance at the annual Washington gathering, which has hosted every sitting president since Calvin Coolidge at least once [since its 1921 founding](http://whca.net/history.htm). Trump’s decision not to attend the dinner comes after his repeated criticisms of the press as “fake news” and accusing some outlets of being “enemies of the people.” Several news outlets publicly stated they were rethinking their attendance at the dinner amid Trump’s unprecedented attack on the news media. In early February, association president Jeff Mason informed members that the dinner would take place whether or not Trump attends. “The White House Correspondents’ Association looks forward to having its annual dinner on April 29,” Mason said Saturday. “The WHCA takes note of President Donald Trump’s announcement on Twitter that he does not plan to attend the dinner, which has been and will continue to be a celebration of the First Amendment and the important role played by an independent news media in a healthy republic. We look forward to shining a spotlight at the dinner on some of the best political journalism of the past year and recognizing the promising students who represent the next generation of our profession.” Trump attended the dinner in 2011, in which he was famously lampooned both by then-President Barack Obama and the evening’s entertainer, comedian Seth Meyers, for his false public assertions that Obama was not born in the United States. This year’s dinner, which also funds a [scholarship program](http://whca.net/scholarships.htm) run by the association, is scheduled for April 29. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4683002/president-trump-skip-white-house-correspondents-dinner/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4683002/president-trump-skip-white-house-correspondents-dinner/"},"headline":"President Trump Announces He'll Skip White House Correspondents' Dinner","datePublished":"2017-02-25T23:23:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T03:31:31.234Z","description":"Trump's tweet ends months of will-he, won't-he speculation about his attendance","url":"https://time.com/4683002/president-trump-skip-white-house-correspondents-dinner/","keywords":["White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt99a3ad93b0488e01/6988bbf9f887dc830fe99374/donald-trump-dinner.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke Miller","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt99a3ad93b0488e01/6988bbf9f887dc830fe99374/donald-trump-dinner.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"U.S. President Donald Trump","caption":"U.S. President Donald Trump","creditText":"Melina Mara—The Washington Post/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4683002/president-trump-skip-white-house-correspondents-dinner/","name":"President Trump Announces He'll Skip White House Correspondents' Dinner"}}]}] ```