President Trump hosts local media dinner on eve of congressional address

WASHINGTON — The president is preparing for his first congressional address, and Tuesday night Blair Miller was the only Boston reporter invited to a dinner previewing the speech.

Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and counselor Kellyanne Conway were also at the off-the-record dinner, along with First Lady Melania Trump and Vice President Mike Pence who briefly stopped in.

For more than an hour, the president spoke with 18 members of the local media from different parts of the country. Nothing was off limits, but most of President Trump’s comments were off the record.

On the record, Trump said North Korea is a real threat to the world and has to be dealt with and dealt with soon.

Afterwards, the White House described the intimate dinner as an effort to appeal to the local news media, because they said there's a value in local news.

During the dinner, Trump spoke about his relationship with the national media, which includes calling some media outlets “the enemy of the American people.”

The dinner was held just one night before Trump is set to speak before a joint session of congress.

His critics, like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer are already firing back about the speech, saying there won’t be much substance.

"His speech tomorrow will be nothing, if this president continues to do what he has done these first few weeks,” Schumer said.

You can watch the speech live on FOX25 News starting at 9 p.m. Tuesday and streaming on FOX25Boston.com.

Cox Media Group