President Donald Trump will not attend the annual White House Correspondents' Dinner for the second year in a row.
While other members of his administration are expected to attend the dinner in Washington on April 28, it will be the second year in a row that the president himself will stay away.
"The White House has informed us that the president does not plan to participate in this year's dinner," Margaret Talev, the president of the White House Correspondents' Association, said in a statement.
Trump said in a radio interview on "Bernie & Sid in the Morning" earlier Friday that he "probably" wouldn't attend. The White House announced later that he, indeed, would not attend.
"It's unlikely I will do the White House Correspondents dinner this year," Trump said before calling the news media "so bad and so fake."
"They're like novelists. I call them novelists," he added. "Now in some cases there's sources, but then they won't do it correctly either."
White House Correspondents' Association president Margaret Talev later confirmed that Trump won't be attending, according to The Hill.
"The White House has informed us that the president does not plan to participate in this year's dinner but that he will actively encourage members of the executive branch to attend and join us as we celebrate the First Amendment," she wrote in a statement.
"In keeping with tradition, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders also will represent the administration at the head table. The April 28 dinner celebrates award-winning reporting, scholarship winners and the vital role of the First Amendment and the free press in American democracy."
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