President Donald Trump will host a campaign rally in Washington, Michigan, for his supporters during the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) dinner instead of continuing the presidential tradition of attending the event.
“While the fake news media will be celebrating themselves with the denizens of Washington society in the swamp that evening, President Trump will be in a completely different Washington, celebrating our national economic revival with patriotic Americans,” said Trump campaign COO Michael Glassner in an email to supporters.
This is the second year that Trump has skipped the correspondents’ dinner in favor of a campaign rally. In 2017, he skipped it to rally supporters in Pennsylvania.
“They are watching right now, and they would love to be with us right here tonight,” Trump said at the time about the reporters at the dinner. “But they are trapped at the dinner, which will be very, very boring.”
Trump weighed the possibility of attending the dinner this year but ultimately decided not to.
“I sort of feel that the press is so bad, it’s so fake, it’s so made up,” Trump said in an interview with New York radio show Bernie and Sid. “I call them novelists, they make up the sources, in some cases there are sources, but then they won’t do it correctly either but in many cases, they literally make up sources.”
The dinner will continue without the president, although this year, members of Trump’s administration are allowed to attend.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders plans to attend the WHCA dinner this year, which will be held on April 28.