Ron DeSantis says he would never attend a White House Correspondents' Dinner with a 'cabal' of 'reviled' people

• Trevor Noah roasted DeSantis and referred to him as one of the "big names" at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.
• DeSantis said he wasn't present, adding that he'd never attend that dinner.

Gov. Ron DeSantis wants to make it clear: the White House Correspondents Dinner in Washington, DC, with its "cabal" of "reviled" people, is not his scene.

The Florida Republican sought to clarify on Monday that he did not attend the soiree in DC on Saturday night after he was the subject of multiple zingers from "Daily Show" host, Trevor Noah, who headlined the event. Noah described DeSantis as one of the "big names" at the dinner, but DeSantis — whose name was in the program— told reporters that wasn't true.

"I would never attend that, I have no interest in that," he said, after a reporter asked for a response to Noah's comments. "I did not watch it. I don't care what they do."

DeSantis, considered a top potential contender for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, accused "them" of lying about him being at the dinner because his office rejected the invitation and "the idea that I would have ever gone is false."

"I think it just shows you why that cabal of people in DC, New York, are so reviled by so many Americans," he said. "I think it's a reputation that's been well deserved."

A White House Correspondents' Association spokesperson could not immediately be reached for comment.

—The Recount (@therecount) May 2, 2022

The dinner, where journalists mingle with politicos and entertainers, was the first since 2019 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. President Joe Biden was the first president to attend since 2016, when then-President Barack Obama spoke at the event.

Donald Trump, who often refers to journalists as the "enemy of the people," never attended the dinner as president, calling it "so boring and so negative," and his White House reportedly even instructed staff to boycott it in 2019.

On Saturday, Noah said he was surprised that DeSantis found time to be there because he's been "so busy trying to outmaneuver Trump for 2024."

Noah jabbed at DeSantis for "playing it coy" and not telling anyone whether he got a COVID-19 booster. He said if Trump is the original Terminator, DeSantis is "T-1000," who is smarter, slicker and "can walk down ramps." This comment likely refers to Trump blaming a "very long and steep" and "slippery" ramp with "no handrail" after video footage showed him walking unsteadily after a West Point speech in June 2020.

"Because, you see, Trump said he won the election, but everyone was just able to look at the numbers and see that he was wrong," Noah said. "That's why Ron DeSantis is one step ahead. First, you ban the math textbooks, then nobody knows how to count the votes. Boom, my man."