Yes, weve seen quite a few other celebrities, politicians here, as we were showing you earlier, we talked to Sarah Huckabee sanders, talked with former press secretary sean spicer. That was really interesting, talking with sean spicer. He slipped to me, we know he has a book coming out, he slip that the a talk show might be in the works. Sean spicer might be working on a talk show. He says, maybe, maybe, well see what happens. We might have that sound for you later. That was one of the more interesting things thats happened tonight. Kellyanne conway said she does believe that the president is doing the right thing by being in michigan right now and theyre sort of spreading out their messageage by being in two places at once. Michael avenotti, lawyer for Stormy Daniels, i asked how many invitations Stormy Daniels had got, he told me 10 or 11 invitations but shes not here this evening. We talked about what hes going to expect tonight. I know that sorry. Your client Stormy Daniels was invited to be here . She was, i think received 10 or 11 invitations. Why isnt she here . Dropping her into this environment, with this many members of the press, probably wasnt a very good idea. She also had a previous commitment that she wanted to fulfill. Whats tonight going to be like for you what are you expecting . I think its an exciting night. Were here to celebrate the press, First Amendment. I think that thats a very important concept, especially right now with everything thats going on. You know, unfortunately i guess the president s not going to be here. You know, from my perspective, the only good excuse he might have is maybe hes getting ready for his next fox and friends appearance. I certainly hope so. What is your opinion on the president not being in the room to sort of take the joke, interface with the press . I think its disrespectful. I think, you know, this is a president that claims hes such a tough guy. Why isnt he here . Youve got to be able to laugh at yourself, right . Wheres he hiding, whats he hiding from . I dont get it. The First Amendment, freedom of the press, is a Foundation Principle that our nation was founded on and its important to show up, show your respect for the constitution, and for the job that the press does. You know, lewis brandeis, Justice Brandeis said sunlight is the very best disinfectant. I consider the press the keepers of the sunlight. Its important to be here. Do you feel the comedian of the night often takes from Current Events as fodder for the night. Do you expect what youre going with your client, Stormy Daniels, one of the largest scandals surrounding the president currently, do you expect to see or hear anything about that tonight . I dont know one way or the other but im sure its going to be funny either way. If were the butt of jokes, were here to laugh at ourselves and have a good time. Thats the spirit. Were not hiding anywhere. As you see there, hes calling the president not here being hiding. Were running the gamut on responses about President Trump being here or not being here. From Current Administration and people who have left the administration. Gary cohn, sean spicer, both told me they didnt think it was wrong he wasnt here, that hes off doing what hes decided to do. Sean spicer said he feels this event has never been fair to republicans. Michael avenotti and many others, some hollywood people, telling me they believe President Trump should be here and that, like he said, its disrespectful that hes not. So we did talk a little bit about if were going to hear a Stormy Daniels joke in there with Michelle Wolf as the comedian. As you know, david, thats sort of anything thats sort of the Current Events becomes fodder for the night for jokes. We are in a very different place than a year ago right now with the russia investigation and the Stormy Daniels scandal. So well be sort of looking to see if were going to hear any of that come from Michelle Wolf, the comedian tonight. Savannah sellers in washington, d. C. At the washington hilton along the red carpet as guests make their way into the ballroom. Well check in throughout the night. My panel in washington, d. C. , jay newton small from time magazine, alex see its wall, nbc news plit tall reporter. Former deputy chief of staff. Jane, let me have react to something we heard from sean spicer. Weve got exadministration people there tonight. I love that he said the partys not the beall, endall. What do you make from what weve seen, official or previous members of the administration weve seen show up at the dinner tonight . I have to admit ive been to about 13 of these dinners. Thats a record for tonight, i think. You hold the record. We bow to you. Oh, gosh. I started going to these dinners in 2003. Thats a really long time ago. I remember when cspan first started running the red carpet arrivals on cspan live. It was considered such a baffling thing in washington. A lot of correspondents sort of said there was a cartoon that was sort of joking about how its nerd prom, because youre going to ask women what theyre wearing and its going to be like, ann taylor loft. So that tells you how much this party has changed in the last 15 years. Its now this become this huge celebrity sighting thing. That began really the end of the Bush Administration and really accelerated under the obama administration. So the party is very different. I dont know if i agree with sean to say its tougher on republicans than on democrats. I went to almost all of the white house Correspondents Dinners under george w. Bush and certainly a lot of the administration used to gripe about how it was very particularly Stephen Colberts speech was particularly not cool, things like that. He never stopped coming. And they still really always emphasize the importance of freedom of the press and all really enjoyed themselves in those dinners. It is striking, i think, to see how the dinners shrunken back, it feels a lot like it did the way in it did in 2003. Its a lot more nerd, a lot less prom. And you have sort of officials going, you have some cabinet members, former retired members, politicians, retired members of the media. But not the sort of glam celebrities that you have seen the last decade. Nina totenberg, the npr Supreme Court correspondent, being asked, what are you wearing . She said, something that can take a lot of wear and tear. Alex sites walled, we heard from the president there talking about the press. Talking about sources. Sources that dont exist. So its one thing to have counter programming. To have the speech going on while there is focus on the First Amendment and the press in washington, d. C. Hes really in part taking up the mantle of criticizing in stark terms the press, particularly the White House Press corps. Right. Well, as they say in talk radio, youve got to play the hits. For donald trump, hitting the press is absolutely the hits. Think back to the 2016 campaign, he would point to the back of the room and get everybody to turn around and boo at supporters in the back. He would accuse the cameras of not showing how beautiful and wonderful at large his crowd sizes were. So this is him speaking to his base. Especially at an important time where hes trying to essentially tell them to not believe the factual information that they are getting from the mainstream media, to believe only him and whats coming out of his mouth and his administration on the russia investigation, on a whole host of issues. But, you know, the fact that these white house officials are going to this dinner gives a little bit of lie to the idea that its this thing that he wants nothing to be associated with and that the press is totally out to get them why are they showing up and wearing a tux and coming . Its also a little rich from a guy who used to call up reporters pretend is he was john barron, an invented pr flack, pitch them stories, to say that theyre making up sources. Jane newton small, alex see itswald, lets go back to Washington Township, michigan, the soccer stadium where President Trump is speaking. My colleague blake mccoy is there. Are as i mentioned just a moment ago we did hear from the president on the russia investigation. He called it junk. What more did he have to say about that . The investigation thats ongoing into russias involvement in the 2016 election . In his mind, the fact that the house closed their report on friday, in his words, found no collusion, he feels like its over. This whole thing is overblown and hes ready to move past it. Speaking about james comey specifically, he said hes a liar and a leaker. That got the crowd revved up here. They love the john lovetts allows from the late 90s. Senator john tester, the democrat of montana, early early before this event, the president was in washington, d. C. , he played some golf at Trump National golf course, tweeted a bit about senator john tester who released that twopage document about the president s former nominee to head the Veterans Administration. Admiral ronnie jackson. The president did bring up the admiral tonight. What did he have to say . Yeah, he feels like john tester sabotaged his v. A. Secretary nominee. And he is not pulling punches. Its interesting because he made a threat to senator tester here. He said, i know things about tester too, and if i said them, hed never get elected again. He failed to elaborate what those things that he knows are, though. In Washington Township, michigan, well come back to you as we continue to do monitor the speech the president of the United States is giving. The admiral, the way this unfolded, the way the president continues to defend his pick to head the Veterans Administration even after it crashed and burned pretty considerably. David, this is a story that should be over by now. For some reason its odd to me the president continues to hang on to these types of things. I think in part he relates to it, right . From his perspective, he sees these individuals as being attacked from the media. In his mind, he rationalizes it as, well, this is what i go through every single day, so i must come to their aid, to their defense. But look, david, i think what were seeing here truly is the embodiment of mendacity with this president , right . Where facts dont matter. Where telling the truth doesnt matter. So despite the allegations against this individual, the president continues to defend him. David, whose fault is it that they did not vet this guy properly . The individuals the president chose to work within his white house. So again, that points to his inability to lead effectively. A good leader would have made sure that any individual that he nominates can pass the test, if you will, can go through Senate Confirmation hearing without doing or saying anything that would be embarrassing to the administration. We havent seen that with this president. I think thats an expectation that we have had and maintain with previous administrations. For some reason under this president , republicans by and large have said nothing. Why continue to go through this as a party when its hurting the brand of the gop . David, at some point republicans are going to have to say, enough is enough of this. Come november, well likely lose the house. Maybe theyll have enough surge there. Alex see itswald, this vetting process, i referred to the document john tester prepared, these allegations against rear admiral ronnie jackson, personal foibles and professional foibles. As said, lost in all that was the fact that this gentleman on paper, when you look at his resume, his cv, was not qualified to run an organization as large as the v. A. These scandals obfuscated that, didnt they . Right, david. Great point. This was before we even knew about all these salacious scandals. A man who had governed i think as a seven to 15member of as a matter of fact white house medical unit. The v. A. Is the secondlargest bureaucracy in the government after department of defense. Orders of magnitude different from his levels of experience. But trump had a close, personal relationship with him. He liked the cut of his jib. So he appointed him to this position, apparently without any kind of real vetting. Its blown up in his face and hes blaming other people for that problem. What were seeing there on the bottom righthand side of your screen, inside the ballroom there at the washington hilton, is the dais, president of the White House Correspondents Association, Longtime White House reporter for Bloomberg News waving to the audience, Sarah Huckabee sanders waving to the audience, john nickelthat wait on the 98 was as well as we await the beginning of the White House Correspondents Association dinner. Michelle wolf, the comedian, shell be speaking. Shell be telling some jokes here as the night goes on. Jane, i saw a line in a piece on the daily beast by senator john cornyn of texas that stood out. There was some reporting that the president might be considering naming john kelly, his current chief of staff, former secretary of the department of homeland security, to be the next secretary of the Veterans Administration. Gabe sherman of vanity fair reporting that among others, i believe. John cornyn said, lets hope that doesnt happen, then youre going to have two vacancies to fill. What do we know about who might be nominated for this position next as we watch the president of the White House Correspondents Association addressing those gathered in the ballroom in washington, d. C. . David, we know that members of the senate, republicans in the senate, basically have said to the president , you should really pick from people who have already been confirmed. Thats why john kelly is probably looking pretty appealing right now because hes already been confirmed as secretary of hhs, or sorry, homeland security. So that makes it easier for the confirmation process, ars reserve easier for the senate, because as we get closer and closer to the election, it becomes harder to confirm nominees, particularly cabinetlevel nominees, and it sucks up an enormous time out of the legislative calendar. It also kills two birds with one stone. John kelly, by all accounts, is not the most popular person with the president right now. Hes really losing a lot of the power that he once had to rein the president in. And so hes chafing a little bit at the restraints john kelly has been putting on him as chief of staff. Moving hip to v. A. Sort of solves that problem of hes qualified to run the v. A. And it gets him out of his hair. Jane newton small, shoe michael singleton, alex see itswald, as we watch the beginning of the White House Correspondents Association dinner. Theres pomp and circumstance as the appetizers and salads are served. We get to the entree and the comedy bit by Michelle Wolf. The point of this evening as weve heard time and time again from my colleague savannah sellers, from hallie jackson, chief white house correspondent, is scholarships. This is an organization of reporters in the White House Press corps who have come together, throw this din tore raise money to offer scholarships to young journalists who are going to college and grad school. Those journalists came to washington, theyre there for the event tonight, they met with President Trump and Vice President pence yesterday in washington, d. C. Again, the beginnings here of tonights White House Correspondents Association dinner. Alex sites walled, let me return to you and ask you about the president s messaging in light what was we heard from Kellyanne Conway, about his tendency or desire to talk to folks directly, how much damage does he do by having i said elliptical, wideranging speeches, touching on everybody from the fbi to immigration to james comeys firing, to trade policy, to north korea, to that recent summit between north and south korea . I would hate to be the teleprompter operator for the president of the United States. It has to be a very difficult job, assuming he is even following the teleprompters set up on stage there. You know, its hard to tell. Because when he gives these speeches, they put out some purpose of this. This is supposed to be about the economy and trade. Almost immediately that goes out the window. Because he majors a thousand headlines on 200 or a thousand different topics, steps over endorsements hes supposed to be giving to people, he buries his own message, he sometimes creates problems for himself down the line. This is how hes always operated, this is how hes campaigned, this is how hes governed. He seems to like to live in this chaos and create more of it. On stage, feeding from the audience, theyre cheering, he cant seem to help himself and only goes further into it. Alex see itswald, alongside jane newton small, contributor to time magazine, shoe michael singleton, the president of the White House Correspondents Association offering a toast to the First Amendment. As that dinner, t