Alec Baldwin had made a killing recently with his spot-on impression of Donald Trump, and now the Saturday Night Live regular could be taking the impersonation to a bigger stage — the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Trump Will Be First President In 36 Years To Skip White House Correspondents Dinner

President Trump announced Saturday afternoon that he would break from a decades-old tradition and skip the annual White House Correspondents' Association Dinner scheduled for April 29. In a tweet on Saturday, the president doesn’t give a reason but says he wishes “everyone well and have a great evening!”

The annual fundraiser for college scholarships mixes politicians, journalists and celebrities. The black-tie dinner, which raises money for journalism scholarships, takes place every spring and is usually attended by the president, journalists, celebrities and Washington insiders. Buzzfeed reported that CNN, which Trump has been pointedly attacking, might boycott, and Bloomberg canceled hosting a planned after party, a longtime feature of the event in collaboration with Vanity Fair. In response to Trump's tweet, the White House Correspondents' Association President Jeff Mason issued the following statement:

White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon on Thursday reiterated that the press was the "opposition party" at the Conservative Political Action Conference; Trump himself devoted a significant portion of his CPAC speech Friday to attacking the "fake news" media; and White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer gave access for a briefing to a group of mostly conservative-leaning news organizations that same day while shutting out some mainstream organizations. White House Correspondents Association President Jeff Mason told CNN’s Brianna Keilar on Saturday that Trump’s decision is not surprising given the negative things the President has said about the media, such as suggesting they are “the enemy of the American people.”

“That of course is something that the correspondents’ association and journalists reject,” Mason said.
Donald Trump announces he will not attend the 2017 White House Correspondents' Dinner, following recent friction between his administration and various news organizations.