White House Correspondents Insider

Behind the scenes of the most powerful city in the world — Washington, D.C. — and those who cover it.

No White House Staff Will Attend Correspondents’ Dinner

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Correspondents’ Dinner place setting. Photo courtesy Haddad Media.

There will be no representative from the White House at this year’s White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner. The Trump administration announced late Tuesday that White House staff will not attend this year’s Dinner out of “solidarity” with the president.

WHCA president Jeff Mason of Reuters sent a letter to the organization stating that “[t]he White House informed the White House Correspondents’ Association this evening that White House staff will not be attending this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner out of ‘solidarity’ with President Trump, who has previously announced that he would skip the event.”

The president announced on Twitter in February that he would not attend the annual dinner. But various White House figures had been rumored to be planning on attending, such as Vice President Mike Pence, Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, and Press Secretary Sean Spicer.

“Only the White House can speak to the signal it wants to send with this decision, but our signal is clear,” wrote Mason. “We will celebrate the First Amendment on April 29 and look forward to acknowledging the important work of our terrific members and awarding scholarships to students who represent the next generation of our profession.”

The White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner will be held on April 29 at the Washington Hilton. Proceeds for the event go toward scholarships for exceptional students in journalism.

President Trump Still Welcome to Attend White House Correspondents’ Dinner

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Correspondents’ Dinner place setting. Photo courtesy Haddad Media.

The White House Correspondents’ Association is keeping open the possibility that President Donald Trump may appear at the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner in April. The president announced last month on Twitter that he would not attend.

“If President Trump changes his mind, he is welcome to attend the dinner,” said association President Jeff Mason of Reuters.

There have been no announcements yet on who would be at the head table if Trump does not attend. Traditionally, members of the WHCA board sit on stage, joined by the president, first lady, vice president, White House press secretary and entertainment.

President Trump has attended events in the past where he had declined invitations, such as a post-election interview with the New York Times.

C-SPAN political editor and former WHCA president Steve Scully commented on this possibility. “President Trump is the master showman so he may decide to attend at the last minute, but I doubt it.”

The president has attended every White House Correspondents’ Dinner since 1981, when Ronald Reagan missed as he was recovering from an assassination attempt. Reagan called the dinner and addressed the crowd over the phone. Jimmy Carter was the last president to decline an invitation to the annual dinner.

The Association Dinner will be held on April 29. Proceeds from the event go toward scholarships for emerging journalism students.

First Lady Announces 2017 White House Easter Egg Roll

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First Lady Melania Trump announced the initial details of the 139th annual White House Easter Egg Roll today.   The event is scheduled to take place on April 17th on the South Lawn of the White House.  The President and First Lady are inviting families with children aged 13 and under to join them and White House staff for a day full of festivities and celebrations.

White House Easter Egg Roll tickets are allotted through an online lottery, although tickets are free to the public.

The Easter Egg Roll is a tradition at the White House dating back to President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1878.

Further information surrounding the Easter Egg Roll and the lottery for tickets will be announced later this month.

Who Will Headline the Correspondents Dinner?

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Photo courtesy Haddad Media.

Over the weekend, Late Night host Stephen Colbert suggested he would “love” to again headline the 2017 White House Correspondents’ Dinner in April. “I’d love to do it. I mean, when else are you going to stand next to the President and make jokes? But no one will ever ask again.”

Past hosts include Larry Wilmore, Rich Little, Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Kimmel. Jay Leno currently holds the record for emceeing the event four times: 1987, 2000, 2004 and 2010.

The challenge for this year’s host will be balancing his or her role as entertainment with a presidential administration constantly criticizing the media. Dave Berg, producer of “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” summed it up:

“In the past, the big challenge for comedians was, ‘How could I be funnier than President Obama? In most years, his comedy trumped the comedians. This year goes way beyond that. On the one hand, you could be accused of sitting there and skewering Trump and he is captive [at the dinner]. On the other hand, you could be accused of being too soft.”

Director Patrick Gavin, who produced the 2015 documentary Nerd Prom: Inside Washington’s Wildest Week, said this should be a tough decision for any comedian. “If they’re too tough on Trump, they run the risk of violating the ‘singe, but not burn’ principle that guides the dinner… And if they’re too soft… they will suffer the wrath of half of the country that view taking it to Trump as nothing short of a civic requirement.”

Jeff Mason of Reuters, in his role as the president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, oversees choosing the entertainer. He said recently he has no timeframe currently on when someone will be announced.

President Trump has not yet accepted an invitation to attend the Dinner. The last president to miss was Ronald Reagan in 1981 as he recovered from an assassination attempt.

Why the White House Correspondents’ Dinner Is More Important than Ever

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Correspondents’ Dinner place setting. Photo courtesy Haddad Media.

White House Correspondents’ Association president and Reuters White House correspondent Jeff Mason is fighting back against the voices calling for cancellation of the White House Correspondents Dinner. argues the dinner is critically important in the age of Donald Trump and “fake news.”

“It’s about an opportunity to lift up good journalism, celebrate up-and-coming journalism, and celebrate the First Amendment—that’s what we’ll be doing this year. And we do encourage our member organizations to bring as many journalists as they can, because that’s what the dinner is about. It’s also about giving journalists a chance to visit with the sources they cover.”

George Condon of National Journal also pointed out that the dinner is about the First Amendment and members of the media, not the president. “Every president is unhappy with the press, although President Trump is much more vocal and more personal in his attacks. But that doesn’t affect whether you have the dinner, because it doesn’t mean we’re honoring or validating everything a president says.”  Here is Mr. Condon’s interview with Tammy Haddad on a Podcast Special on the White House Correspondents Weekend.

Recent news surrounding the White House Correspondents’ Dinner has focused mainly on media outlets declining to attend due to various reasons: an administration hostile toward the media, lack of focus at the dinner on important media issues, alternative scheduled events, fostering a too-cozy relationship between the press and the administration.

Jo Miller, showrunner for Bee’s “Full Frontal” show, has said that this year’s dinner “will either be called off or it will probably be the most sinister, awkward event ever.”

Former Association president Ed Chen argues the dinner helps promote better journalism. “If you’re sitting next to a Cabinet secretary or a senior West Wing official, you have that much more time to establish a rapport with that person, and that can only help, rather than hurt.”

The White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner is scheduled for Saturday April 29. Proceeds from the event will go also fund scholarships for deserving reporters-in-training.

Samantha Bee to Host Trump Roast Same Night as White House Correspondents Dinner

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The Willard Hotel. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

Samantha Bee, host of TBS “Full Frontal With Samantha Bee,” is planning an roast of President Donald Trump in Washington April 29th titled “Not the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.”

Scheduled to be held at the Willard Hotel, Ms. Bee and her colleagues stated her event is not designed to compete with the White House Correspondents’ Association annual dinner, to be held the same evening.

“We’re not trying to supersede it.  We just want to be there in case something happens – or doesn’t happen – and ensure that we get to properly roast the president,” Bee said in a telephone interview with the New York Times.

The television host and comedienne said she and her producers got the idea for their event after November’s election.  “We were talking out loud about whether we thought the White House Correspondents’ dinner would change during a Trump presidency, or if it would even exist.  And then we thought: Why don’t we just do one, just to do it in the way that we would want it done if we were hosting it?”

Although the White House Correspondents Association has not yet announced the entertainment for April’s dinner, Bee said she did not expect to be asked.  “My assumption is that that invitation is not coming, and I don’t blame them for that at all,” she said.

Bee’s roast will likely be broadcast on TBS, although she said the details were still under negotiation.  Attending guests also were still being worked out.  “We have binders full of people, but we don’t have any specifics to offer yet,” Ms. Bee said.

Proceeds from “Not the White House Correspondents’ Dinner” will be donated to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

UPDATE: To see past WHCI coverage of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and related events, please click here.

White House Turns Magical for Christmas Season

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White House Christmas 2011. CC photo courtesy of Tim Evanson on Flickr.

Visitors can tour the White House year-round, though during the Christmas season welcomes people from around the globe to see a holiday celebration like no other.

The theme for this year is “The Gift of the Holidays,” reflecting on gifts that matter, including “service, friends and family, education and good health,” per the White House press release.

The White House has been transformed into a winter wonderland for the Christmas season, complete with over 6,000 ornaments, 8,000 bows and ribbons, 25,000 yarn pom-poms, and over 50 Lego gingerbread houses. The White House invited 92 volunteers from around the country to assist with decorating this year. Rafanelli Events designed the décor.

Guests will find the White House Gingerbread House weighing in at 150 pounds of gingerbread and 20 pounds of icing. A long-standing tradition during the Christmas season, first ladies Martha Washington and Dolley Madison made a soft version of this cake to treat visitors.

This year, only 10% of the decorations are new, with most being recycled or re-purposed from previous Christmas seasons.

If you wish to tour the White House yourself, you can visit the White House Visitors Office website for more information.

WHC Flashback to Ellis Schafer reflecting on the final Easter Egg Roll of the Obama administration earlier this year.  Schafer is the Special Assistant to President Barack Obama and Director of the White House Visitors Office.

Denzel Washington Blasts Media for “B.S.”

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Washington at the premiere of The Equalizer in 2014. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

Washington at the premiere of The Equalizer in 2014. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

Hollywood star Denzel Washington, in DC Wednesday for the premier of his new film “Fences,” blasted the mainstream media for selling “B.S.”

“If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you do read it, you’re misinformed,” Washington told ITK at the movie premier, held at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Denzel Washington is no stranger to false news reports. During the presidential election, a fake news story was wildly circulated that he was changing his support from Hillary Clinton to Donald Trump. He blasted those picking up and circulating the story on “the need to be first,” instead of the motivation on reporting the truth.

“In our society, now it’s just first — who cares, get it out there. We don’t care who it hurts. We don’t care who we destroy. We don’t care if it’s true,” Washington said.

“Just say it, sell it. Anything you practice you’ll get good at — including B.S.”

Washington’s new film “Fences,” based on an award-winning play of the same name and featuring Viola Davis, centers on the life of a black family in 1950s Pittsburgh. Washington also starred in the film and directed it. The movie is set to be released on Christmas.

House of Cards Star Michael Kelly Presents His Mother With the Hero of the Year Award at WISER Celebration

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Michael Kelly with his mother Maureen at the 2016 Samuel J Heyman Service to America Awards

Michael Kelly with his mother Maureen at the 2016 Samuel J Heyman Service to America Awards

House of Cards Star Michael Kelly got a chance to honor his mother Maureen Kelly at this year’s Women’s Institute for Secure Retirement (WISER) Awards Banquet on Tuesday, September 20. Maureen took home the Hero of the Year award for her role in advocating for older people and her 16 years of working with WISER. She is the founder and president of the Thanks Mom and Dad Fund which supports programs and services for people of advanced age. According to Maureen, “There are going to be almost double the number of older adults by the year 2030 and yet public funding and support has not kept pace with the anticipated growth in the population.”

Michael Kelly gave a heartfelt introduction to his mother who he calls “the most selfless and inspirational woman I know, someone who I have always been proud to call my mom.” Kelly also brought his mother along that evening to the Samuel J Heyman Service to America Awards which he emceed along with MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle.

You can find out more about Maureen Kelly’s work and the WISER awards in the video below.

 

Washington Celebrates Oscar Winner Graham Moore’s Latest Novel

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Graham Moore Book Party 9/28/16

DC’s biggest names descended on the house of Hilary Rosen to celebrate the latest novel from The Imitation Game screenwriter Graham Moore, The Last Days of Night. Moore’s last project, The Imitation Game, which tells the story of mathematician and codebreaker Alan Turing, won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay, and his heartfelt acceptance speech has become the stuff of legend.

Moore’s latest novel tells the story of the rivalry between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse, the early days of electric light in America, and the eventual billion dollar lawsuit that went all the way to the Supreme Court. The novel also features appearances from other historical figures such as Nikola Tesla and JP Morgan.

Susan Sher, former Chief of Staff to First Lady Michelle Obama and Moore’s mother, was there to celebrate her son’s accomplishments with assistance from Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to Barack Obama. Tammy Haddad interviewed Moore about his new book and the reaction to his Oscars acceptance speech.

Also in attendance were Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, former California Rep. Jane Harman, Tony Fauci and Christine Grady, author Sally Quinn, Executive Vice President for Time Warner Carol Melton, corporate consultant Juleanna Glover, Howard Fineman and Amy Nathan, Director of the White House Visitors Office Ellie Schafer, S&R Foundation Artistic Director Septime Webre, Director of Branding & Communication at Lafayette 148 New York King Chong, Shinola’s Tom Forrest, Bloomberg’s Washington Bureau Chief Megan Murphy, Marc Adelman, VP of Communications for CNN Matt Dornic, Managing Editor of Bloomberg News Craig Gordon, and BSA President Victoria Espinel.

You can also purchase Graham Moore’s new novel The Last Days of Night here.