President Donald Trump declined to attend the annual dinner with the White House Correspondents' Association, but he's "still welcome" to attend, according to the organization's head.
"Well, I was surprised," Reuters reporter Jeff Mason, the head of the WHCA, said on MSNBC about Trump's decision. "I was surprised that we hadn't had a chance to even really talk about it except in passing a couple times over the last month. You know, we've been focusing on a lot of major challenges between the press and the White House and the dinner has not been at the top of our list for that but we are planning on that dinner, we are working very hard, we are going to have that dinner and if the president changes his mind, he is still welcome."
Mason told CNN Saturday that "it's not a surprise to say that the president has said many negative things about the media … suggesting the media is an enemy of the American people. That of course is something that the correspondents' association and journalists reject. The media is an incredibly important part of a vibrant republic, and we celebrate that at that dinner.
"It's up to him to decide whether or not he wants to come," he continued. "But the correspondents' association and the members who work in this room every day will continue to do our job and write the news and tell the truth about this administration, as we have done about every administration before."
If Trump does not attend he will become the first president in 36 years to miss the dinner. The last president to do so was Ronald Reagan, who skipped it in 1981 while he recovered from a gunshot wound inflicted during an assassination attempt. Presidents Jimmy Carter and Richard Nixon also declined to attend the event twice during their terms, according to NPR.
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