Is President Trump looking to turn this year's White House Correspondents' Dinner into an extended "I told you so"?
After he skipped the annual event two years in a row, Axios reports an "exuberant" Trump is considering attending next month. It's unclear "how serious" Trump is about going, Axios writes, but this could be the next step on what has been called Trump's "victory lap" following Attorney General William Barr release of his summary of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report. Barr said Mueller found no evidence of collusion with Russia and did not make a conclusion about whether Trump obstructed justice, while not exonerating the president on that front. The full report has not yet been made public.
Trump bucked tradition in 2017 by skipping the Correspondents' Dinner, a yearly event attended by press during which a comedian and the president deliver monologues. He was the first sitting president since Ronald Reagan not to go — and Reagan only skipped it because he had recently been shot.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Trump once again skipped the dinner in 2018 and subsequently complained about comedian Michelle Wolf's scathing jokes. At this year's dinner on April 27, the featured speaker will be a historian instead of a comedian, and Trump had previously suggested this might make him change his tune, tweeting in November that the change is a "good first step in comeback of a dying evening and tradition," adding, "Maybe I will go?"
Of course, the fact that he's now feeling vindicated over the Mueller report might guide the decision, too, with Trump on Tuesday declaring the media has "lost tremendous credibility" with its "corrupt coverage of the illegal Democrat witch hunt of your all time favorite duly elected president, me!"
-
Fannie Flagg’s 6 favorite books that sparked her imaginationFeature The author recommends works by Johanna Spyri, John Steinbeck, and more
-
Google: A monopoly past its prime?Feature Google’s antitrust case ends with a slap on the wrist as courts struggle to keep up with the tech industry’s rapid changes
-
Patrick Hemingway: The Hemingway son who tended to his father’s legacyFeature He was comfortable in the shadow of his famous father, Ernest Hemingway
-
House posts lewd Epstein note attributed to TrumpSpeed Read The estate of Jeffrey Epstein turned over the infamous 2003 birthday note from President Donald Trump
-
Supreme Court allows 'roving' race-tied ICE raidsSpeed Read The court paused a federal judge's order barring agents from detaining suspected undocumented immigrants in LA based on race
-
South Korea to fetch workers detained in Georgia raidSpeed Read More than 300 South Korean workers detained in an immigration raid at a Hyundai plant will be released
-
DC sues Trump to end Guard 'occupation'Speed Read D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb argues that the unsolicited military presence violates the law
-
RFK Jr. faces bipartisan heat in Senate hearingSpeed Read The health secretary defended his leadership amid CDC turmoil and deflected questions about the restricted availability of vaccines
-
White House defends boat strike as legal doubts mountSpeed Read Experts say there was no legal justification for killing 11 alleged drug-traffickers
-
Epstein accusers urge full file release, hint at own listspeed read A rally was organized by Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie, who are hoping to force a vote on their Epstein Files Transparency Act
-
Court hands Harvard a win in Trump funding battleSpeed Read The Trump administration was ordered to restore Harvard's $2 billion in research grants
