White House Correspondents Insider

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

POLITICO’s Jack Blanchard and Dasha Burns welcomed by Washington Women Technology Network

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The Washington Women’s Technology Network held an exclusive breakfast co-hosted by Jessica Nigro and Tammy Haddad on February 25 at the House at 1229 to welcome POLITICO Playbook’s new editor Jack Blanchard and Politico’s new White House bureau chief Dasha Burns. The event brought together leaders in media, politics, and business.

L to R: Symone Sanders, Jessica Nigro, Jack Blanchard, Dasha Burns, and Tammy Haddad

Blanchard recently relocated to Washington, D.C. from London, where he wrote the London Playbook for over 5 years. At the breakfast, he shared his take on new British PM Keir Starmer and his relationship with President Donald Trump. Burns, fresh from covering the Munich Security Conference, where she interviewed Sen. Mark Warner, provided a firsthand account of key global security discussions and their implications for U.S. foreign policy. With shifting geopolitical dynamics and fast-moving developments in Washington, their perspectives were both timely and invaluable.

L to R: Jack Blanchard, Jessica Nigro, and Dasha Burns

Attendees debated how recent White House actions would influence media access, the challenges of political coverage in a polarized landscape, and the broader implications for journalism’s role during Trump 2.0.

Jack Blanchard and Adam Verdugo take a look at the Lucid Air.

Attendees included: MSNBC’s Symone Sanders; NobleReach Foundation’s Tina Anthony; Elizabeth Falcone, chief of staff to Sen. Mark Warner; Disney’s Susan Fox; GlobalWIN’s Helen Milby; LinkedIn’s Caitlin O’Neill; AWS’s Olivia Igbokwe and Alla Seiffert; BSA’s Victoria Espinel; Politico’s Alisa Vasquez; Shannon Ricchetti; Liz Johnson; Adrienne Elrod; Adam Verdugo; and Rufus Gifford.

Dasha Burns discusses covering Trump 2.0 at a Washington Women’s Technology Network breakfast.

NYTimes’ Grynbaum: Trump Losing Hope Hicks Akin to “Losing a Limb”

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Former White House Communications Director Hope Hicks, Photo Courtesy AP

The New York Times’ Michael Grynbaum writes in a piece published on March 1st that soon-to-be-former White House Communications Director Hope Hicks was such an integral part of the Trump White House that her departure will be a major loss to the president, remaining White House staffers, and the journalists with whom she facilitated meetings and interviews.

Hicks’ departure marks “an astounding rise for a political neophyte whose seemingly implausible career hinged on a deep understanding of, and bottomless patience for, her mercurial charge,” writes Grynbaum.

While Grynbaum makes clear Hope Hicks’ lack of political acumen, he claims that in Washington her “success was viewed as a product of other qualities, including her nuanced understanding of Mr. Trump’s moods, her ability to subtly nudge him away from his coarser impulses and her skill as a liaison for some of the most prominent journalists in the country.”

The reasons for her departure, while not made explicit by the White House, are seen by many to stem from recent headlines Hicks has made from her testimony to the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday, February 27th, and the ousting of her ex-boyfriend Rob Porter, the now former White House staff secretary, for domestic abuse allegations last month.

As for post-White House career plans, Hicks is so far mum. Per Grynbaum, “She has told friends that, for now, she has no definite ideas for her life after the West Wing, except that she will not be living in Washington. An extended vacation with her family is planned. Book agents have come calling, but Ms. Hicks has told acquaintances that she is reluctant to write anything — although she has joked that a massive advance could change her mind.”

You can read the full report here.

VARIETY Comes to Washington // TRUMP Cover

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Variety Magazine Cover --April 2016

Variety Magazine Cover — April 2016

With the White House Correspondents’ Dinner coming up this weekend, Hollywood and Politics is the topic on the tip of everyone’s tongues – it also happens to be the subject of Variety magazines cover this month.

A few years ago The Hollywood Reporter co-hosted a party with Google during the White House Correspondents weekend and this year Variety, a long time Hollywood entertainment Bible is following in its footsteps with its coverage and events in Washington. Lead political correspondent Ted Johnson and his Variety editors are co-hosting a party with the SAG AFTRA Foundation and the Washington Post to “celebrate journalism” on Friday night in honor of the Correspondents’ Dinner.

Variety 2016 WHCD Friday party

Variety’s “A Celebration of Journalism” White House Correspondents’ Dinner Party on Friday, April 29th