“The @WHCA is pleased to host President Biden and Dr. Jill Biden as we honor the First Amendment at our dinner on April 30,” the organization tweeted.
The White House Correspondents’ Association on Wednesday announced that President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden plan to attend the organization’s annual dinner later this month.
The Bidens’ attendance at the April 30 event would make them the first “first couple” to take part in the festivities since Barack and Michelle Obama attended in 2016. Donald and Melania Trump boycotted and occasionally counter-programmed the black-tie affair throughout their term in the White House.
“The @WHCA is pleased to host President Biden and Dr. Jill Biden as we honor the First Amendment at our dinner on April 30,” the organization tweeted.
The White House also confirmed to POLITICO that the Bidens will indeed attend the dinner, which is set to be headlined by Trevor Noah, the host of “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central.
Jill Biden is an apparent fan of Noah; the comedian’s autobiography — “Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood” — was one of the two pieces of required reading for an introductory English course taught last year by the first lady.
The White House Correspondents’ Dinner was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to coronavirus-related concerns, and this year’s event will come after another elite Washington gathering — the Gridiron Club dinner earlier this month — resulted in a spike in Covid-19 cases among prominent lawmakers and administration officials.
Ahead of the dinner, the Biden administration is still grappling with how to handle shifting public opinion over the coronavirus-related restrictions that have prompted several cities and states to roll back mask mandates and other measures.
A U.S. district court judge in Florida struck down the Biden administration’s federal mask mandate for airplanes and other modes of public transportation on Monday. And asked on Wednesday whether Americans should continue to wear masks on planes, Biden said: “That’s up to them.”
