President Donald Trump is set to attend White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner for the first time as commander-in-chief, surrounded by the journalists he routinely berates and threatens.

Until now, Trump had been the only president in the event’s century-long history not to attend at least once while in office. In years past, presidents have typically endured a light roasting from the dinner’s headliner, typically a comedian.

This year, the correspondents’ association opted to book mentalist Oz Pearlman. The association also didn’t have a comedian perform last year, instead focusing on its journalism awards.

The dinner comes amid the backdrop of war with Iran, which has led to higher gas prices around the world and volatility in the stock market. It also comes as Trump’s approval rating hit a new low in a recent NBC News poll, with 37% of respondents approving of his job performance and 63% disapproving. Trump was well underwater on his handling of inflation and the cost of living, with 68% saying they disapproved of his policies. The slide also extends to Trump’s handling of the Iran war, with 67% of respondents disapproving.

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The gala is meant to celebrate the nation’s most dogged White House reporting, but Trump’s turn as guest of honor will give him another opportunity to air his grievances with the journalists who cover him. He has clashed with reporters during his time in office, though he's taken more aggressive steps during his second term by limiting access for traditional media while boosting conservative and pro-Trump outlets.

Trump feuded with The Associated Press last year over its refusal to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America in its stories. The White House then barred the AP from major presidential events, prompting a lawsuit from the news agency. In June 2025, a U.S. appeals court ruled that Trump could ban the AP from some media events as the case proceeded.

Trump also filed a $15 billion defamation lawsuit against the New York Times over its coverage of his 2024 campaign; a federal judge tossed the lawsuit in September, but he refiled it weeks later.

Earlier this month, a judge tossed a $10 billion lawsuit Trump filed against The Wall Street Journal over its publication of a bawdy 50^th birthday card he is alleged to have sent to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in 2003. Trump has denied writing the letter.

Now, Trump could be present as Journal reporters receive an award Saturday night for their reporting on Epstein’s birthday card.

The Trump White House’s adversarial relationship with the press extends down the management chain. Earlier this month, FBI Director Kash Patel filed a lawsuit against The Atlantic over a story alleging he drank to excess and had unexplained absences from the bureau's headquarters. In his lawsuit, Patel denied the allegations.

The FBI in January searched a Washington Post reporter's home and seized her phone and laptops as part of an investigation into a government contractor accused of mishandling classified information. A judge in February blocked the DOJ from using material it found on the reporter's devices as part of its case.

In March, the Defense Department removed media offices from the Pentagon after a federal judge sided with The New York Times, which had sued over new rules requiring journalists to sign a pledge restricting their ability to gather reporting. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has described U.S. media as “incredibly unpatriotic.”

A fixture of Washington’s spring social calendar, the dinner raises funds for the correspondents’ association, as well as several journalism scholarships.

Hundreds of journalists and their guests attend each year, but the gala has drawn criticism from others. This year, a coalition of journalism groups, as well as journalists like former CBS News anchor Dan Rather and former CNN White House reporter Jim Acosta, signed a letter to the correspondents' association calling on it to "forcefully demonstrate opposition to President Trump’s efforts to trample freedom of the press.”

"There is a long tradition of presidents attending the White House Correspondents Association Dinner," the letter said. "But these are not normal times, and this cannot be business as usual with the press standing up to applaud the man who attacks them on a daily basis."

When Trump announced in March that he would attend the 2026 dinner, the correspondents' association said it was "happy" the president accepted the invitation.

"For more than 100 years, the journalists of the White House Correspondents’ Association have enjoyed an evening with the president, a dinner that celebrates the First Amendment while supporting the work we do including awards honoring excellent journalism and scholarships to help the next generation of reporters who someday will be the ones asking the questions at the White House,” the group's president Weijia Jiang said in a statement at the time.

Trump's attendance appears to give the green light for others in his orbit to go to the dinner as well. Taylor Budowich, a longtime Trump adviser and former deputy chief of staff at the White House, is set to attend with The Associated Press, despite the AP's ongoing legal battles with the administration.

"As a fan or irony, I'll be with The Associated Press," Budowich said Friday at an event hosted by Axios.

Trump may be attending the dinner for the first time as president, but he's been in the audience before.

In 2011, then-President Barack Obama and comedian Seth Meyers famously ribbed a stone-faced Trump over his fixation on Obama’s long-form birth certificate. Less than a month later, Trump announced that he wouldn’t run in the 2012 presidential election, but the incident is seen as a marker in the political transformation that culminated in his 2016 electoral victory.