More than 250 journalists signed an open letter urging the White House Correspondents’ Association to confront Donald Trump at this week’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. They want the president to be called out for alleged attacks on press freedom, Fox News reported.
The letter read, “We, the undersigned, call upon the White House Correspondents’ Association to use the occasion of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner to forcefully demonstrate opposition to President Trump’s efforts to trample freedom of the press.”
Over 250 journalists demand reporters ‘forcefully’ protest Trump at White House Correspondents’ Dinner A group of over 250 journalists implored members of the beltway press corps to “forcefully demonstrate opposition” to President Trump at the ritzy Whit… https://t.co/743TYTgWDx pic.twitter.com/tlemeQUdEP
— UnfilteredAmerica (@NahBabyNahNah) April 20, 2026
It continued, “President Trump’s systematic, sustained, and unprecedented attacks on the free press… render his presence at such an event a profound contradiction of its purpose.”
The Daily Beast reported that the letter also mentioned that some reporters planned to wear handkerchiefs or lapel pins with the words of the First Amendment.
The letter added, “We also urge the WHCA to reaffirm, without equivocation, that freedom of the press is not a partisan issue and that the Association will not normalize this behavior but instead fight back against any officeholder who has waged systematic war against the journalists whose work the dinner celebrates.”
According to Fox News, notable journalists who have signed the letter include former CBS News anchor Dan Rather, former ABC News White House correspondent Sam Donaldson, and former NBC News anchor Ann Curry, among others.
Trump did not attend the event during his presidency but is supposed to attend this year, The Independent noted.
The outlet also reported that Trump has a contentious relationship with the press. In February 2025, the Trump administration barred Associated Press reporters from covering Trump’s events because they refused to refer to the “Gulf of Mexico” as Gulf of America.
FPF joined more than 250 journalists in a Monday letter urging the @WHCA dinner’s organizers to forcefully oppose Trump’s attacks on press freedom.
The press shouldn’t stand up to applaud the man who attacks them on a daily basis.
Read the full letter: https://t.co/i4TKxTr649 pic.twitter.com/B58Kccrlt4
— Freedom of the Press Foundation (@FreedomofPress) April 20, 2026
Other than that, Trump also sued the Wall Street Journal for $10 billion after it published a report on a birthday letter that Trump allegedly sent to Jeffrey Epstein. Trump had denied these claims, but a judge dismissed the lawsuit without prejudice, finding no actual malice.
Trump’s legal team had stated, “President Trump will follow Judge Gayles’s ruling and guidance to refile this powerhouse lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal and all of the other Defendants.”
In response to the letter sent to WHCA, a White House spokesperson highlighted Trump’s Truth Social post in which he declared he would attend the event.
He also said he was invited “very nicely” by the WHCA to attend, as reported by Fox News. Trump also claimed that WHCA should “admit that I am truly one of the Greatest Presidents in the History of our Country, the G.O.A.T.”
