President Donald Trump has agreed to attend the White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) dinner this April, marking the first time he will appear at the event as president. Trump made the announcement Monday (March 2) on his Truth Social platform, breaking a pattern he established throughout his entire first term and the first year of his second.

Trump explained his previous absences by saying the press had treated him unfairly. "Because the Press was extraordinarily bad to me, FAKE NEWS ALL, right from the beginning of my First Term, I boycotted the event, and never went as Honoree," Trump wrote. "However, I look forward to being with everyone this year. Hopefully, it will be something very Special."

The dinner is scheduled for Saturday (April 25) in Washington, D.C.

Weijia Jiang, president of the White House Correspondents' Association, welcomed the news. In a statement posted on the WHCA's website, Jiang said, "For more than 100 years, the journalists of the White House Correspondents' Association have enjoyed an evening with the president, a dinner that celebrates the First Amendment while supporting the work we do including awards honoring excellent journalism and scholarships to help the next generation of reporters who someday will be the ones asking the questions at the White House. We're happy the president has accepted our invitation and look forward to hosting him."

The annual dinner has a long history. It was first held in 1921 with Presid gent Calvin Coolidge became the first sitting president to attend when he showed up in 1924. Since then, nearly every president has participated, with a few exceptions. Jimmy Carter and Richard Nixon skipped some years, and Ronald Reagan called in from Camp David in 1981 while recovering from an assassination attempt. Trump, however, is the only modern president to have skipped the dinner entirely — until now.

Trump has attended the dinner before, but not as president. He was famously in the audience at the 2011 event, when then-President Barack Obama poked fun at him with a joke imagining a Trump-branded White House.

Trump's decision to attend comes as the White House and the correspondents' association have had a tense relationship in recent years. The Trump administration has sued several major news organizations, including the BBC, CBS, ABC, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times. Some outlets have settled those suits, with CBS parent company Paramount paying $16 million and ABC paying $15 million. The administration also moved last year to control which outlets could participate in the White House press pool, a role the WHCA had historically managed independently.

Trump also noted in his post that the dinner takes place during celebrations marking America's 250th birthday, calling it an additional reason to attend. The dinner raises money for journalism scholarships and honors excellence in reporting.

Bill Handel