Reince Priebus, the former chief of staff at the White House, said that he thinks President Trump might come to the White House Correspondents Association dinner next year.
Trump decided to skip this year’s event for the second consecutive year in favor of holding a rally in Michigan. He did appear at a similar dinner earlier this year, known as the Gridiron.
“I think he killed it at the Gridiron,” Priebus said when asked on CNN why he thought Trump would attend the correspondents’ dinner next year. “So in the format of giving a funny speech, self-deprecating, he showed he could do it and did it quite well the at the Gridiron. I don’t see any reason he shouldn’t do it here. Maybe next year he will.”
The Gridiron dinner is held by the Gridiron Club of Washington, an invitation-only nonprofit that represents journalists from major news organizations. Kaitlin Collins, CNN correspondent, pointed out that dinner, however, is held off camera, unlike the correspondents’ dinner. She asked whether that might have been why Trump was willing to speak at the Gridiron.
“No, the man is a showman,” Priebus responded. “He stared at a camera on NBC and killed it for, what, a dozen years? I think the opposite. If the camera is there, the president might do even better.”
Trump, who has frequently blasted certain media coverage of him, is expected to deliver a speech on the economy at a sports complex in Michigan. “Why would I want to be stuck in a room with a bunch of fake news liberals who hate me?” Trump said in a fundraising email this week authorized by the Republican National Committee.
But this year several senior White House aides were present at the correspondents’ dinner, including Sarah Sanders, press secretary, and Hogan Gidley, deputy press secretary. This demonstrated that a “thaw” was occurring between the White House and the Press, Priebus said.
“I think there might be a little bit of a thaw occurring in the West Wing,” he said. “Maybe next year President Trump’s going to be here, but I think this way the president gets it both ways, he gets the coverage tonight. He’ll be on TV, too. But his staff is here and they’re doing their thing with the press.”
He added that he believed it was good for the Trump campaign to have the president at the rally as well.
“I think President Trump is being President Trump,” he said. “I hate to say it but he’s playing the media like a fiddle like he always does. He’s doing his thing tonight and I think he’s doing a great job by getting out and talking to the people. But having his staff here and mingling with the press is a good thing too.”
Collins pressed Priebus about whether the president was responsible for some of the tensions that exist between the White House and the media.
Priebus said there was too much animosity but that the press was “pretty obsessed” with Trump and reported on him because doing so was lucrative.
“They go out of their way to bring up any negative that they can, but I also think they do it because there is a lot of money to be made. I mean, Trump sells; 24/7 Trump makes money for everyone involved and I think that’s why a lot of this stuff is happening.”
Priebus was chief of staff until last summer, when Trump appointed John Kelly to the role.
