More than 500 journalists have called on the White House Correspondents’ Association to confront President Donald Trump on Friday over his continued attacks on the free press.
A coalition of veteran journalists and press organizations made similar requests ahead of the original WHCA dinner in April, but the number of signatories has doubled ahead of the rescheduled event.
The dinner was brought to a halt on April 25 when an armed man breached security and fired shots on-site. Trump, who was in attendance on April 25, promised at the time to attend the rescheduled dinner.
The letter to the officers, board of directors and members of the White House Correspondents’ Association detailed several instances of Trump’s attacks on the press, including the Trump administration subpoenaing New York Times journalists and relatives over an Air Force One report and the president’s calls for ABC and NBC to lose their broadcast licenses after the networks decided not to air his live primetime address on Thursday.
“Since the first dinner was canceled in April, President Trump has escalated his attacks on journalists and news organizations,” Lisa Stark, a former ABC News correspondent who helped organize the message, said in a statement to TheWrap. “The WHCA cannot normalize this behavior.”
Other instances that the signatories pointed out were FCC Chairman Brendan Carr launching an investigation into “The View” for alleged violations of the equal-time rule for political candidates as well as Trump’s repeated attacks against female journalists.
“Our message to the White House Correspondents’ Association is now more urgent: forcefully stand up for freedom of the press in front of the president, publicly defend the journalists he attacks, and vow to resist his administration’s concerted effort to undermine the First Amendment,” the letter read.
“WHCA President Weijia Jiang says the dinner’s purpose is ‘to celebrate the First Amendment and the hard daily work of the journalists who defend it.’ We believe it is hypocritical to celebrate the First Amendment in front of the man who relentlessly attacks it,” the letter continued. “We urge the WHCA to condemn the administration’s actions from the podium and pledge to fight all attempts by his administration to undermine this core pillar of a functioning democracy.”
The White House Correspondents’ Association dinner is rescheduled for Friday at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington, D.C. Organizers stated that the event will be a more intimate gathering with “significantly enhanced safety measures and new access procedures,” according to Jiang.
President Trump confirmed his intention to attend and speak on Truth Social in June.
“I don’t know whether or not I will give the same rather nasty statements, at least as it concerns certain people, but we will soon find out,” he wrote on June 3. “In any event, it will be a ‘HOT’ ticket! Interestingly, the location will be The Waldorf Astoria, on Pennsylvania Avenue, a Building and Ballroom that I built.”
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