In a stunning break of the tradition, the press secretary Karoline Leavitt of the White House announced that next month she will boycott the Witte Huis Correspondents Association (WHCA) dinner.
The move continues with the in -depth feud of the Trump administration with the White House Press Corps, the group of journalists who cover the president and the White House every day. The group attends briefings, travel with the president and reports for various media.
“I will not be present during the dinner of the Correspondents of the White House, and that's the Breeknieuws,” said Leavitt during Friday's podcast who appeared with her predecessor and old Trump-Loyalist Sean Spicer on his titless podcast.
The annual WHCA dinner, planned for 26 April this year, has long been considered the 'Oscars of Washington', an iconic, dual evening of comedy and charity where every American president since Calvin Coolidge has attended at least once in 1924 – except Donald Trump.
Trump took the event off during his first term and seems to be able to do it again.
The decision of Leavitt comes in the midst of a fierce and continuous power struggle between the White House and the Press Corps, with Leavitt itself at the center of the efforts to reform access to the White House.
Leavitt, 27, looked at it to exclude traditional points of sale and to give preference to right -wing platforms that match the political story of Trump.
But her final decision to skip the event speaks full volumes and is a clear message that the Trump -white house sees no value in participating in what they regard as a hostile meeting.
White House Pers Secretary Karoline Leavitt has announced that next month she will boycott the Witte Huis Correspondents Association (WHCA) dinner
Trump's last performance at the WHCA dinner was like a private individual in 2015, when he and Melania Trump were photographed during the Blitish event
Leavitt announced that the White House and not the WHCA would now determine which reporters are the prestigious 'pool'. The Gayle King of this morning is CBS. CBS News still has a place in the briefing space of the White House
By not being present, LeaVitt doubles the confrontational approach to the administration, indicating that the Trump team sees little use in the curry of a press that they accuse of bias.
The WHCA dinner has essentially served more than a century as a rare evening of duality where presidents and the press can laugh and Jabs in a celebration of the first amendment.
Presidents from FDR to Obama used the evening to poke pleasure in themselves, even if journalists sharpen their criticism.
But the refusal of Trump to attend during his first term shattered that precedent, and now Leavitt is following an example and goes one step further to publicly reprimand the WHCA as a 'monopoly monopoly'.
“This is a group of journalists who have been covering the White House for decades,” Leavitt said in Spicer's show.
'They started this organization because the presidents did not do enough press conferences at that time. I don't think we have that problem among this president, so the priorities of the media have shifted, especially with this new digital age. '
She accused the WHCA of being an 'exclusive group' who welcomed 'not really other people, new media, independent journalists, with open arms.'
“We thought it was time to expand the coverage and to determine who is part of that 13-person press pool, who may ask the President of the United States in the Oval Office, on board Air Force One,” explained Leavitt.
President Donald Trump took the event off during his first term and looks ready to do this again. He was last shown during dinner in 2015 when he was present as a private individual
Two empty seats that would be traditionally reserved for the Associated Press reporter and photographer are shown in the Air Force One press cabin during a flight in February
“Since we started this new process of determining the daily rotation, so many new voices and points of sale that have never been part of this small and privileged group of journalists have had access to those very unique and privileged spaces and to cover this presidency and that is very important,” she added.
Her rejection of the dinner is the newest salvo in what has become an open conflict between the Trump Witte Huis and the established press corps.
Last month, Leavitt announced that the White House and not the WHCA would now determine which reporters are the prestigious press 'pool' – the small group of journalists who were close access to the president in the Oval Office, on board Air Force One, and in limited briefings.
In a controversial movement, the Associated Press was started from the swimming pool after he refused to take over Trump's executive order that renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the 'Gulf of America'.
The White House even trolled the AP by posting a victory board – 'Victory: Gulf of America' – in the briefing room, underlines the willingness of the administration to clash head -on with the media estisphment.
Leavitt has framed decisions such as democratization of access to the president how more than 15,000 applications have arrived from 'new voices and points of sale' that would like to become a member of the Daily Press Pool and claim the 'new media' chair.
“For decades, a group of DC-based journalists, the WHCA, has long dictated which journalists can ask the president of the United States in these most intimate spaces,” she said in February. “Not anymore.”
The Associated Press was access to some events of President Donald Trump, as well as the Oval Office and Air Force One for continuing to use the term 'Golf of Mexico'
Karoline Leavitt, 27, is the youngest press secretary of the White House in History
White House Pers Secretary Karoline Leavitt sees the curtains behind President Donald Trump straighten in the Oval Office in the White House
WHCA President Eugene Daniels has convicted the actions of the administration and warns how they tear in the independence of a free press in the United States.
'Leaders cannot choose their own press corps. It suggests that the government will choose the journalists who will cover the president, “said Daniels.
'In a free country, leaders may not be able to choose their own press corps“Daniels warned, for fear that the precedent that is being determined could survive the presidency of Trump.
The White House sold the move while modernizing the press bath to expand it beyond legacy media.
The Trump administration said that the three traditional wire services (Associated Press, Bloomberg and Reuters) would no longer have a permanent place in the swimming pool and would rotate a single place in the 13-person group instead.
Even Fox News 'Jacqui Heinrich, a WHCA board member, shot the move, writing that it' gives power to the White House, not the people. '
The Associated Press has brought a lawsuit against the White House for his removal from the swimming pool, but a judge has so far refused to restore them.
Leavitt's no-show during the WHCA dinner also indicates a deeper coordination with the long-running campaign from Trump against what he calls the 'fake news media'.
Her decision reflects Trump's refusal to attend the event during his first presidency.
The first time Trump refused to be present in 2017, was a dramatic deviation from presidents who historically used the night to re -confirm democratic values ​​and even show that they can joke and make it fun to puncture their own weaknesses.
Trump's last performance at the WHCA dinner was like a private individual in 2015, when he and Melania Trump were photographed during the Blitish event.
In 2011, President Barack Obama went behind the then businessman and reality TV star Donald Trump, who had pushed the so-called 'Birther' samenzing theory about where Obama was born and considered a 2012 run for the White House
Since attacking, Trump has treated the press as a political enemy who describes them as “an enemy of the people.”
This year's dinner was already ready for tension, because comedian Amber Ruffin, known for her destructive humor and left -leaning comments, was tapped to head.
“Nobody wants him there,” Ruffin said about a CNN interview. “But he should go. He misses one of the cool things about being president. '
Leavitt had previously hinted that she still weighed whether she participated, and noticed how Ruffin was an 'interesting choice' and suggested that she would 'talk to the boss'.
In the meantime, the WHCA, which trusts dinner as the primary source of income, faces a fundamental challenge: how to function as an independent watchdog when the President's team refuses to deal with – and actively undermines his role.
