US President Joe Biden poked fun at himself but took sharp aim at his election rival Donald Trump on Saturday at the annual White House Correspondents\u2019 Association dinner, as protesters outside demonstrated against Israel\u2019s military offensive in Gaza. A long list of VIP guests, including journalists and celebrities from Chris Pine to Molly Ringwald, arrived in black-tie attire as more than 100 protesters confronted attendees in front of the Washington Hilton hotel chanting \u201cshame on you\u201d and other slogans. Inside, the topic of Gaza was far from the lips of Biden and the evening\u2019s comedian, Colin Jost of \u201cSaturday Night Live,\u201d who roasted Biden for his age and occasional stumble on the Airforce One stairs. \u201cI would like to point out it\u2019s after 10:00pm, Sleepy Joe is still awake, while Donald Trump has spent the past week falling asleep in court every morning,\u201d Jost joked, referring to the former president\u2019s appearances at his New York hush money trial last week. Amid some self-mockery and ribbing of the press, the 81-year-old president took sharp-elbowed jabs at his 77-year-old presumptive November election rival, quipping that \u201cage is the only thing we have in common. My vice president actually endorsed me.\u201d Both Jost and Biden struck a more serious tone in addressing what many Americans feel is a politically fraught moment, with Biden telling attendees Trump\u2019s rhetoric was a danger particularly after the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, and that \u201cthe stakes couldn\u2019t be higher.\u201d \u2018Decency\u2019 Comedian Jost, a longtime writer and actor with NBC\u2019s \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d who is married to actress Scarlett Johansson, also in attendance, recalled fondly that his recently deceased grandfather had voted for Biden \u201cbecause you are a decent man\u201d. \u201cMy grandpa voted for decency and decency is why we are all here tonight,\u201d he told the president. Biden\u2019s appearance at the banquet is in keeping with longstanding tradition for the event, in which the president and the national media gather for a roast of the US leader \u2014 an annual gala that was interrupted during the Trump administration. \u201cThe 2024 election is in full swing and yes age is an issue,\u201d Biden quipped. \u201cI am a grown man, running against a six-year-old.\u201d If it was all laughs inside, the scene outside the hotel remained serious, with protesters at one point unfurling an enormous, multi-story Palestinian flag from a top-floor window, as others congregated on the road below holding placards, chanting and shouting from bullhorns. Biden\u2019s every move has been shadowed for months by protesters angry over US support for the Israeli military offensive in Gaza. He has been met by shouts of \u201cGenocide Joe\u201d and noisy calls for an immediate ceasefire. More than two dozen Palestinian journalists this week issued an open letter urging their American colleagues to boycott the dinner. \u201cYou have a unique responsibility to speak truth to power and uphold journalistic integrity,\u201d said the letter. \u201cIt is unacceptable to stay silent out of fear or professional concern while journalists in Gaza continue to be detained, tortured and killed for doing our jobs.\u201d According to the New York-based Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ), at least 97 journalists \u2014 including 92 Palestinians \u2014 have been killed since the conflict erupted on October 7 with Hamas\u2019s attack on southern Israel. At least 16 others have been wounded. The Washington Metropolitan Police Department told AFP it was \u201cprepared to facilitate any safe and peaceful demonstration\u201d but that guests would also be able to access the event. The gala dinner and a surrounding series of society events took place as the Gaza protest movement has been spreading to colleges across the country, and as police crackdowns on some campuses have led to hundreds of arrests. The annual dinner has been organised since 1920 by the influential White House Correspondents\u2019 Association, which honors top reporters and awards journalism scholarships. Last year, 2,600 people attended.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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