The guest list to this year’s White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner on Saturday, April 27, at the Washington Hilton was certainly paired down from years past. Chief among the missing was the President of the United States (for the third time) and members of his administration, though several former Trump staffers did attend.
Also missing were many A-list entertainers who were ubiquitous at the event during previous administrations. (A far greater number of celebrities could be found a few blocks away at the Awesome Con comic convention.) But fancy gowns were still a big part of the show.
The objective of the black-tie dinner is to salute the First Amendment and honor award-winning journalism. A portion of the proceeds will be directed toward scholarships to help aspiring journalists.
Typically, a comedian would headline the event. But this year’s keynote speaker was a historian, Ron Chernow, who focused on celebrating the history of journalism and the First Amendment. “When you chip away at the press, you chip away at our democracy,” said Chernow.
You can view Jeff Malet’s photos of the WHCA Dinner red carpet arrivals by clicking on the photo icons below.
Kelleth Cuthbert, known as the “Fiji Water Girl,” received much media attention for appearing to photobomb several celebrities on the Golden Globes red carpet. (Jeff Malet)
Stephanie Ruhle is an NBC News correspondent since April 2016 and anchor of MSNBC Live with Stephanie Ruhle and Velshi & Ruhle. (Jeff Malet)
NBC News Signal host Simone Boyce (Jeff Malet)
Tammy Haddad is president and CEO of Haddad Media, a Washington multimedia production and communications consulting company. Jeff Glor is the anchor of the CBS Evening News. (Jeff Malet)
Geena Rocero is a transgender Filipino American supermodel, TED speaker, and transgender advocate based in New York City. (Jeff Malet)
Washington D.C. Ward 2 Councilman Jack Evans, with Jayne Visser. (Jeff Malet)
Scholarship winners. (Jeff Malet)
Jeh Johnson is the former Secretary of Homeland Security. (Jeff Malet)
Actress Margaret Judson appeared on “The Newsroom,” an HBO drama. (Jeff Malet)
Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer. (Jeff Malet)
President of CBS News, Susan Zirinsky. (Jeff Malet)
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Grammy award winning gospel singer BeBe Winans. (Jeff Malet)
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Neil Grace (FCC), Kelleth Cuthbert (aka the Fiji Water Girl) and Nikki Schwab (New York Post) and Brendan Kownacki. (Jeff Malet)
Marketer and philanthropist Adi Spiegelman (Jeff Malet)
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Kate Bolduan is the anchor of “At This Hour with Kate Bolduan” on CNN. (Jeff Malet)
Karine Jean-Pierre is the senior advisor and national spokeswoman for MoveOn.org and a political analyst for NBC News and MSNBC. (Jeff Malet)
Andrea Mitchell of NBC News anchors “Andrea Mitchell Reports” on MSNBC. (Jeff Malet)
Margaret Brennan with husband Yado Yakub. Brennan is the current moderator of “Face the Nation” on CBS News, and the network’s senior foreign affairs correspondent. (Jeff Malet)
Ali Velshi is a senior economic and business correspondent for NBC News and co-anchor with Stephanie Ruhle of “Velshi & Ruhle” on MSNBC. (Jeff Malet)
Wolf Blitzer of CNN (Jeff Malet)
Lucien and Sophie Pyle Zeigler. (Jeff Malet)
Amanda Palmer is singer, songwriter, musician, author, and performance artist who was the lead vocalist, pianist, and lyricist of the duo The Dresden Dolls. (Jeff Malet)
(Jeff Malet)
CNN correspondent April Ryan (center) and singer Marvin Sapp (right) (Jeff Malet)
Lobbyist Heather Podesta (Jeff Malet)
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(Jeff Malet)
Boris Epshteyn, chief political analyst at Sinclair Broadcast Group, and wife Lauren Tanick. (Jeff Malet)
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Yamiche Alcindor, White House correspondent for the “PBS NewsHour.” (Jeff Malet)
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Gary Cohn, with wife Lisa Pevaroff-Cohn, is the former chief economic advisor to President Donald Trump from 2017-2018. (Jeff Malet)
Members of the NBC News White House Team (left to right): Peter Alexander, Freddie Tunnard, Stacey Klein, Kristen Welker, Hans Nichols, Hallie Jackson, Frank Thorp, Monica Alba, Elise Perlmutter-Gumbiner, Geoff Bennett and John Hughes. Photo by Jeff Malet.