If you’re a political junkie, you’re familiar with the annual White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) dinner, otherwise known as the “Nerd Prom.” Journalists cozy up to DC politicians to congratulate each other and rub elbows, and usually a comedian takes to the stage to attempt to offer up some laughs.
If you’re a Democrat, you’re treated like royalty from the inside-the-Beltway press—but if you’re a Republican, not so much. Many argue that Seth Meyers’ roasting Donald Trump at the 2011 WHCA angered Trump so much that it fueled his desire to run for president that much more. “Donald Trump has been saying he will run for president as a Republican—which is surprising, since I just assumed he was running as a joke,” Meyers mocked.
Meanwhile, then-Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was cruelly mocked for her appearance at the 2018 event.
It should come as no surprise, therefore, that current Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has no interest in attending. She ripped into the whole affair on a Friday appearance on Sean Spicer’s podcast:
“I will not be in attendance at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, and that’s breaking news for ‘The Sean Spicer Show,’” Leavitt said.
Leavitt said the WHCA “has truly become a monetized monopoly over the White House and the coverage of the president of the United States in America.”
“This is a group of journalists who’ve been covering the White House for decades,” she said on the podcast published Friday. “They started this organization because the presidents at the time were not doing enough press conferences. I don’t think we have that problem anymore under this president, so the priorities of the media have shifted, especially with this new digital age.”
Watch:
BREAKING: @PressSec Karoline Leavitt will NOT be attending the White House Correspondents’ Dinner@whca pic.twitter.com/X98TzqGd0H
— The Sean Spicer Show (@seanspicershow) March 14, 2025
More–> Karoline Leavitt: Press Can’t Cope With Trump Admin. Members Having So Much Fun
Trump White House Obliterates Another DC ‘Norm’ by Stripping Correspondents’ Assoc. of Historic Role
The take-no-guff press secretary had more to say about the WHCA:
Leavitt said the WHCA has been an “exclusive group of journalists who cover this White House, they have not really welcomed other people, new media, independent journalists, with open arms, and so we thought it was time to expand the coverage and determine who gets to be part of that 13-person press pool, who gets to ask the president of the United States questions in the Oval Office, aboard Air Force One.”
“Since we have started this new process of determining the daily rotation, so many new voices and outlets who have never been part of this small and privileged group of journalists have been able to access those very unique and privileged spaces and cover this presidency and that’s very important,” Leavitt added, revealing that the White House has received more than 15,000 applications for the new media seat in the press briefing room.
🚨BREAKING @WhiteHouse @PressSecKaroline Leavitt wi NOT attend the White House Correspondents Dinner
The dismantling of the left wing @whca continues
Notice to other Republicans – if u attend u are on their side
https://t.co/dSZDjRlFPC via @YouTube— Sean Spicer (@seanspicer) March 15, 2025
The Trump Team is dramatically re-shaping how the White House deals with the press after mainstream journalists spent four years obsessing over nonexistent Russian collusion, then spent the next four lying about Joe Biden’s mental capacity. As our Teri Christoph reported in February, Leavitt already brought down the press corp a notch or two:
…they took things even further, with White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announcing at her Tuesday briefing that the WHCA would no longer be in charge of deciding which members of the press would be allowed in the pool, thus smashing to smithereens another DC norm.
The WHCA has become way too insular and enmeshed with the Democrat party. Team Trump is smart to smash the norms and usher in a new way of doing business.
