The president may be in for a lighthearted evening of mind tricks and speeches at today’s Correspondents’ Dinner, but he still has plenty of serious issues on his plate, namely the Iran war.

President Trump just told Fox News he has canceled a planned trip in which his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner were set to head to Pakistan for Iran war negotiations.

“I’ve told my people a little while ago they were getting ready to leave, and I said, ‘Nope, you’re not making an 18 hour flight to go there,’” he told Fox’s Aishah Hasnie. “‘We have all the cards. They can call us anytime they want, but you’re not going to be making any more 18 hour flights to sit around talking about nothing’.”

As the Washington media headed into Correspondents’ Dinner weekend, the president got the party started early.

Trump spoke to guests for almost an hour, as business titans and federal brass mingled at mixed tables inside the U.S. Institute of Peace, The New York Times reported, citing people informed of the exclusive gathering.

Among those in attendance were: Paramount CEO David Ellison, CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.

The antitrust division within Blanche’s Justice Department is set to scrutinize the proposed $111 billion purchase of Warner Bros., which would hand CNN and other outlets to Ellison — who already controls CBS News. Warner Bros. shareholders signed off on the deal earlier this week, but it won’t be finalized until the government approves.

Brendan Rascius has the details.

This is what should be the most fun weekend in Washington: the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

And of course, all eyes will be on Donald Trump, who is making his first appearance at the dinner as president of the United States. Much has been made over Trump returning for the first time since he last attended, in 2011, when President Barack Obama and host Seth Meyers ruthlessly mocked him–and possibly spurred him to run for president.

Read Eric Garcia’s full story.

Hello and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of tonight’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

After years of battling with the press, and a string of lawsuits against major outlets whose coverage he does not like, Donald Trump is set to return to the dinner for the first time as president.

He broke presidential tradition by skipping past iterations, and the event was canceled multiple times during the height of the Covid pandemic.

We’ll be following all the biggest lines from the D.C. media’s biggest night. Stay tuned.