A big program planned. But first, breaking news with Brianna Keilar. Thanks, michael. The Democratic Party has a brand new chairman and deputy chairman just named in atlanta. And also, this news is breaking here on cnn, the president of the United States breaking with tradition saying he will not attend the white house Correspondents Dinner, which has been a tradition for president s for nearly 100 years. But first the Democratic Party with a new leader. A great american, mr. Tom perez. Former labor secretary tom perez, who got the most votes somewhat narrowly from delegates gathered this weekend in atlanta, perez immediately named the man who trailed him, congressman Keith Ellison as his deputy chairman, his number two. And the residents of the white house certainly watching this leadership election closely. President trump tweeting just a few minutes after perez was announced. He said congratulations to thomas perez who has just been named chairman of the dnc. I could not be happier for him or for the republican party. And the head of the White House Correspondents Association just releasing a statement after donald trump tweeted he is breaking with tradition and not attending that dinner. This is what it says, the White House Correspondents Association looks forward to having its annual dinner on april 29th. We take note of President Trumps announcement on twitter that he does not plan to attend the dinner, which has been and continues to be a celebration of the First Amendment. We look forward to shining a spotlight at the dinner on some of the best political journalism of the past year and recognizing the Promising Students who represent the next generation of our profession. The guy behind that statement, behind that organization, jeff mason joining us from the Briefing Room. I know youve been busy once that tweet came out figures out how to respond. Youre talking about even though this is the big guest who normally is not coming that youre going to say the role is going to be talking about and highlighting the Independent News Media and an healthy republican. Thats right. This dinner is about journal, its about the First Amendment. We look forward to having the dinner to celebrate those two things. We give out scholarships every year, more than 100,000 worth to students who are promising, upcoming journalists. We look forward to do thattiing again. We have been trying to emphasize for weeks that this dinner is about journalists. Obviously theres always some attention given to the president of the United States. Its President Trumps decision not to come. We will continue to have this dinner and we will focus on what we want to focus on, which is the good work that is guaranteed and protected by the First Amendment. When is the last time this happened, that the president decided not to come . My understanding is that the last time a president did not attend was the Correspondents Dinner was president reagan in the early 1980s after he was shot. Thats obviously a very different situation. So youre highlighting that this is about scholarships. It certainly is but it has become this sort of huge spectacle to the point where people look forward to watching cspan for this. Its hollywood collides with washington kind of circus and then it also has this element of the president and members of the government come, members of the media who hold them accountable come and for one night they sort of in a way that has decorum, they acknowledge the what is essential about that relationship. So since you dont have that, what does this signal that the white house, that the president doesnt want to have that acknowledgement . Honestly ill have to have the white house and the president speak for themselves on what signal they want to send to that. Its not a surprise, the president has said many negative things about the media and suggesting that the media is the enemy of the American People. Its something the Correspondents Association and journalists reject. The media is an incredibly important part of a vibrant republic and we celebrate that at that dinner. Its up to him to decide whether or not he wants to come but the Correspondents Association and the members who work in this room every day will continue to do our jobs and write the news and tell the truth about this administration, as we have done about every administration before. I was lucky to sit next to you in the briefing as a White House Correspondent for cnn for a few years i was lucky, i was lucky. Thank you very much. And i should full disclosure, i am a card carrying member of the White House Correspondents Association. Yes, you are. The association is known for this dinner but the association does a lot of daily work. In that regard for our viewers, describe that and also describe some of i guess the challenges. This isnt the only administration youve had them with but if you could just sort of talk about some of the things that the association has got i dont know gotten involved in when it comes to press coverage of the white house. Its true that a lot of people in the American Public associate that dinner with the white house. But our daytoday work takes place in this Briefing Room where we advocate for the press, we push with administrations such as the trump administration, the Obama Administration and every one before that for the ability and the right of journalists to ask questions and to have access to watch the president and his staff govern. And those are daily fights sometimes, whether its republican or democratic president. We spend a lot of time negotiating and talking to the press staff, identifying what the needs of the press are and making sure that they can do their jobs. And that is right now honestly a fulltime job. The dinner is an important part of our year. Its a fundraiser for our organization, but it is only one very small piece of what we do. I know you insist the dinner is not going to be cancelled. Nope. Its still going to have a large attendance, but do you see it as being a Different Event than it has been in past years . You know what, it was already going to be a Different Event. We havent had a whole lot of details about that yet. Obviously the fact that the president has decided not to come will impact the dinner. It will impact who sits up with the rest of the board. But, no, im not going to cancel the dinner. We are going to uphold our mission. We do that and celebrate that at that dinner. But what exact changes were going to make whether or not the president comes were still working on. We will stay tuned for that, jeff, thank you, sir. I want to talk more about this with cnn correspondent brian steltser. He joins me on the phone. I know a lot of people are not surprised by this decision. The dinner is something that has been criticized in the past that its over the top, that its become sort of flam poiboyant a you forethget that this, i is, about scholarship winners. And its also a time for them to discuss the role and the adversarial relationship they sometimes have. Does this challenge that . Yes, it does. Jimmy carter skipped a dinner and Ronald Reagan after the assassination attempt, he actually called in by phone. But this afternoon, its another antiestablishment message from trump. Its similar to the decision to skip another big date on dcs social calendar, the alpfalfa club dinner. As you said, people have been critical of this. Observers say this dinners too cozy, its too over the top. But this year it was clearly going to be back to basics because of President Trumps election and a lot of hollywood celebrities were not going to want to participate. I think this is a missed opportunity by the president to uphold First Amendment values and try to lessen the tensions between his white house and the press corps and to defend the kind of journalism he seas he suppo says he supports. Lately hes been saying nobody loves the First Amendment more than me. For him to not to attend, its in line with his media attacks but its a missed opportunity for the president to say his usual things about the president. Yesterday he appeared to mock the First Amendment, he accused reporters of making up sources, which he had no evidence of. I mean, thats a fireable offense. I dont know anyone who has done that. And he called the press the enemy of the people. How could he say those things and then show up at the dinner . I mean, that would have been unfitting with his rhetoric of the past. I absolutely agree with you and i wonder if Vice President mike pence will come in his place or one of the famed trump impersonators like alec baldwin will end up being the entertainer. Normally theres a comedian. Last year it was Larry Wilmore getting on stage. Thats one of the aspects, that President Trump probably did not want to be roasted by whatever comedian was invited, even gently. Back in 2011 trump was in the room when president obama made some very, very barbed jokes about trump. That was a memorable evening and a famous New York Times story saying part of the reason that trump wanted to run for president was to win some of the respect he felt he didnt have at the white house Correspondents Dinner six years ago. There is some history between trump and this dinner and it is in line with his antimedia message that hes going to be skipping. I even so jeffrey lord saying wow, expressing curiosity about this move, especially to say this two months before the dinner actually happens. Brian stelter, thank you for joining us. Now i want to speak with my panel. We have ryan lizza, washington correspondent for the new yorker. I want you all to listen to that moment that Brian Stelter was talking about, president obama talking about donald trump. Donald trump is here tonight. No one is happier, no one is prouder to put this birth certificate matter to rest than the donald. And thats because he can finally get back to focusing on the issues that matter, like did we fake the moon landing,what really happened in rozwell and where are biggie and tupac. No love lost at that point in time because donald trump, one of the original birthers, spearheading that effort to get president obama to release his birth certificate. So, ryan lizza, what do you make of this . It almost seemed as if there was no way that donald trump, if he really did want to put the press in this role as being so in opposition to him, it didnt really seem that it would make sense for him to attend this dinner. Yeah, i was in the room that night and that was one of the most vicious roastings ive ever seen. It was one of the reasons i thought that trump my want to go this year is to return to that dinner and sort of come full circle as the conquering hero of the dinner. Look, after the last month of trumps statements about the press defining the media as the enemy of the American People, mocking the First Amendment this week at cpac, as you pointed out, brianna, accusing reporters of making of sources with no evidence, i dont think that that dinner was the appropriate forum for the president and the president. Theres a moment in that dinner where everyone stands up and toasts the president and my own opinion is, you know, this is not a time to be toasting someone who calls you the enemy of the American People. The relationship with the press has obviously gotten very adversarial. Look, maybe we could have seen a detante between now and the dinner and it could have been a point where trump stopped those attacks and it was reasonable for everyone to be in the same room. But as i said to you before, i think hes done everyone a favor here by not going. Hes made it less awkward for the journalists who cover the white house to be able to go to the dinner, celebrate the Award Winners honored at that dinner, celebrate the young scholarship winners that are honored at that dinner and, you know, i frankly i dont i was not planning on attending if, you know, ive been a member sense 2001, ive been to most of the dinners but i dont think it would have been appropriate this year to go if trump had been there. Alice, what you do think of that idea, that journalists would not attend or think its appropriate to go, if youre to hold that up against just a respect for the institution, even if donald trump doesnt appear to respect the institution of the press . Well, weve already heard many people are cancelling their parties, certainly that celebrities arent coming. Ive heard of other journalists that feel the same way ryan does in terms of toasting someone who has roasted you at every opportunity. You have to remember, though, this is not something new. We can go back to the campaign days. Donald trump truly feels as though the media has been out to get him, theyre not reporting on things accurately. Thats why he goes to twitter and gets his message out, bypassing the media, getting his message directly to the people. Thats why hes doing more campaignstyle events, to get his message out there directly to them and he doesnt miss the opportunity while hes there with his people to criticize and take down the media with the crowd. They enjoy that and it generates his base. That being said, as a former journalist, i think its important what the role of the press is. Its critical as a free democracy to have that check and balance on the government and open transparency with the government. Its not forgotten here democrats for the first time in quite some time have some wind in their sail today with tom perez being the new dnc chair. This administration has been fighting russia news every turn. And donald trump is not im sorry to jump in there, alice. I just want to get a. Scott boldin in there because i only have about 30 seconds left. Thats not what were talking about, scott. Is this just donald trump expertly changing the subject . Maybe but hes also driving the war on the media. This is just another segment. Remember, he didnt go to a president ial debate during the primary. He seems to feel if he doesnt show up, hes somehow hurting his adversary, but this is his war against the media. Ill be honest with you, the best response for the White House Correspondents Association would be to have the most successful dinner ever, the celebrities can come and ryan can come back to the dinner now. Just im sorry, but were really out of time. Tomorrow dont misstate of t s miss state of the union. Thats all tomorrow morning at 9 a. M. Eastern. 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Tony, what issues do you have with whats going to take place on tuesday . First, thanks for having me. Its a pleasure to talk to susan about something this important. Youll be hard pressed to find anyone against seminar day. Most are against the politicizing of a nonpartisan issue. Racial equal should not be black or white. It should be access to equaluca opportunities. Thats what is really missing from this seminar. We need to get away from the bandaid and start looking for an opportunity to make a real cure. Does that mean conservative voices should have been given more of an airing . I think conservative voices make up the fabric of america and why shouldnt they have a voice . When we start to politicize things, we take away people that