White House Correspondents Insider

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

WHCD Preview: A History of WHCD’s Past

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CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan and IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde following the 2016 White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Photo courtesy Haddad Media.

Washington is heating up for the big bash, the White House Correspondents Dinner and the annual Garden Brunch to be held on Saturday, April 29th. You can whet your appetite for all things WHCD and Garden Brunch by catching up on some of our podcasts and stories from previous years.

February 2017 — Why the White House Correspondents’ Dinner Is More Important than Ever

“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.”

April 2016 — 2016 Garden Brunch Video

April 2015 — Garden Brunchers Recount their First WHCD

April 2015 — 2015 Garden Brunch Video

April 2015:  Washington Insider: George Condon’s Candid History of the White House and the Press

Washington Insider’s Tammy Haddad gets a candid and humorous history of the White House and the press from George Condon, White House correspondent for National Journal and unofficial historian of the White House Correspondents’ Association.

The WASHINGTON INSIDER inaugural podcasts, White House Correspondents Weekend focus on the personalities and ambition that fuel politics, power and elections – and ultimately drive policy inside the Beltway. The first seven WASHINGTON INSIDER podcasts are timed to the upcoming 2015 White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner weekend, which begins later this week.

February 2015 — Jon Stewart’s performance at the 1997 WHCA Dinner

As he announces his retirement from The Daily Show​, we take a look back at Jon Stewart’s performance during the 1997 White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

May 2014 — Garden Brunch 2014 celebrates White House Correspondents Weekend

April 2013 — 2013 White House Correspondents Garden Brunch Complete Show

April 2012 — You’re Invited to the 2012 White House Correspondents’ Garden Brunch

April 2012 — Jimmy Kimmel hosts White House Correspondents’ Dinner

“Americans are in terrible shape.  You can even tell how out of shape we are by the way we protest.  We used to march.  Now we occupy.”

April 2011 — 2011 White House Correspondents’ Garden Brunch

April 2011 — Seth Meyers Hosts White House Correspondents’ Dinner

April 2010 — 2010 WHC Garden Brunch for MDED and CURE Epilepsy

May 2009 — WHCI Garden Brunch 2009: Mothers Day Every Day

May 2009 — Wanda Sykes Hosts White House Correspondents’ Dinner

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.

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.

Kendall Jenner and the Washington Wizards’ John Wall Headline USA Today Table at White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner

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Rosario Dawson, Willie Geist, CURE donor David Haddad and Elle Macpherson at the 2012 White House Correspondents' Garden Brunch

Rosario Dawson, Willie Geist, CURE donor David Haddad and Elle Macpherson at the 2012 White House Correspondents’ Garden Brunch

It’s six days until politics and paparazzi come together to celebrate the 96th White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner on April 30th, and the names of the A-list celebrity guests are filtering in.

The annual correspondent’s dinner at the Washington Hilton is a black-tie affair for 2600 of the most well known celebrities, politicos and journalists in America.

This year the comedian for the evening is Larry Wilmore, host of Comedy Central’s “Nightly Show.” Every year, the news organizations compete to bring the biggest and brightest stars to join their journalists for the evening’s festivities. USA Today is right at the top with their influential mix of actors, models and athletes.

USA TODAY:

John Wall, athlete, Washington Wizards

Kendall Jenner, model

Miles Teller, actor, “Divergent”

Wendi Mclendon-Covey, actress/comedian, “The Goldbergs”

Rosario Dawson, actress, “Daredevil”

Neve Campbell, actress, “House of Cards”

Favreau Funny Factory

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Jon Favreau, Graydon Carter at the 2009 Bloomberg & Vanity Fair Cocktail Reception
Photo - BILLY FARRELL/PatrickMcMullan.com

President Obama owned the room at the 2009 White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner before some 3,000 elites in the Washington Hilton Ballroom. While the President’s charisma and innate comic timing carried him through the night, he did have a little help from his scribes.

Speechwriters Jon Favreau and Jon Lovett led the charge with timely references, including a video where the President welcomes a “Pirate” to the Oval Office (a tip of the feather-topped hat to Bloomberg Media guest Richard Phillips, Captain of the Maersk ship who was captured by Somali pirates in April 2009 and valiantly rescued by US Navy SEALS).

Senior Advisor David Axelrod was one of the top presidential aides who helped come up with the visual joke.

Tom Vietor, Jeff Nussbaum, Jeff Shesol, and a few other outside joke writers helped polish the President’s speech. This year, it will also be a team effort to make sure WHCA Dinner host Jay Leno will not be the only one getting laughs.

No pirates this year, but there’s bound to be a health care joke or two tickling the crowd’s funny bone.

Politico has more on what it takes to make a president funny – on purpose.

WHCA Dinner: Two Days To Go

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Tracey Ullman does research for her Showtime series "State of the Union" at the 2008 Garden Brunch. Here with Hilary Rosen and Ed & Wendy Schultz.

We’re heading into the homestretch, ready to slide into a weekend full of brunches and screenings, and oh yeah, a little thing called the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner. Oh, my!

The jostling for tickets and guests to bring to the WHCA Dinner has been going on for months. As WHC Insider’s Tammy Haddad told Annie Groer in Politics Daily:

“It’s become a competition about who can get the better ‘get,’ ” said Tammy Haddad, a former producer for Chris Matthews and Larry King and thus no stranger to megawatt wrangling. “Journalists are very competitive and there are very few times they get to go head to head, like at a political convention.” The dinner, she said, gives these multiplatform media rivals a perfect showcase “to bring in someone of interest to draw attention to the work they are doing.”

To read the full article click here.

Tale Of A WHCA Dinner Crasher

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We’ve all heard tales of DC party crashers. Some we roll our eyes at after we consider the source. Others, we – the ticketless brethren – take notes from, which is exactly what the Washington Post’s Reliable Source has done.

Fear not, it’s not another Salahi saga but the story of Julia Allison, a Georgetown grad who crashed the 2007 White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner and wrote about it for The Huffington Post. Although, Allison and Michaele Salahi do share something in common: a penchant for a red dress.

Garden Brunch Tweet for Moms in 2009

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2009 White House Correspondents Garden Brunch headliners Susan Axelrod (CURE Epilepsy) and Ann Curry (NBC News) led guests in a group tweet for mothers. This year’s brunch will be given in honor of Mothers Day Every Day and CURE Epilepsy.

WHCI Garden Brunch 2009: Mothers Day Every Day from whcinsider on Vimeo.