Washington DC: United States President Donald Trump on Saturday (local time) skipped this year’s White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner and instead opted to hold a campaign-style rally in Michigan.
Trump is skipping the annual bash for the second year in a row, according to the Hill.
The US President is holding a campaign-style rally in Michigan instead, as he did in Pennsylvania during last year’s dinner.
The US President is set to participate in the rally being held at Total Sports Park in Washington, Michigan about 40 miles north of Detroit.
“Look forward to being in the Great State of Michigan tonight. Major business expansion and jobs pouring into your State. Auto companies expanding at record pace. Big crowd tonight, will be live on T.V,” Trump tweeted.
Trump, last year, became the first president to skip the event since Ronald Reagan in 1981; Reagan was recovering from an assassination bid. Even then, Reagan called in to make a few jokes.
The dinner, is also referred to as “nerd prom,” amasses journalists and government officials to celebrate the First Amendment, CNN reported.
According to the reports, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said President Trump encouraged his staff to attend this year’s bash.
“The president encouraged his staff and all of us to attend and so we did, and we felt like it was important for us to come out and be here,” Sanders told CNN.
The annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner is known for being an A-list extravaganza, with exclusive parties hosted all weekend across the city.
Trump often uses the word “fake” to describe media, which is critical of him.(ANI)