President Donald Trump’s tempestuous relationship with the press is on full display in his frequent jabs at journalists.
The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman is “Maggot Haberman,” while ABC’s George Stephanopoulos is “George Slopadopoulus.” Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich is not only “absolutely terrible,” as the president put it last year, but “should be working for CNN.”
“You might as well stab me in the heart,” Heinrich joked.
Trump declared in the same Truth Social post that Heinrich is “a fan of the White House Correspondents’ Association,” presumably meant as an insult. Yet Heinrich, the 37-year-old Fox News senior White House correspondent, isn’t only an admirer of the organization — she takes over in July as its president, the first reporter elected WHCA president while working at Fox News. That thrusts the straight-news reporter into the position of advocating for White House access while also working for Trump’s favorite network.
TheWrap caught up with Heinrich ahead of next Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner, where she’ll sit a few seats away from Trump as he makes his first appearance as president — a controversial one, given his administration’s efforts to undermine and restrict the press. The White House barred the Associated Press early on for its refusal to use the president’s “Gulf of America” designation, prompting a lawsuit over access, and took control of the press pool from the WHCA, drawing its condemnation early last year.
But even as the administration hasn’t ceased verbal and legal warfare with the press, Trump continues regularly taking calls from reporters — including Heinrich — offering unique off-the-cuff access and a willingness to address topics ranging from the Iran War to teleportation. It’s one of the contradictions that journalists, like Heinrich, have to navigate — the president’s obsessions with their coverage and his unprecedented attacks on it.
Despite early battles, the White House and press corps have settled into a working relationship that provides access to traditional outlets and newer entrants, according to Heinrich.
“I think we’ve been able to sort of bring things back to a place where we can work things out, and it has benefited us,” she said. Regarding the dinner, she thinks “the reason he’s saying yes is because he didn’t do it in his first four years,” and it’s “sort of what he wants to be involved in.” Plus, she added, “he’s having a little more fun.”
The WHCA’s invitation to Trump has come under heightened scrutiny amid the administration’s crackdown on the press, which has included the Pentagon imposing restrictions that drove out dozens of outlets — including Fox News — and the FCC chair’s threats to broadcasters. Trump has belittled female reporters, and sued multiple news outlets.
Heinrich said she believes Trump is eager to celebrate the work of journalists who’ve covered him, even as she acknowledged that “he will use the courts to see how far he can take something.”
“He’s just more vocal in his criticism,” she said. “I don’t think that it disqualifies him from being someone that we want at the dinner.”
Some WHCD attendees reportedly plan on wearing pins and pocket squares with the First Amendment’s text in a quiet protest of Trump’s attacks. (Heinrich said she was not aware of the effort and did not have plans to wear such apparel.)
Heinrich did not plan this year’s dinner — that duty fell to Weijia Jiang, a CBS News White House correspondent, who declined an interview request through a CBS News spokesperson — but she will take on the role as president in two months.
While critics have called on the WHCA to more forcefully push back on the president, Heinrich generally believes it’s better to privately negotiate with the White House than stoke public feuds. She said this approach has allowed the WHCA to retain its control of the James S. Brady Briefing Room’s seating chart, despite the White House’s reported desire to take it over.
“We get asked all the time, ‘Why don’t you come to this reporter’s defense when they are targeted by the president, that’s your job,’” Heinrich said. “I think there’s been a bit of conflation and what the responsibility of the association is. Yes, we of course advocate for access and broad responsibility of journalism, and that falls under the First Amendment. But you can’t do anything in service of the First Amendment without that access.”
Still, Heinrich will push back publicly in some instances, like when Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt gave a positive spin to the White House taking over the rotating press pool that covers the president’s activities and statements in small settings.
“This move does not give the power back to the people — it gives power to the White House,” Heinrich wrote on X. “The WHCA is democratically elected by the full-time White House press corps. WHCA has determined pools for decades because only representatives FROM our outlets can determine resources all those outlets have — such as staffing — in order to get the President’s message out to the largest possible audience, no matter the day or hour.”
That said, she doesn’t make it a regular habit.
“Everyone knows this is an administration that loves to fight on Twitter, and usually they win in that space,” she said. “I think that the more we can do the work of advocacy rather than activism in a public arena — that is the guiding principle of my leadership.”
It’s a particularly busy time for Heinrich. Beyond preparing to lead the WHCA, she’s covering a president who will ignite controversy night and day, co-anchoring Fox News’ “The Sunday Briefing” alongside senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy (“We’ve gotten a great response so far,” she said of the show, which marked its highest-rated month last month after it debuted in September and is cable’s top 11 a.m.-12 p.m. program on Sunday). She’s also planning a June wedding with Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), which will take place two weeks before she starts her WHCA role.
Trump, who Heinrich said watches and reads “everything,” has expressed his displeasure with her work while still engaging with her. In a call earlier this month, Trump disclosed that the U.S. and Iran were in “heated negotiations” to reopen the Strait of Hormuz after Trump’s threat that “a whole civilization will die.”
“He has sounded off about it a few times, but he still takes my calls, I think because he believes that I’m doing an honest job,” she said. “I’m approaching my job without an agenda. I’m always giving them an opportunity to explain their position. I do as I do with everyone, and I make sure that I include that in my reporting. I also include the criticism. I just think that’s sort of journalism 101, and it is what it is. I don’t concern myself too much with his reaction to my work. So long as I’ve done that fair, full and honest job, I feel like the rest of it’s kind of gravy.”
It’s that perception of fairness she hopes will persist in her role as WHCA president, leveraging her “good relationship” with the president’s press office to maintain the organization’s access to Trump himself and chronicle “the historical record.”
“This isn’t for fun,” she said. “This is what we do is, we cover the president — it is the first draft of history.”
