President Trump said not all sources are made up, but in light of the prevalence of “fake news” he didn’t think it would be appropriate to attend this year’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.
“Over the years, you make a mistake — I fully understand when they hit you. But when they make stories up, when they create sources — [because] I believe that sometimes they don’t have sources, the sources don’t exist,” Mr. Trump said in an interview that aired Tuesday on “Fox & Friends.”
“And sometimes they do exist. I’m not saying all sources. But I believe that a lot of the sources are made up. A lot of the stories are made up,” he said. “I believe a lot of the stories are pure fiction. They just pull it out of air.”
“I just thought in light of the fact of fake news and all of the other things that we’re talking about now — I thought it would be inappropriate,” Mr. Trump said.
“I have great respect for the press. I have great respect for reporters and the whole profession,” he said. “Now, with all of that being said, I just thought it would be better if I didn’t do the dinner. That doesn’t mean I’m not going to do it next year, but I just thought it would be better if I didn’t do” the dinner.
Mr. Trump announced on Twitter Saturday he would not be attending the dinner, which is typically a light-hearted affair where a comedian roasts the president and the president pokes fun at the press.