Even without the big-name celebrities that have attended the dinner in previous years, Washington knows how to pack these events. Take the presence of Omarosa Manigault Newman, famous for sandwiching her stint as a White House aide in the Trump administration with two notorious reality show appearances, and her friendly conversation with Michael Avenatti, Stormy Daniels’s attorney.Even without the big-name celebrities that have attended the dinner in previous years, Washington knows how to pack an event.
He whipped out his phone and showed a Washington Post reporter a cover photo for his new book, ““None of this was in the realm of possibility” before the White House, Spicer said.Other attendees patrolled for faces they recognized in the crowd for the only reason anybody does that these days: to turn the moment into social media content.A gong sounded just before 7:30 p.m. “What’s up, boo?” she asked. “An attack on any journalist is an attack on us all.”Talev also said the best leaders champion the freedom of the press “even when the scrutiny is turned on them.”Sitting at the head table in the president’s place was Sanders, whom Talev thanked for being there.“What has always made America great is the ability to disagree publicly,” Talev said.Before the scholarship winners were announced, the dinner showed another pretaped comedy bit: a video of outgoing House Speaker Paul D. Ryan updating his LinkedIn page, and making a weed joke in the form of a suggestion from former House speaker John A. Boehner about how to relax.“I”m going to miss sparring with the press every day. Pell and Charles Levinson from Reuters won the Edgar A. Poe Award for their report, “Shock Tactics,” an investigation into Taser-related deaths. Welcome to our coverage of the 2018 White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.The president did not attend this year’s event, which honors journalists and awards scholarships to students. Matt Schlapp, the chairman of the American Conservative Union, Avenatti said he thought Wolf was “really funny.” And Rob Reiner, a guest of McClatchy, said he sensed in the room that it wasn’t going over well but that he believed “she spoke the truth.”Comedian Michelle Wolf didn’t hold back: “Good evening, here we are at the White House correspondents’ dinner,” she said, by way of kicking things off: “Like a porn star says when she’s about to have sex with a Trump, let’s get this over with.”She also noted that it’s 2018, and she’s a woman, “so you cannot shut me up. Michelle Wolf at the 2018 White House Correspondents’ Dinner. She’s so white, cold and expensive she might as well be the Winter Olympics,” Wolf said, and then referenced one of Kelly’s most famous segments: “And by the way Megyn, Santa’s black. Photo: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images Just like last year , a certain alleged president skipped the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. He couldn’t take it.’ And if you do smile, they’ll say, ‘What was he smiling about? Like, I think you might be rich in Idaho, but in New York you’re doing fine.”Wolf also played a game where she said “Trump is so broke” and the audience would have to respond, “How broke is he?” The responses:“He’s so broke, he has to fly failed business class.”“He’s so broke, he looked for foreign oil in Don Jr.’s hair.”“He’s so broke, Southwest used him as one of their engines.” There were some gasps after that one. Selfie chasers who would have once tracked down movie stars were now chasing after Chris Matthews.Michelle Wolf headlined the evening with a ruthless roast of pretty much everyone in the room.There was a sense that her bold routine didn’t win over the audience — particularly a stone-faced press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders at the evening’s head table.