Panicking over Russia scandal, Donald Trump cancels on White House Correspondents’ Dinner

| 4:42 pm EST February 25, 2017
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Just one day after his White House was caught having leaned on the leaders of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees to throw the media off the trail of his Russia scandal, and half a day after a leading Republican Congressman called for a Trump-Russia special prosecutor, Donald Trump is now making what can only be described as the biggest panic move of his presidency to date. In a stunning development, Trump announced today that he’s canceling his traditionally scheduled speech at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner.

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Donald Trump made the announcement this afternoon in a tweet which sounded more like something you’d find written inside of an RSVP note: “I will not be attending the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner this year. Please wish everyone well and have a great evening!” Who’s supposed to wish everyone well? Who was he even talking to in this tweet? No further explanation was provided. But the context seems clear enough. Trump is now fully at war with the American media, having gone so far this week as to begin banning the news outlets from press briefings who have done the most legwork in exposing his Russia scandal – which backfired when other major news outlets boycotted the briefing in protest.

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And as a result of his ongoing attacks, the media is now every bit as much at war with Trump. Bloomberg recently announced that it’s canceling its White House Correspondents’ Dinner afterparty, while CNN is now considering skipping the dinner itself. The event has always represented a moment of fun and games between the president and the media, and yet in the midst of the Russia scandal and Trump’s war on the media, there can be no fun and games. But Trump’s timing is particularly suspect.

The 2017 White House Correspondents’ Dinner isn’t set to take place until April 29th. That’s more than two months from now. Donald Trump still had plenty of time to see which way the wind ends up blowing with his Russia scandal before officially announcing that he’ll sit it out. So did he post this tweet today so that he could be the one to back out, before any more news outlets can announce they’re backing out because of him? Or was this just another desperate attempt at distracting the media from his Russia scandal for a day? It doesn’t seem to be working. Contribute to Palmer Report

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