COLD SHOULDER

Trump Administration Officials Ordered to Boycott White House Correspondents’ Dinner: CNN

Cabinet Secretary Bill McGinley reportedly announced that no administration officials would be attending this year’s dinner.

The White House has ordered Trump administration officials to boycott Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, CNN reports. White House Cabinet Secretary Bill McGinley reportedly told those working within the administration to skip the black-tie event meant to celebrate a free press and allow journalists to mingle with potential sources. “We’re looking forward to an enjoyable evening of celebrating the First Amendment and great journalists past, present and future,” Olivier Knox, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, said in a statement responding to the boycott. President Donald Trump announced earlier this month that he would be skipping the dinner and opting instead to hold a rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, the same night. “The dinner is so boring and so negative that we’re going to hold a very positive rally,” he told reporters. This is the third year in a row that Trump has skipped the dinner. The last president to skip the dinner was Ronald Reagan, who decided not to come in 1981 because he was recovering from an assassination attempt.