CNN will boycott the White House Christmas party for the media, the cable news network announced on Tuesday.
Taking issue with President Donald Trump’s frequent habit of making a punching bag of the network, CNN said it would be “inappropriate” to attend the annual party hosted by the White House.
“CNN will not be attending this year’s White House Christmas party,” a network spokesperson said in a statement to Politico. “In light of the President’s continued attacks on freedom of the press and CNN, we do not feel it is appropriate to celebrate with him as his invited guests. We will send a White House reporting team to the event and report on it if news warrants.”
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders celebrated the news on Twitter. “Christmas comes early! Finally, good news from @CNN,” she wrote.
CNN is a frequent target of the president’s, with Trump labeling the network “fake news” on a regular basis. His most recent shot came in the form of a tweet last week saying CNN represented the country poorly on an international stage.
“.@FoxNews is MUCH more important in the United States than CNN, but outside of the U.S., CNN International is still a major source of (Fake) news, and they represent our Nation to the WORLD very poorly,” Trump wrote. “The outside world does not see the truth from them!”
The network fired back with its own tweet saying, “It’s not CNN’s job to represent the U.S to the world. That’s yours. Our job is to report the news.”