The White House Correspondents’ Association’s annual dinner — a decades-old tradition that brings together the president, journalists, and White House officials for an evening that typically mixes comedy with a celebration of the First Amendment — is scheduled to take place tonight after an April event was cut short by a gunman. Donald Trump is again expected to appear on the dais, with his remarks set to be the evening’s central political moment.

Another major focus will be the presentation of an award for “the most fair, impartial, objective news reporting” by a member of the White House press corps. The award is going to The New York Times’ Tyler Pager — a journalist who, in a striking juxtaposition, is currently being pursued by Trump’s own Justice Department for the sources behind that same reporting.

Pager is among the Times journalists who were subpoenaed by Trump’s FBI in an effort to compel the newspaper to disclose confidential sources behind its reporting on Trump’s Qatari-donated jumbo jet replacement for Air Force One. A district judge has delayed enforcement of the subpoenas.

The dispute traces back to Trump’s complaints since returning to the White House about the “look” of Air Force One. He told Fox News that other countries have newer aircraft that are “bigger and sleeker and sharper,” adding, “It doesn’t look right.”

In May 2025, Trump accepted Qatar’s “gift” of a Boeing 747-8 jetliner, reportedly worth about $400 million. Trump described the aircraft as a gift to the United States, although the Constitution’s Foreign Emoluments Clause prohibits gifts from foreign powers to presidents without congressional consent. Trump has said he intends to keep the plane for his presidential library and for use after his presidency.

Robert Reich, a professor of public policy at Berkeley and former U.S. secretary of labor, wrote that the Qatari jumbo jet is closely connected to Trump’s image and personal branding. Trump has described the aircraft as “a flying White House at a level of luxury that nobody’s ever seen before,” and added, “Now when we land at airports in London and Germany and different places, nobody tops this one.”

Trump has also emphasized that the plane would not cost taxpayers anything and that it would be easy to “bring it up to the presidential standards, meaning security wise.”

According to the account, however, the cost to taxpayers of retrofitting the aircraft to “presidential standards” has so far been between $400 million and $1 billion — more than the reported value of the jet itself. The aircraft also has not yet reached the required level “security wise.”

That issue was central to a New York Times report that angered Trump. The report said Trump had to leave Turkey, where the NATO summit was held, aboard the old Air Force One rather than the new Qatari-donated jumbo jet because the Qatari aircraft still lacked sufficient security, including antimissile capabilities.

According to CNN, Trump was “fuming,” “embarrassed and angry” over the Times story. Reich argued that the report made Trump look bad and raised questions about how a $400 million aircraft could be described as “free” while taxpayers were charged more than $400 million to prepare it for presidential use. The jet still is not ready, according to the article.

Trump then moved to frame the report as a national security matter, instructing FBI Director Kash Patel and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles to oversee a leak investigation. Patel was reportedly summoned to the White House and worked on the matter for eight hours.

Reich wrote that Trump appeared concerned that someone with information embarrassing to him had been disloyal enough to leak it.

Subpoenas were sent to the homes of Times journalists who worked on the story, including Tyler Pager. Other subpoenas were sent to the journalists’ phone service providers, seeking phone and text-message records for the journalists and their spouses. Reich described the mobilization of the White House and FBI in this way as historically rare. Such moves against reporters have drawn condemnation from press freedom organizations, which note that compelled disclosure of confidential sources risks chilling investigative journalism on matters of public interest.

Reich argued that the matter was not genuinely about national security, noting that Trump has publicly acknowledged that the plane still needs to be “maxed” for security.

Instead, Reich wrote, the controversy centers on Trump’s ego and his desire to fly on what he considers the biggest and best aircraft, including the Qatari jumbo jet. He also connected the issue to Trump’s frustration with late-night comedians, who have repeatedly joked about Trump and the not-yet-ready Qatari aircraft.

Reich concluded that Trump’s reaction reflected anger over the possibility that someone in the White House, Pentagon, or Secret Service might have revealed information to journalists that he regarded as embarrassing.

Robert Reich is a professor of public policy at Berkeley and former secretary of labor. His writings can be found at