WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump focused on his accomplishments, the road forward on key policies and took swipes at both Democrats and the media during a campaign rally in Wisconsin Saturday evening.

But he took care not to mention the event his rally sought to compete with: The White House Correspondents' Association dinner.

Over an hour and 20 minutes, Trump boasted to a packed arena in Green Bay about the growing economy and number of jobs across the country. He offered his path forward on a healthcare bill, trade agreements with several countries, including the ongoing negotiations with China and laid out why Wisconsin — the state that delivered him the 2016 election — should stick with him through a second term.

He hit the press several times, using the nickname "fake news" to attack coverage of his administration. It was the president's first rally since the nation saw the results of special counsel Robert Mueller's lengthy investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and the Trump campaign.

In his 448-page report, Mueller detailed "sweeping and systematic" Russian efforts to benefit Trump in the 2016 election and campaign aides eager for the help, though he and his investigators ultimately found no conspiracy between Americans and Russians.

Mueller also found Trump tried repeatedly to thwart the inquiry but declined to decide whether the president's conduct constituted an obstruction crime. Instead, Attorney General William Barr and others in the Justice Department later said there wasn't enough evidence for obstruction-of-justice charges.

Trump noted the results, calling the investigation a "witch hunt" and claiming the probe was the "greatest political hoax in American history."

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He said the investigation "wasn't just about me." Trump told the crowd that the investigation was aimed at hurting supporters who "rose up" and demanded "a government that put America first."

Throughout his speech, Trump hit the press on multiple fronts.

As he spoke about unemployment numbers, he pointed to the media at the back of the arena.

"If I make any misstatement, if I'm off by just a little tiny bit, those people back there will be – headlines! So I have to be very careful. Fake news. They're fake! They are fake. They are fakers!" Trump said.

As the crowd started chanting "CNN sucks!" Trump added, "I'll tell you, you know what sucks? Their ratings suck."

The only mention, though, of the White House correspondents dinner in Washington, happened when White House press secretary Sarah Sanders was called on stage.

"Last year this night I was at a slightly different event. Not quite the best welcome, so this is an amazing honor," she said, taking a swipe at last year's dinner.

After last year's White House Correspondents' Association dinner, Trump and other administration officials criticized comedian Michelle Wolf for a barbed monologue that included attacks on Sanders and her appearance.

There will be no comedian this year; instead, the association invited presidential historian Ron Chernow to speak.

Earlier this month, Trump announced he would not be going to the dinner, calling it "too negative" and saying, "I like positive things." He told reporters he would instead hold Saturday's rally in Wisconsin, a pivotal state in the 2020 presidential election.

Ahead of the dinner, aides, some of whom attended last year's event, were told at a staff meeting that Trump did not want them to go to the dinner and boycott it, officials said.

Trump also did not attend the dinner during his first two years in office. He is the first president to intentionally skip it since Jimmy Carter in 1980.

President Ronald Reagan did not personally attend the dinner in 1981 – he was recovering from an assassination attempt – but he did phone in some remarks to the crowd.

Before Trump, the dinner traditionally featured comics who made fun of the president – and other politicians – and offered presidents the chance to retaliate with comedy routines of their own.

Perhaps most famously, in 2011, President Barack Obama mocked an audience member who had questioned his U.S. citizenship and was contemplating a campaign against him.

That dinner guest? Donald J. Trump.

Wisconsin will be one of the toughest battlegrounds in 2020, with Democrats already preparing their fight to flip Wisconsin back to blue. Of the 20 candidates seeking the Democratic nomination for president, five have already visited the state.

Trump on Saturday took a couple of swings at his Democratic challengers, calling them ‘Sleepy Joe’ Biden and ‘Crazy Bernie’ Sanders.

“We say tonight that America will never be a Socialist country,” Trump said to loud cheers. “You took back your country with that great election two and a half years ago.”

“Four more years,” the crowd chanted in response.

Contributing: Molly Beck and Haley BeMiller of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel