Psaki-Mania, A Suspected Crasher at NBC, and an 82-Year-Old Senator Outparties All: Mediaite’s Highlights From WHCD Weekend

The annual White House Correspondents Dinner returned to Washington this year for the first time since 2019, with Trevor Noah as host and President Joe Biden delivering a roast of the media.

After years of missing out on “Nerd Prom” because of the coronavirus pandemic, politicians, cable news pundits, network executives, reporters, socialites, and some of Hollywood’s biggest stars flooded D.C. for the black-tie event.

This year’s dinner was also the first to welcome a president since Barack Obama attended in 2016, as Donald Trump boycotted the event throughout his time in the Oval Office.

The dinner did not go off without hand-wringing. One Washington Post reporter in attendance compared the packed, windowless room that housed the dinner to a “horror film.”

But otherwise, amid strict vaccine and testing requirements, Covid was of little concern to the thousands in attendance — which included White House Covid czar Ashish Jha, Trump Covid response coordinator Deborah Birx, and former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb.

At an after-party hosted at the residence of the Ambassador of Colombia, Jha told Mediaite he enjoyed Noah’s roast and was confident in the precautions taken by organizers of the dinner. When it comes to preventing cases, however, he acknowledged that “nothing is 100%.”

While not as celebrity-filled as the Obama days, the return of the D.C. establishment brought back some stars that steered clear of the nation’s capital during Trump’s presidency.

Those spotted included Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson – who made their red-carpet debut at the event – Drew Barrymore, Sophia Bush, José Andres, Martha Stewart, Caitlyn Jenner, Brooke Shields, Succession’s J. Smith Cameron, Miranda Kerr, Desus Nice, Corey Stoll, Danny Strong, Harry Hamlin, Amelia Gray, and Bill Nye (yes, the Science Guy).

Some of Ryan Murphy’s favorite actors, including Kevin McHale, Billie Eichner, and Leslie Jordan – who was notably spotted at the intimate Fox News pre-dinner reception – were also in attendance on Saturday night.

While the events required proof of vaccination and/or a negative test, Dr. Anthony Fauci decided to skip this year’s dinner – although he was spotted at Tammy Haddad’s Garden Brunch, which was held outside this year.

Just like any great event, the main dinner – which Noah referred to as “the nation’s most distinguished superspreader event” – was preceded by glitzy pre-parties and receptions, where some of Mediaite’s own got to rub elbows with D.C. and Hollywood elite.

One of this year’s biggest bashes was UTA’s Friday night event at Georgetown’s Fiola Mare restaurant.

The party, hosted as usual by UTA co-president Jay Sures, was held in honor of the press (the talent agency made a donation to the Committee to Protect Journalists) and featured multiple open bars, free-flowing seafood, and an all-night DJ, whose set was essentially a tribute to the best of 90s and early 2000s hip-hop.

While Brooke Shields, Sophia Bush, Desus Nice, and other Hollywood stars were spotted at the event – pundits, politicos, media reporters, and some of Mediaite’s favorite anchors and hosts ran the show that night.

Don Lemon, who sported a killer white suit, was spotted mingling at the event along with other CNN stars, including Brian Stelter, Pamela Brown, Jake Tapper, Kaitlan Collins, Kasie Hunt, Oliver Darcy, CNN comms executive Matt Dornic, and the new head of CNN Chris Licht.

Fox News hosts Kennedy, Bret Baier where also in attendance, along with Mediaite founder and NewsNation host Dan Abrams, CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell, and MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle, Chuck Todd, ABC News chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl, star Axios reporter Jonathan Swan, and writer Molly Jong-Fast.

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas attended the event, as did White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), Principal Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, and Rep. Sean Maloney (D-NY).

Psaki, who is expected to join MSNBC after she leaves the White House in the next few weeks, spent much of the weekend swarmed by fans the journalists who cover her.

Although George Conway was in attendance, his wife Kellyanne Conway skipped the event this year.

New York magazine’s Shawn McCreesh was seen scurrying around the Georgetown restaurant with a notebook in hand, in hopes that a politico would fall victim to the open bar and give a humiliating quote. We await his dispatch with bated breath.

The magazine’s Washington Correspondent Olivia Nuzzi was also in attendance, where she was spotted chatting with Politico’s Max Tani on the restaurant patio.

Political and media figures also flooded the pre-dinner parties on Saturday night, including the Politico/CBS reception, which hosted potential 2024 contenders Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) and former Rep. Will Hurd, Susan Rice, Fiona Hill, Jen Psaki, DNC Chair Jaime Harrison, Rep. Jim Costa (D-CA), José Andrés, Jim Acosta, Billy Eichner, Kevin McHale, Brian Stelter, Richard Strauss, Zerlina Maxwell, Ian Sams, Jeffrey Toobin, Katy Tur, Garrett Ventry, Steve Ricchetti, Rob Flaherty, Drew Barrymore, Gayle King, Miranda Kerr and her husband Snap CEO Evan Spiegel, and several other stars.

Perhaps the night’s most anticipated guests, Kardashian and Davidson, attended ABC’s party, while Caitlyn Jenner, Leslie Jordan, Meghan McCain and a slew of Fox News stars — including Kennedy, Jennifer Griffin, Bill Melugin, Emily Campagno, Steve and Peter Doocy joined network president Jay Wallace at the more intimate Fox News reception.

NBCUniversal hosted the night’s biggest afterparty at The Reach at the Kennedy Center, where Psaki was seen in the wee hours of Sunday morning taking off her heels and slipping into flip flops wisely provided to guests by the network.

Also spotted at the event was Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), who we saw admiring a print of the Declaration of Independence before entering the party, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, Rep. Sean Maloney (D-NY), and DNC Chair Jaime Harrison.

NBC was of course out in full force, including NBCU Chairman Cesar Conde, NBC News president Noah Oppenheim, MSNBC President Rashida Jones, Andrea Mitchell, Chris Hayes, Stephanie Ruhle, Jonathan Capehart, Kristen Welker, Garrett Haake, Katy Tur, Tony Dokoupil, Jacob Soboroff. From CNN, we spotted Kaitlan Collins, Shimon Prokupecz, and Don Lemon.

Despite the star-filled attendance, the evening’s most daring guest may have been an unidentified man who was seen fleeing the dance floor after being approached by Kennedy Center security at roughly three in the morning.

Props to the mystery man, who managed to escape the party after sprinting up a nearby ramp alongside the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway, despite being chased by multiple security guards.

The Paramount afterparty — hosted by CBS, Showtime, MTV Entertainment Group, and Paramount+ — was held at the French Ambassador’s private residence and featured appearances by a series of journalists, D.C. celebrities, and actual celebrities.

After a long night of networking and schmoozing, Nerd Prom was brought to an official close on Sunday morning with two daytime festivities: CNN’s always-festive Hangover Brunch, and Politico’s Garden Brunch, where government officials (we spotted Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the middle of a large crowd), media figures (Bret Baier mingled nearby co-authors of the week’s hottest new book release Alex Burns and Jonathan Martin) and Hollywood stars (hi again Sophia Bush) got a chance to nurse their hangovers with cappuccinos and finger food at the sprawling Georgetown home of Politico founder Robert Allbritton.

A final shoutout goes to Patrick Leahy, octogenarian senator who attended the UTA party on Friday night, the NBC party on Saturday past midnight, and the Politico brunch on Sunday morning, in a marathon spree of partying that would leave even the most hardened D.C. operative horizontal.

Additional reporting by Jackson Richman.