Trump will leave press ‘absolutely in love’ with him after White House Correspondents’ Dinner, says insider: Live updates – UK Times

President Trump’s appearance at today’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner comes at a low ebb in his already-fraught relationship with the press.

Earlier this month, President Trump threatened to jail an unnamed reporter after details about the rescue of a downed U.S. pilot in the Iran war made it into the press.

“We’re going to go to the media company that released it,” Trump said during a press conference, “and we’re going to say, ‘National security — give it up or go to jail.’ And we know who, and you know who, we’re talking about.”

The president, who helped mainstream the idea that journalists are the “fake news,” has attacked the press throughout his time in office.

Last year, he filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the owners of The Wall Street Journal after the paper published details about a lewd letter Trump allegedly sent the sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein. (The suit was dismissed this month.)

Donald Trump will finally charm the media during his speech at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, according to his daughter-in-law, despite years of Trump bashing the press.

“He has been preparing to go into this snake pit of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner his entire life,” Lara Trump told Fox & Friends on Saturday. “He’s gonna have jokes. He’s one of the funniest people I’ve ever met. If they don’t leave there absolutely in love with Donald Trump, I will be shocked. They’ve been trying not to love him for so long.”

Trump previously told The Hill that her father-in-law has been working with some “great people” to craft his WHCD routine, a speech which has typically involved a mix of presidential stumping and light roasting of members of the press.

Trump, of course, has a far more fraught relationship with the media than most presidents.

He’s demonized mainstream journalists for years as the “fake news,” and he’s sued major outlets for critical coverage throughout his career.

Each year, the White House Correspondents’ Dinner revives the debate: Is it an ethical red flag for journalists and policymakers to celebrate together?

Some outlets argue that the dinner is an important one for the media and elected leaders alike, highlighting a shared respect for each other and the First Amendment. Hosts at the dinner have regularly pointed out that in many other nations, top entertainers and journalists would not be able to comedically roast their sitting leader.

Others, however, take issue with the appearance of top journalists hobnobbing with the political officials they are supposed to be covering impartially. The New York Times is among the outlets whose reporters do not attend the event.

“What was once (a fairly long time ago) a well-intended night of fundraising and camaraderie among professional adversaries is now simply a bad look,” Kelly McBride, an ethics expert at the Poynter Institute journalism think tank, wrote in a recent piece.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Donald Trump’s frequent liberal foil, will not likely be in the crowd at this evening’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

“I don’t think so,” he told Vanity Fair on Friday, at a pre-WHCD event thrown by the magazine.

Newsom, seen as a likely 2028 presidential hopeful, was reportedly mobbed with glad-handers and barely made it into the event.

Elsewhere at the party, WHCD host Oz Pearlman reportedly made a joke about Donald Trump, the kind of crack that would normally happen at the dinner, back when comedians were still hosting.

A guest reportedly asked Pearlman whether Trump had the stamina to speak for an hour at the dinner.

“Unfortunately,” he said.

The White House Correspondents’ Dinner, an annual fixture in Washington’s social calendar since its inception shortly after the First World War, has evolved into a unique spectacle. It now serves as a red-carpet event for the capital’s journalistic elite, political staffers, and a diverse array of US business leaders and celebrities, all gathered to witness the US president and a comedian deliver their respective roasts.

President Trump hasn’t yet sounded off today about the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, but he’s still been plenty busy so far.

Most notably, the president said he called off plans to send a U.S. delegation to Pakistan for negotiations to end the Iran war.

“I just cancelled the trip of my representatives going [to] Islamabad, Pakistan, to meet with the Iranians,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Too much time wasted on traveling, too much work! Besides which, there is tremendous infighting and confusion within their ‘leadership.’ Nobody knows who is in charge, including them. Also, we have all the cards, they have none! If they want to talk, all they have to do is call!!!”

In another post, he called on the Senate to eliminate the filibuster and pass the SAVE America Act, a Republican-backed package of new voter ID requirements.

Without these measures, Trump warned, the Republicans could face a major loss in the 2026 midterms.

“Not passing the SAVE AMERICA ACT will lead to the the worst results for a political party in the HISTORY of the United States Senate,” he wrote. “An Unrecoverable Death Wish!!! Likewise, the FILIBUSTER – TERMINATE IT NOW!!!”

President Trump reportedly plans to slam the media in a speech at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner then swiftly leave the event.

The president’s speech will be aimed at taking “revenge” on the Washington press, a group the White House regularly calls the “fake news media,” The Daily Beast reports.

Trump will then leave the event, according to the outlet, sparing him the embarrassment of watching as The Wall Street Journal accepts an award for its coverage of how Trump allegedly sent a bawdy birthday card doodle to Jeffrey Epstein.

Last week, Joe Sommerlad had this piece on the award and the potential for an awkward Trump moment at the dinner.

If Donald Trump lashes out at the media in his White House Correspondents’ Dinner speech, as he very well could, journalists should simply leave the event, according to former CNN anchor Jim Acosta.

“I think if Trump starts doing that, the reporters in the room should walk the f*** out,” Acosta said during a Friday episode of his show with fellow journalist Katie Couric. “They should get up and leave.”

Acosta’s comments were in response to reports that Trump is planning a “revenge” speech for the dinner, which traditionally celebrates the work of the Washington press and champions the importance of the free press and the First Amendment.

“The media is one of the last institutions in this country that has come to the realization that you have to stand up to the bully…You have to stand up for something and stand up for our profession and stand up for the First Amendment,” Acosta said.

Some have called for reporters to boycott the dinner entirely.

Unsurprisingly, Donald Trump’s return to the Correspondents’ Dinner is what’s grabbing the headlines.

But the reported guest list for the event contains some other notable names.

Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr will be in attendance.

The regulator threatened that the FCC would crack down on the late-night host’s show after Kimmel made comments about the Charlie Kirk shooting that angered conservatives.

Kimmel’s temporary suspension by ABC after Carr’s comment was seen by some observers as a grim sign for media freedom.

Carr, speaking to The Guardian on Saturday, confirmed he would be in attendance, though he denied prior reports that he had been invited as a guest of CBS News, which was recently taken over by the Trump-allied Ellison family.

“I think it’s important for the country that we have a news media that is trusted and respected,” Carr told the outlet. “My hope for the industry is that they find a way to turn things around.”

Rachel Dobkin looked into Carr earlier this year.

The president may be in for a lighthearted evening of mind tricks and speeches at today’s Correspondents’ Dinner, but he still has plenty of serious issues on his plate, namely the Iran war.

President Trump just told Fox News he has canceled a planned trip in which his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner were set to head to Pakistan for Iran war negotiations.

“I’ve told my people a little while ago they were getting ready to leave, and I said, ‘Nope, you’re not making an 18 hour flight to go there,’” he told Fox’s Aishah Hasnie. “‘We have all the cards. They can call us anytime they want, but you’re not going to be making any more 18 hour flights to sit around talking about nothing’.”