President Donald Trump will attend the White House Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday, marking his first appearance at the annual event as commander in chief after skipping it throughout his first term.The decision puts Trump back at a Washington ritual long tied to his fraught relationship with the press and political establishment. Trump had denied that Obama’s 2011 jokes prompted his candidacy, telling The Washington Post in 2016 that "there are many reasons I’m running, but that’s not one of them." PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP RECEIVES THE 'PATRIOT OF THE YEAR' AWARD AT FOX NATION'S PATRIOT AWARDS"Donald Trump has been saying that he will run for president as a Republican, which is surprising since I just assumed he'd be running as a joke," comedian Seth Meyers added when he took the podium that night.Trump told Fox News' "The Five" earlier this year he was treated "rudely and crudely" during the dinner, which he said influenced his decision not to attend while he was first in office."The press was so nasty, I just – so I didn’t do it," said Trump.TRUMP SAYS TRANSGENDER BATHROOM DEBATE LESS IMPORTANT THAN OTHER ISSUESHe once again denied it was the 2011 dinner that sparked his interest in running for office."There is this theory: I was there while Barack Hussein Obama was speaking, and he was hitting me a little bit. The first lady will join him."The White House Correspondents Association very nicely asked the President to join them at their annual dinner this year as the Honoree, which he gladly accepted," White House spokesman Davis Ingle previously told Fox News Digital.Trump did not attend during his first term due to a contentious relationship with the media at the height of coverage of the Russia investigation.The banquet was paused during the COVID-19 pandemic and revived in 2022 during President Biden’s administration.