WASHINGTON — After refusing to attend next weekend’s annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner — a traditional night of comity between presidents and the news media — President Trump announced Saturday that he would hold a rally away from the capital while the dinner was underway.
In a Twitter message on Saturday morning, the president said he would be “holding a BIG rally in Pennsylvania” on April 29, the same night the press corps will be gathering for its annual black-tie event at the Washington Hilton.
Mr. Trump’s decision is another thumb in the eye to the White House press corps after months of tension and acrimony between the president and the reporters who cover him. Mr. Trump has called several news organizations “fake” or the “enemy of the people” and has repeatedly said The New York Times is “failing.”
After the president announced in February that he would not attend the dinner, the White House indicated that none of his staff members would attend, “in solidarity” with their boss — a move that was widely interpreted as an order by Mr. Trump that they should not go.
The dinner has for decades been attended by sitting presidents and scores of administration officials. In recent years, it has become a destination for A-list celebrities and has raised money for scholarships that the Correspondents’ Association gives to aspiring student journalists.
Instead, Mr. Trump will use the evening to trumpet his administration’s early accomplishments at the rally. April 29 is the president’s 100th day in office, a milestone that Mr. Trump mocked as “ridiculous” in a Twitter post on Friday.
Jeff Mason, the president of the White House Correspondents’ Association and a reporter for Reuters, said after Mr. Trump’s tweet that “we will be celebrating the First Amendment at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner next week, and we look forward to doing just that.”
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