Trump accepts WHCA invitation to attend White House Correspondents’ Dinner

President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that he will attend the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on April 25, 2026, at the Washington Hilton and has accepted the White House Correspondents’ Association’s invitation to be this year’s honoree. The announcement on March 2 marks the first time Trump will join the dinner as a sitting president.

In his post, Trump wrote, “The White House Correspondents Association has asked me, very nicely, to be the Honoree at this year’s Dinner, a long and storied tradition since it began in 1924, under then President Calvin Coolidge.” He added that the event will mark “our Nation’s 250th Birthday” and said he would “work to make it the GREATEST, HOTTEST, and MOST SPECTACULAR DINNER, OF ANY KIND, EVER!” The White House Correspondents’ Association president, Weijia Jiang, said in a statement that the organization was pleased the president accepted and looked forward to hosting him.

The dinner, which debuted in 1921 and saw President Calvin Coolidge become the first president to attend in 1924, is a fundraising event for the association’s First Amendment scholarships and programs. It has been a regular site for lighthearted exchanges between presidents and journalists, though it was canceled in 2020 and 2021 during the coronavirus pandemic. Presidents have sometimes skipped the event; Jimmy Carter and Richard Nixon opted not to attend in some years, and Ronald Reagan missed the 1981 dinner while recovering from an assassination attempt. President Joe Biden attended the dinners during the final three years of his term.

Trump has a prior history with the event, having attended as a private citizen in 2011 when President Barack Obama lampooned him in a roast. He has also publicly criticized the press and the dinner during his presidency, saying earlier that “the Press was extraordinarily bad to me” and that he had boycotted the event. The administration has altered long-standing press access arrangements, changing management of the White House press pool and restricting access to the press secretary’s office, heightening the symbolic stakes of his attendance.

Programming this year departs from recent format choices. The association invited mentalist Oz Pearlman to entertain guests rather than selecting a comedian to roast the president, removing a familiar ritual of comedic ribbing from the program. Organizers say the dinner remains a primary fundraiser for journalism scholarships and a signature Washington event sometimes nicknamed “nerd prom” by local observers.

Trump’s decision comes amid a broader media landscape in flux. Allies have purchased major media assets, including a high-profile deal involving Paramount, and consolidation among broadcasters has drawn attention to questions of ownership, editorial influence, and regulatory scrutiny. Political calculations matter too: the administration is campaigning amid Operation Epic Fury and approval ratings that remain near lows reported in recent polling.

Logistics are set for April 25 at the Washington Hilton. Organizers and the White House are expected to release further details on guest lists, security and the program as the event approaches. The president’s attendance will be measured not only for optics but for what it signals about White House relations with the press and the evolving commercial structure of American media.