When guests arrive for on Friday at Washington’s Waldorf Astoria hotel, security will be much tighter, the guest list smaller, the partying pared down, and the dress code more relaxed.
That much, the correspondents鈥� association can control.
What remains out of its control 鈥� and perhaps the biggest question 鈥� is what the dinner鈥檚 most prominent guest, President , will bring to the table.
Call it White House Dinner 2.0, or Take Two, or, in Trump鈥檚 own words, a 鈥淗OT ticket.鈥� The big unknown is whether Trump will bring the fighting words (鈥渞ather nasty,鈥� he said) against the press that he鈥檇 planned to deliver in April 鈥� before the event descended into chaos when , forcing an evacuation of the room.
鈥淭he president looks forward to finishing what he started,鈥� press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday, confirming Trump’s attendance. 鈥淚 encourage everyone watching tomorrow night to tune in for what promises to be a very entertaining and memorable evening.”
Trump has been coy about what he might say
As for Trump himself, he indicated last month he wasn鈥檛 sure. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know whether or not I will give the same rather nasty statements, at least as it concerns certain people, but we will soon find out,” the Republican president wrote on his Truth Social platform. 鈥淚n any event, it will be a 鈥楬OT鈥� ticket!鈥�
Besides the pared-down approach, there is another change at Friday鈥檚 dinner: two additional awards. One will be presented to Victor Gonzales, the Secret Service agent who was staffing a security checkpoint in April and was .
鈥淥fficer Gonzales 鈥� ran toward danger so that thousands of others could make it home safely,” Weijia Jiang, WHCA president, said in a statement. 鈥淗is courage stemmed from a dedication to service, which we are looking forward to honoring this week.鈥�
A second award will be presented to the staff of the Washington Hilton hotel, site of the first dinner.
Other changes: With security in mind, there will be only one entrance at the much smaller venue, with airport-style metal detectors. Guests received individual QR entry codes in advance, and nobody can get in unless recognized. 鈥淭here is NO red carpet at this dinner,鈥� said a memo Jiang sent to some guests last month, seen by The Associated Press. 鈥淭here are NO onsite pre-dinner receptions.”
The dress code this time is a looser 鈥渂lack tie optional,” and dinner includes grilled peach and burrata salad, lobster, and beef Wellington. The evening, as at the last dinner, has entertainment by mentalist Oz Pearlman, along with the awards presentations and Trump’s remarks.
Jiang and her fellow board members worked hard to bring about this WHCA dinner 2.0, not wanting to let 鈥� or the image of colleagues hiding under tables 鈥� remain the final thought. Announcing the rescheduling, she emphasized the dinner鈥檚 stated purpose: 鈥渁 celebration of a free press and the vital role of journalism in our democracy for over a century.鈥�
鈥淲e will not allow an act of violence to have the last word, especially during a year when we are reflecting on and everything we stand for,鈥� Jiang said.
There’s still lots of criticism of the event
But it鈥檚 also clear that some people felt the dinner should not be rescheduled at all.
Many never thought it was much of a good look in the first place, with the sight of journalists in formal wear cozying up to their sources, or the objects of their reporting.
鈥淚t undermines the public faith in how the press does its work, and it makes it look like we are pals with the people we cover,鈥� Kelly McBride, an ethics expert at the Poynter Institute, a journalism think tank, said when the deliberations were taking place.
The new dinner comes during a time of fast-increasing tension between the media and a president who, in his second term, has tried to exert pressure on media outlets he is unhappy with in a variety of ways. That pressure has ranged from sanctions against members of the White House press corps to regulatory actions through to outright lawsuits.
Those tensions have only escalated since April, with the latest example reaching a New York courtroom on Thursday. There, criticized by a federal judge for sloppy legal work, that would have compelled three New York Times reporters to testify about their sources for articles about Trump鈥檚 Qatari-gifted .
That escalation was the impetus behind from a coalition of press freedom groups and hundreds of former journalists, urging the WHCA to stand up to Trump forcefully at the dinner.
鈥淲e believe it is hypocritical to celebrate the First Amendment in front of the man who relentlessly attacks it,鈥� the letter says. 鈥淲e urge the WHCA to condemn the administration鈥檚 actions from the podium and pledge to fight all attempts by his administration to undermine this core pillar of a functioning democracy.鈥�
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Jocelyn Noveck covers the intersection of media and entertainment for The Associated Press.
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