A who’s who of the leading names in media, tech and global and domestic politics are flocking to the nation’s capital for the scores of exclusive parties surrounding the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner this Saturday — where President Donald Trump will make his first-ever appearance as president and deliver a roast of the political press corps. 

The correspondents’ dinner, and the parties thrown in its honor, have always generated enough fanfare to maintain its status as the biggest weekend of the social calendar in Washington. This year, however, is being treated inside the Beltway as the most high-profile WHCD weekend in at least a decade, the result of Trump’s decision to participate in this year’s dinner after boycotting it for his entire presidency.

Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY), joined by Rep. Max Miller (R-OH), introduced the SACRED Act this week, a new bill aimed at protecting attendees at religious institutions from harassment and threats by demonstrators — a phenomenon seen repeatedly outside synagogues that has spurred “buffer zone” legislation in New York and elsewhere.

The bill, which applies within 100 feet of a religious institution, would create criminal and civil penalties for individuals who attempt to intimidate or obstruct someone in a manner that causes reasonable fear for physical safety to prevent them from entering or exiting a place of worship. It also applies — within that 100-foot zone — to individuals who intentionally approach within eight feet of a person seeking to exercise their freedom to worship, for the purpose of intimidating or harassing them.

Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee, in their draft 2027 funding bill for the State Department, are again aiming to leverage U.S. funding to the United Nations and other foreign programs to seek accountability for involvement by U.N. employees and others in the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel.

They made similar efforts during the 2026 government funding process, but the provisions were ultimately excluded from the final 2026 funding bill.

President Donald Trump was honored alongside CBS News’ White House correspondents at a private event at the U.S. Institute of Peace on Thursday night hosted by Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison ahead of the White House Correspondents Dinner on Saturday.

The gathering, which was not open to the press, marked what is expected to be Trump’s sole appearance at a WHCD event outside of the dinner itself, which he is set to attend for the first time as president on Saturday. CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss was among those in attendance, though Deadline reported on Thursday that most of those invited were “from Paramount corporate, rather than the news division.”

President Donald Trump convened senior U.S., Israeli and Lebanese officials at the White House on Thursday for the second round of Israeli-Lebanese peace talks, during which the parties agreed to a three-week extension of the ongoing ceasefire. 

The talks were originally slated to be led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the State Department, but the president had the summit moved to the Oval Office in order to participate and lead the negotiations. Trump and Rubio were joined at the meeting by Vice President JD Vance, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter, U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa and Lebanese Ambassador to the U.S. Nada Hamadah Mouwad. U.S. State Department Counselor Michael Needham was also in the room.

A young woman was charged Thursday in a conspiracy to “kill as many Jews as possible” by driving through a Houston synagogue. 

Angelina Han Hicks, 18, a resident of North Carolina, was arrested Wednesday and charged, according to the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office, with felony conspiracy to commit assault with a deadly weapon and felony conspiracy to commit murder for her plotted attack on Congregation Beth Israel, the oldest synagogue in Texas. 

Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) joined other Michigan Democrats in condemning Amir Makled, a Democratic nominee for regent of the University of Michigan, over Makled’s past comments on social media expressing antisemitic sentiments and support for terrorism.

“I’m going to have a problem with any candidate — Democrat, Republican or independent — who shares antisemitic and hateful posts on social media. Especially when they refuse to disavow those comments or show remorse,” Slotkin said in a statement to Jewish Insider on Thursday, in response to a question about Makled.

A new complaint filed with the Department of Education accuses a Florida Panhandle school district of violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act by ignoring years of antisemitic harassment against a Jewish student, including Nazi salutes performed in the classroom. 

The complaint, filed Thursday with the DOE’s Office for Civil Rights by the Anti-Defamation League and Akerman law firm, requests that the agency initiate an investigation into the Bay County School District over allegations that the student, who is currently in 11th grade, faced antisemitic discrimination consistently since elementary school.