Trump: It’s ‘better’ I skip WH dinner

President Trump says his decision to skip this year’s White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) dinner is for the best.

“A lot of the stories are made up,” he said of the media in a Fox News interview excerpt released Monday. “I believe a lot of the stories are pure fiction; they just pull it out of air.”

“Now, with all that being said, I just thought it’d be better if I didn’t do the dinner,” Trump added in the clip. The full interview will air on “Fox and Friends” Tuesday morning.

“That doesn’t mean I’m not going to do it next year. But I just thought it would be better if I didn’t do it this year.”

{mosads}Trump announced last Saturday that he will not attend the 2017 dinner, marking a break with past presidents.

“I will not be attending the White House Correspondents’ Dinner this year,” he tweeted. “Please wish everyone well and have a great evening.”

The WHCA organizes the annual event, which honors journalists who cover the White House and awards scholarships to aspiring reporters.

Jeff Mason, the WHCA’s president, said in a statement Saturday that this year’s event will continue despite Trump’s absence.

“The WHCA takes note of President Donald Trump’s announcement on Twitter that he does not plan to attend the dinner, which has been and will continue to be a celebration of the First Amendment and the important role played by an independent news media in a healthy republic,” he said.

“We look forward to shining a spotlight at the dinner on some of the best political journalism of the past year and recognizing the promising students who represent the next generation of our profession,” Mason added of the April 29 dinner.

The WHCA typically invites the president and staff members to each year’s dinner, where a comedian then roasts the commander in chief ahead of the leader’s equally lighthearted remarks.

Trump’s decision follows rising tensions between the president and the media over its coverage of his administration.

The White House last Friday blocked multiple news outlets from covering Spicer’s question-and-answer session there, sparking backlash from several of the organizations impacted.

CNN, The New York Times, The Hill, Politico, BuzzFeed, the Los Angeles Times and the New York Daily News were among the outlets kept from the huddle.