Biden to headline White House correspondents dinner

President Joe Biden will be at the White House Correspondents Association's annual dinner in Washington, the first time a sitting president will be at the event since Barack Obama took office in 2016.

The organization said in a tweet that it was pleased to host Biden and first lady Jill Biden at the dinner April 30 that will honor the First Amendment.

Donald Trump canceled the event in 2020 and last year because of the coronaviruses, and opted to skip the event when he was president.

The event s entertainer is Trevor Noah, host of Comedy Central's The Daily Show. In 2018, Michelle Wolf s biting and after-dinner comedy routine grabbed headlines even in Trump's absence.

After the Gridiron Club dinner in Washington earlier this month, some Cabinet members, other administration officials and members of Congress tested positive for Covid 19 amid a surge of cases around the nation s capital.

Capacity for the upcoming dinner is more than 2,600 and the event is fully booked.

Ashish Jha, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, suggested last weekend that the correspondents dinner should move forward. He told Fox News Sunday that we are at the point in this epidemic where we think we can gather safely. I don't think events like that need to be canceled, Jha said. I think if people put in good safeguards, they can make it safer, make sure people are vaccinated, improve ventilation, and make sure people are vaccinated.