WASHINGTON (AP) – The annual White House press conference returned Saturday night with Washington’s coverage of the reporters and the man at the helm: President Joe Biden.
The White House Correspondents’ Union dinner, which the pandemic sidelined in 2020 and 2021, returned with Biden as the first president in six years to accept an invitation.  Donald Trump avoided the event while in power.
“Imagine if my predecessor came to this dinner this year,” Biden told an audience of 2,600 people, including journalists, government officials and celebrities.  “Now this would really be a real coup.”
The president took the opportunity to shed light on the criticism he has faced in his 18 months in office and to target his predecessor, the Republican Party, and members of the press.
“I’m really excited to be here tonight with the only team of Americans with a lower acceptance score than me,” Biden said.
The night was filled with videotaped comedy sketches featuring late-night TV presenters, comedians and even Biden himself.
The dinner also had its highlights, with tributes to pioneering color journalists, aspiring student reporters, and a tribute to the journalist who was detained, injured or killed while covering the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Earlier in the night, on a return to normalcy, journalists, government officials and celebrities paraded on the red carpet, even as the COVID-19 threat loomed over the hotel’s huge ballroom.
Comedy is back with “The Daily Show” host Trevor Noah as the title after BIden.  Celebrities also reappeared: Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson walked the carpet, as did Brooke Shields and Caitlyn Jenner.  The event attracted a large group of government officials and other prominent figures.
Biden faced thousands of attendees as he tried to strike a careful balance at a pivotal moment for the country.  His government is trying to turn the page on the pandemic, even though the virus remains a national threat and close to home.  Vice President Kamala Harris tested positive this week and Dr.  Anthony Fauci skipped dinner for health reasons.
Following the recent Gridiron Club dinner in Washington, DC, dozens of attendees, including members of Congress and Biden Cabinet and journalists, tested positive for COVID-19.
This raised questions about whether Biden, 79, should attend Saturday’s dinner.  The president planned to leave the meal, but later appeared on the program and wore a mask when not speaking.  Instead, he was without masks while greeting the prize winners on the sun lounger and smiling broadly all night.
The White House has highlighted the abundance of the Paxlovid antiviral pill, which has been shown to reduce the serious effects of the virus by 90% among those at higher risk.
However, spokeswoman Jen Psaki said of Biden: “We want to be very clear that he is likely to be as positive about COVID as any American.”
The White House Correspondents Association said it required a same-day antigen test for those attending its dinner even before the Gridiron outbreak.  He then added a vaccination requirement.
The U.S. is experiencing an outbreak of COVID-19 outbreaks of a highly contagious omicron subtype, with confirmed infections rising to about 44,000 a day, up from 26,000 a month ago.
Despite the latest wave of COVID-19 cases, virus deaths and hospitalizations are near or at low pandemic levels, with BA.2 variant proving to be less severe than previous strains of the virus.  Just over 300 people die in the US each day from the virus, up from more than 2,600 a day earlier this year – with about 1,600 hospitalizations a day, down from a maximum of 21,000 daily in January.
Psaki said that Biden’s decision to attend “is in stark contrast to his predecessor, who not only questioned the legitimacy of the press on an almost daily basis, but also never attended dinner.”  Trump, who at times described the media as an “enemy of the people,” had happily boycotted the event as president.
In addition to the imminent threat of the virus, Biden planned to take the microphone as a massive and deadly invasion of Ukraine continued to unfold at the hands of Russian forces.
Biden referred to the dinner during a speech last week on Russia’s war in Ukraine, saying: “I have always had respect for the press, but I can not tell you how much respect I have for watching them in these areas where are located.  under fire “.
“Imagine not receiving this information,” he added.  “It would be a different world.”
The Correspondents’ Dinner made its debut in 1921. Three years later, Calvin Coolidge became the first president to attend and everyone except Trump.  However, Jimmy Carter and Richard Nixon chose not to run for president each year, and Ronald Reagan, then recovering from an assassination attempt, missed the 1981 dose – but called from Camp David.
“What I think shows is the restoration of relationship health,” said Harold Holzer, author of Presidents vs. Press and director of the Roosevelt House Institute for Public Policy at Hunter College in New York.  .  “It’s still thorny, there are still tense moments.  But that’s okay. “
After comedian Michelle Wolf’s sharp satire sparked controversy in 2018, the event the following year featured historian Ron Chernow.  The return of the celebrities this time is reminiscent of the administration of President Barack Obama, when people like George Clooney, Charlize Theron and Viola Davis attended.
As vice president in 2014, Biden appeared in a comedy video starring HBO “Veep” Julia Lewis-Dreyfus, which caused a great deal of laughter at the correspondents’ dinner.  White House speechwriting director Vinay Reddy and longtime Biden adviser Mike Donilon worked on Biden’s statements for this year, the White House said, drawing on material from a variety of people inside and outside government.
Psaki has already admitted that she is trying to lower expectations, saying that the speech “was not funny at all.  I’m just kidding. “However, presidential attempts at humor can be difficult.
At the 2011 dinner, Obama stabbed an indifferent Trump – in his presence – over Trump’s fictitious claims about the then president’s birth certificate.  Obama concluded by thinking that Trump would take office one day, saying, “It would definitely bring some change to the White House,” as banquet screens flashed a parody of the large 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue facade with the Trump logo on it. , digital clock and sign stating “Hotel, Casino, Golf Course, Presidential Suite”.
This proved to be prophetic, since Trump of course succeeded Obama – although the changes he eventually brought to the presidency stopped sticking to his name in the White House.
Associated Press author Zeke Miller contributed to this report.