Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Eli | Email Lauren On the night of President JOE BIDEN’s second state dinner, the small pool of reporters covering guest arrivals gathered in a room in the East Wing where guests entered from the Rose Garden before descending down the stairs toward the sounds of the welcoming orchestra. Among the first to come through were Rep. AMI BERA (D-Calif.), VICTOR CHA, the president’s brother FRANK BIDEN, and Kentucky Gov. ANDY BESHEAR. Another early arrival was SEUNG MIN KIM, who, on another night, might have been standing alongside her fellow reporters taking cell phone pics of arriving guests and shouting out questions. But on this night, the Associated Press White House reporter was in a floral ball gown, walking through a doorway festooned with the American and South Korean flags along with her mother, MI RYUNG CHANG. Kim, who is Korean American, was invited to attend the state dinner honoring South Korean President YOON SUK YEOL in a personal capacity. While it’s incredibly rare for a member of the White House press corps to receive such an exclusive invitation, it’s becoming far less so. In what longtime White House correspondents and historians say is a return to tradition, the Biden administration in recent months has started inviting those who cover them to attend smaller, more restrictive events. “The press corps is part of the White House community, and we’re always looking for new and creative ways to include reporters and their families in special events as guests,” said deputy press secretary EMILIE SIMONS. No other event really compares to a state dinner, but several Asian American reporters were invited to attend Monday night’s screening of the film “American Born Chinese,” an event marking Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Some Jewish members of the press corps have also been invited to a reception marking Jewish American Heritage month, which also is observed in May. “We are proud to make the White House campus more accessible for memorable moments, from Halloween trick-or-treating to St. Patrick’s Day, the Easter Egg Roll, Bring Your Kids to Work Day, and tonight’s AANHPI event,” Simons added. And when Biden hosted his first state dinner last December, in honor of French President EMMANUEL MACRON, the Washington Post’s OLIVIER KNOX (one of the Frenchiest members of the press corps) drew an invite, just as he had in 2007 when President GEORGE W. BUSH honored former French President NICOLAS SARKOZY. The shift toward inviting more journalists to White House events in their personal capacity began ahead of St. Patrick’s Day this year, when members of the press shop were given the green light to submit a list of White House reporters with Irish heritage to the social office. Those names would be considered potential guests to the East Room reception where Biden would mark the holiday alongside Ireland’s Taoiseach LEO VARADKAR. Some reporters who were asked to attend (like, say, our own JONATHAN LEMIRE) initially weren’t sure if the invitation was intended for them. Depending on the space being used and the nature of the event, different teams at the White House work together to suggest potential attendees – lawmakers, stakeholders and now, increasingly, journalists – who might enjoy the event. Ahead of the St. Patrick’s Day event, one press aide asked TAMARA KEITH, the president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, if she knew of any reporters with Irish roots (we’re told that WHCA has not had any formal role or much involvement in the process). Reporters have long been able to bring their kids for Halloween trick-or-treating in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, or join the public crowd of thousands on the South Lawn for the annual Easter Egg Roll. In recent weeks, many journalists have responded with enthusiasm after being invited to attend these more intimate and somewhat exclusive White House events. After attending the St. Patrick’s Day event, CBS News’ ED O’KEEFE posted a selfie on Instagram of himself seated in a row of green-clad correspondents: NBC News’ KELLY O’DONNELL, the Wall Street Journal’s CATHERINE LUCEY, AP’s COLLEEN LONG and ABC News’ KAREN TRAVERS. And his caption made clear that the invitation meant a lot given his Irish roots. “On behalf of the O’Keefe’s of Glanworth, the Whalens of Wicklow, and their descendants across North America, it was a humbling honor to be invited as a guest of the President of the United States of America to attend the annual Shamrock Ceremony,” he wrote. He noted the opportunity to “put down our pens” also included a performance by NIALL HORAN, a spotting of the actor RICHARD SCHIFF, bagpipes and beverages. “A pint or two might have been served,” he wrote. MESSAGE US — Are you SAM STEIN, notably not invited to the Jewish event at the White House? We want to hear from you. And we’ll keep you anonymous! Email us at westwingtips@politico.com. Did someone forward this email to you? Subscribe here!
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