White House correspondents' dinner drops headliner amid Trump tensions

The White House Correspondents' Association dropped the comedian who was to headline its annual dinner, the body said Saturday, amid tensions with US President Donald Trump, who has targeted multiple outlets over their coverage.

The comedian, Amber Ruffin, has previously criticized Trump and joked that no one would want to attend next month's dinner with him.

A White House spokesman had criticized her and the WHCA over her appearance at the dinner, traditionally headlined by a comedian who makes fun of whoever is president at the time.

WHCA president Eugene Daniels said in a Saturday email to members that the board unanimously decided that "we are no longer featuring a comedic performance this year."

"At this consequential moment for journalism, I want to ensure the focus is not on the politics of division but entirely on awarding our colleagues for their outstanding work and providing scholarship and mentorship to the next generation of journalists," Daniels said.

He said he would give further details as the April 26 dinner nears.

A White House spokesman called the decision "a cop out."

Trump's team has clashed with the WHCA, an independent body representing journalists covering the White House, since his return to power in January.

In February it stripped the WHCA of the nearly century-old power to decide which of them cover US presidential events, with Trump boasting that he was now "calling the shots" on media access.

His administration said the WHCA would no longer have a "monopoly" on choosing members of the "press pool."

The press pool is a small group of reporters that covers the US president in often cramped spaces like the Oval Office and Air Force One, and shares their material with other news organizations.

The WHCA -- of which AFP is a member -- said the decision "tears at the independence of the free press."

The White House has also banned reporters from the Associated Press news agency from the Oval Office and travelling on Air Force One since February.

It did so because the AP continues to refer to the Gulf of Mexico, an international body of water, and not simply the "Gulf of America" as decreed by Trump.

The AP has filed a suit against three White House officials arguing that the denial of access violates the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech and of the press.