Donald Trump says he’s skipping this year’s White House Correspondents Dinner because its members “make stories up.”
“Over the years you make a mistake, I fully understand when they hit you,” Trump said in an interview with “Fox & Friends” scheduled to air Tuesday morning. “But when they make stories up, when they create sources, ’cause I believe that sometimes they don’t have sources, you know, the sources don’t exist.”
“I do believe that a lot of the sources are made up,” he added. “A lot of the stories are made up. I believe a lot of, the stories are pure fiction, they just pull it out of air.”
The annual dinner, scheduled for April 29, is traditionally attended by the president, first lady, the White House press corps, media outlets and celebrities. Money raised at the event goes toward scholarships for young journalists. Trump will be the first commander-in-chief to skip the event in over 30 years.
“With all of that being said, I just thought it would be better if I didn’t do the dinner,” Trump told Fox News. “That doesn’t mean I’m not going to do it next year, but I just thought it would be better if I didn’t do it this year.”
The gathering is usually emceed by a known comedian who roasts the president and the media. But this year a number of news outlets — including The New Yorker and Vanity Fair — have refused to host the annual parties around the ceremonies.
Trump’s announcement comes as the president continues his assault on the free press, calling news organizations like the Times, NBC, ABC and CBS “fake news.”
Last week, White House press secretary Sean Spicer barred several major news organizations from attending a briefing.
Trump also addressed the Sunday night’s Oscar, show telling Fox News: “It just seems like the other side, whenever they’re losing badly, they always pull out the race card. I’ve watched it for years. I watched it against Ronald Reagan, I’ve watched it against so many other people. And they always like pulling out the race card. In fact I did much better than many other than other Republicans in the last election. I did much better with Hispanics, I did much better with African-Americans, if I didn’t do better, I wouldn’t be sitting here.”
8 Times Hypocrite Donald Trump Used the Kind of Anonymous Sources He Now Condemns (Photos)
On Sunday, Donald Trump derided the use of anonymous sourcing in news stories. He also said in February that news outlets "shouldn't be allowed to use sources unless they use somebody's name." It's strange he thinks that, because he's used a lot of anonymous sources himself. Here are some examples.
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Two years after President Obama released his birth certificate, Trump said it was not believable to some people. "You know, some people say that was not his birth certificate," he told ABC in August 2013. "I'm saying I don't know. Nobody knows and you don't know either."
Trump took care to describe this source as "extremely credible."
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Trump so often sources information to "many people" (without naming any of them) that there's a well-worn #manypeoplearesaying hashtag on Twitter. The Washington Post wrote an article about it, which includes the examples on the next three slides.
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At a rally in September, a man in Trump's audience said President Obama was a Muslim and “not even an American,” then asked Trump to get rid of Muslim “training camps.”
“You know, a lot of people are saying that, and a lot of people are saying that bad things are happening out there,” Trump responded.
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In early January, Trump said he had heard from many Republicans worried that his rival, Sen. Ted Cruz, was born in Canada.
“I’d hate to see something like that get in his way, but a lot of people are talking about it, and I know that even some states are looking at it very strongly, the fact that he was born in Canada and he has had a double passport,” Trump told the Post.
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In May 2016, Trump told the Post what some "people" believe about the death of Vince Foster. “I don’t bring [Foster’s death] up because I don’t know enough to really discuss it,” Trump said. “I will say there are people who continue to bring it up because they think it was absolutely a murder. I don’t do that because I don’t think it’s fair.”
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Soon after Trump called for an end to anonymous sourcing, The Associated Press noted, "Members of Trump's White House team regularly demand anonymity when talking to reporters."
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Surprise: Trump berates the news media for doing something he’s done himself
On Sunday, Donald Trump derided the use of anonymous sourcing in news stories. He also said in February that news outlets "shouldn't be allowed to use sources unless they use somebody's name." It's strange he thinks that, because he's used a lot of anonymous sources himself. Here are some examples.