The White House correspondents’ dinner returns Saturday night after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. President Biden will deliver remarks, the first sitting president at the event in six years because former President Trump did not attend while he was in office.
Ahead of the dinner, Mr. Biden tweeted about the press Saturday, writing that he “always had respect for the press, but I can’t say enough about how much respect I have after their reporting in Ukraine.”
“They’re risking their lives every single day to make sure the world hears the truth,” Mr. Biden said.
Earlier this week, the president said the event was to “celebrate the press.”
“Think of what the American press has done,” Mr. Biden said Thursday. “The courage it’s taken to stay in this war zone. The courage it’s taken to report every single day. I’ve always had respect for the press, but I can’t tell you how much respect I have, watching, watching them in these zones where they’re under fire, risking their own lives to make sure the world hears the truth. Imagine if we weren’t getting that information. It would be a different world. It would be a different circumstance.”
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
The annual dinner is the main source of revenue for the White House Correspondents’ Association, which comprises hundreds of journalists from print, broadcast, digital and radio. Proceeds from the dinner also go toward scholarships for promising journalism students. Professional journalism awards are also given out at the dinner.
In another return to past tradition, a comedian — Trevor Noah of “The Daily Show” — will headline for the first time since Michelle Wolf‘s 2018 monologue that skewered and shocked Washington’s elite. After Wolf’s set, the correspondents’ association announced historian Ron Chernow would deliver remarks in 2019.
Some celebrities, notably Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson, are expected to be among the approximately 2,600 in attendance.
