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Will Melania Trump Be At The White House Correspondents' Dinner?

by Kylie McConville
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After announcing that he'd be skipping the White House Correspondents' Dinner (WHCD) this year — the first sitting president to do so since 1981 — President Donald Trump also announced he'd be holding a rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to celebrate the first 100 days of his tenure as President of the United States of America. Though the WHCD is an opportunity to side-step politics and show off the relationship between the media and the administration, this year will only further the ocean between the two. And if you're asking yourself, "where is Melania Trump during the WHCD?" you're not alone.

Of the president's dinner to skip the event, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee told George Stephanopoulos in an interview last Sunday on "The Week," "I think it's … kind of naive of us to think that we can all walk into a room for a couple of hours and pretend that some of that tension isn't there,” so the president had instead made plans to spend the night in Pennsylvania, holding a rally, and focusing on "what he can do to help America be better," according to Sanders.

Sanders continued: “You know, one of the things we say in the South [is] 'If a Girl Scout egged your house, would you buy cookies from her?' I think that this is a pretty similar scenario. There's no reason for him to go in and sit and pretend like this is going to be just another Saturday night.”

Though there's been no official word on whether or not the First Lady will be at the White House, in New York, or in Harrisburg with her husband, it feels safe to assume that she won't be in attendance at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. In fact, it's highly unlikely she'll attend the WHCD at all. (And the White House did not respond to a request for comment made by Elite Daily to determine whether Melania would be at the WHCD or in Pennsylvania).

Melania has been candid about her desire to give her son Barron as normal a childhood as he experienced before his father became president. If she skips the night to be with her son, I have a hard time blaming her for choosing to do so. (And to be fair, her husband's relationship with the media is just that — his relationship. Though she could help rehab his image, their marriage doesn't make her the scapegoat to atone for his policies.)

In early February of 2017, White House Correspondents' Association president Jeff Mason gave the following statement in response to the news that Trump would skip the event this year. Mason tweeted:

To our members: We've received some queries about the 2017 White House Correspondents' Dinner, which will be the first since the new administration took office. The White House Correspondents' Association will hold its annual dinner on April 29 at the Washington Hilton. This year, as we do every year, we will celebrate the First Amendment and the role an independent press plays in a healthy republic. We will also reward some of the finest political reporting of the past year while using our scholarship program to highlight and support up-and-coming journalists who are the future of our profession. In the meantime, the WHCA will pursue its core mission of advocating for journalists' ability to ask questions of government officials, push for transparency from the presidency, and help Americans hold the powerful to account. This is a responsibility that we have taken seriously for more than 100 years and will continue to uphold.

The only available details on the president's website for the event on Saturday, April 29 are as follows: "President Donald J. Trump will hold a rally at the PA Farm Show Complex & Expo Center in the New Holland Arena. Doors open at 4:30 pm EST." Looks like we'll all just have to wait and see what happens next.