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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump plans to skip the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, marking the second year he has shunned the glitzy gathering of Washington journalists he routinely assails as “fake news.”

White House Correspondents’ Association president Margaret Talev said in statement Friday that the “White House has informed us that the president does not plan to participate in this year’s dinner but that he will actively encourage members of the executive branch to attend.”

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Trump had said he “probably won’t do it” in an interview on the “Bernie and Sid” radio show on 77 WABC Radio taped Thursday and aired Friday. Calling the media “so bad” and “so fake,” Trump said: “I want to get it straightened out with the press before I do it.”

But the president, who has long had an adversarial relationship with the news media, did not elaborate on how he planned to do so. Since his campaign, he has ceaselessly blasted the “fake media” and “dishonest” reporters, singling out specific journalists and news outlets for criticism. He also has avoided holding a traditional news conference for over a year, though he often answers shouted questions from reporters.