President Trump delivered jokes at the Gridiron Club's annual dinner in Washington on Saturday night (March 3rd) for the first time, after skipping the event during his first year in office last year. Hundreds of journalists and media executives, as well as lawmakers and administration officials attended the dinner, during which members of the Washington press corps also put on musical skits with parody songs whose targets included Trump, Hillary Clinton and former President Barack Obama. Some of Trump's jokes from the dinner, at which no cameras were allowed, included:
About son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner: "We were late tonight because Jared could not get through security."
About VP Mike Pence: "Lately, he's showing a particularly keen interest in the news these days. He wakes up every morning and asks, 'Has he been impeached yet?' I don't like that."
About Attorney General Jeff Sessions: "I offered him a ride over and he recused himself. What are you going to do?"
About former chief strategist Steven Bannon: "That guy leaked more than the Titanic."
About his wife, First Lady Melania Trump: "I like turnover. I like chaos. It really is good. Who is going to be the next to leave? Steve Miller or Melania?"About the media: "I just want to say this, this is one of the best times I’ve had with the media -- this might be the most fun I’ve had since watching your faces on election night."
Trump frequently blasts the media, accusing them of "fake news" and even calling them the "enemy of the people, "but he closed his remarks Saturday by saying, "I want to thank the press for all you do to support and sustain our democracy."