It’s almost time for the 2018 White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. And again people are speculating about whether Donald Trump—who broke from presidential tradition last year when he declined his invitation—will show up. He told a group of reporters at the time that he was penciling it in: “I would come next year, absolutely.” But since then, there’s been no word from the White House and no comment from the WHCA; Trump did speak at March’s Gridiron Club dinner, another insidery Washington event where journos and pols rub awkward elbows.
But one person who certainly won’t be in attendance: Stormy Daniels, the porn star who says she’s had an affair with the President and is now suing him.
For a while in Washington, there was a trend of media outlets inviting celebrities to ruffle the guest of honor. In 1998, Insight magazine brought Paula Jones to the dinner, four years after she sued Bill Clinton for sexual harassment and months after news of his affair with Monica Lewinsky broke. Clinton, for the record, never missed a WHCA dinner while in office.
The year after that John F. Kennedy Jr. brought the Hustler publisher Larry Flint to dine with George magazine. The New York Times boycotted, with then DC bureau chief Michael Oreskes (yes, him) calling the event “unseemly” and a “circus.”
But Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, will not be carving time out of her Make America Horny Again tour to hit Washington’s nerd prom. According to her attorney Michael Avenatti, no news outlets have invited her, and she would have no interest in going even if they did.
The White House did not immediately reply to a request for comment on whether Daniels’s intention not to attend would influence the President’s decision.
Amanda has contributed to Washingtonian since 2016. She has written about the right-wing media personality Britt McHenry, chronicled her night with Stormy Daniels, and come clean about owning too much stuff. She lives on H Street. She can be reached at [email protected].
