Trump marks 100 days in office with attack on media

Washington, April 30 

Celebrating the first 100 days of his administration, Donald Trump today attacked the media for misleading the people with “fake news” as he skipped the “very boring” annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner to become the first president in over 30 years to skip the gala.

He said a large group of Hollywood actors and Washington media are consoling each other in a hotel ballroom in the nation’s capital right now, referring to the annual black-tie dinner at a luxurious hotel which was sold out to more than 2,600 guests, comprising nation’s political players, and top journalists along with celebrities and diplomats.

“They are gathered together for the White House Correspondents’ Dinner without the President,” Trump told his supporters at a campaign-style rally in Pennsylvania, a state which played a critical role in his electoral victory.

He told supporters that he was keeping “one promise after another”, dismissing criticism as “fake news” by “out of touch” journalists.

This is for the first time in decades that a serving US President decided against attending the annual event of journalists. None of the White House staff were present on the occasion in support of the President’s decision. The last president to miss the White House Correspondents’ Dinner was Ronald Reagan back in 1981, and that was because he was recovering from an assassination attempt.

The last time Trump attended the dinner was in 2011, when he was a New York real estate mogul who had just jumped into politics by getting involved in the “birther” movement, calling for President Barack Obama to release his birth certificate. Trump ended up being the butt of the jokes that night from comedian Seth Meyers and Obama himself. — PTI 

Coming: Big decision on ‘one-sided’ Paris deal 

• President Donald Trump has promised to make a “big decision” on the “one-sided” Paris climate deal soon as he alleged that the US is being unfairly targeted by asking to pay money while major polluting nations like Russia, China and India are contributing “nothing” 
• In a campaign-style rally in Pennsylvania, Trump said the Paris Agreement on Climate Change is “one sided.” “I will be making a big decision on the Paris accord over the next two weeks and we will see what happens,” he said in his speech to mark the first 100 days of his presidency
• “...like the one-sided Paris climate accord. Where the US pays billions of dollars (for the Paris Climate Accord) while China, Russia, and India have contributed (to pollution) and will contribute nothing,” Trump alleged as the audience booed to the Paris Agreement