Trump orders an administration-wide BOYCOTT of the White House Correspondents' Association dinner - just four days before the event - after a torrent of furious tweets accusing the media of partisan bias

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President Donald Trump decided weeks ago to stay away from this year's White House Correspondents' Association dinner, set for Saturday night. But on Tuesday he ordered officials in his administration to join his boycott.

The stand-down order affects White House employees and those at all Executive Branch cabinet agencies, a White House official said, describing a chaotic West Wing scene after the president called top aides into the Oval Office to lay down the law.

'He was – well, emphatic,' the official said. 'Not that we didn't all see it coming.'

Many administration officials had planned to attend the dinner this year, including some who work at the White House. The resulting cancellations will leave media organizations scrambling to fill the seats four days before the annual event.

Asked if the president purposely waited until the last minute to order a boycott, the official replied: 'You're catching on.'

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders had given her blessing to underlings who wanted to attend the dinner, according to editors at two Washington-based media outlets.

President Donald Trump ruled out an appearance weeks ago at this year's White House Correspondents' Association dinner; on Tuesday he called top aides into the Oval Office to say no one employed in his administration would be permitted to go

Trump has never attended the dinner as president; he skipped the 2018 dinner (seen above)

The president has been on an anti-media tear in the past 24 hours, tweeting these jabs at The New York Times and the 'mainstream media' in general

That, however, was before a serious of news cycles painting her as a liar who told the press that 'countless' FBI agents had complained to her about former FBI Direwctor James Comey after President Trump sacked him in 2017. 

Last week's release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's final report established that she conceded making that up. 

Amid a flurry of aggressive stories from news outlets that spar with Sanders on a regular basis, a member of the White House press corps called for her firing.

CNN pundit April Ryan said last week in an interview that Trump should start 'lopping the heads off' Sanders and other senior aides.

'I’ve certainly never had somebody say I should be decapitated,' Sanders replied Monday in a Fox news interview. 'This takes us to a new low even for the liberal media.'

It's unclear whether the exchange played a role in the White House's change of course on the dinner.

Trump has spent much of the last 24 hours firing off a Twitter fusillade against the political press corps, trashing The New York Times, CNN and MSNBC by name.

A White House official told media outlets Tuesday afternoon that '[t]he President and members of his administration will not attend the White House Correspondents Dinner this year.'

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders had previously green-lighted her aides attending the April 27 dinner; it's unclear if she had a role in Trump's about-face

Sanders' relationship with reporters has become more and more adversarial, with one member of the press corps, CNN pundit April Ryan, calling last week for her to be fired for lying to journalists

The Radical Left Democrats, together with their leaders in the Fake News Media, have gone totally insane,' Trump tweeted Tuesday morning

'Instead, Saturday evening President Trump will travel to Green Bay, Wisconsin where he will hold a campaign rally.'

Politico reported Tuesday that White House Cabinet Secretary Bill McGinley was tapped to convey the boycott order to chiefs of staff at cabinet agencies. 

The White House Correspondents Association put on a calm face and appeared unperturbed by Trump's expansion of what had already been his personal habit of snubbing the fashionable event.

'We’re looking forward to an enjoyable evening of celebrating the First Amendment and great journalists past, present, and future,' WHCA president Olivier Knox said in a statement.

The president took shots Tuesday at the morning news programs on CNN and MSNBC, calling the 'Morning Joe' program 'Morning Psycho' and defending his favored network Fox News

Trump told DailyMail.com on April 5 that he would skip the dinner for a third time as president and continue his own tradition of holding a competing campaign rally instead. 

'The dinner is so boring and so negative,' the president said. 'We're going to hold a very positive rally.' 

The organization's 2017 dinner, the first during Trump's presidency, was overshadowed by a presidential rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Trump took the opportunity to needle the Washington political press corps that year on their biggest night. 

'A large group of Hollywood actors and Washington media are consoling each other in a hotel ballroom in our nation's capital right now,' he said that night. 'They are gathered together for the White House correspondents' dinner without the president!'

'And I could not possibly be more thrilled than to be more than 100 miles away from the Washington swamp spending my evening with all of you and with a much, much larger crowd and much better people,' Trump added.

Last year's rally, his second boycott of the gala dinner, was in a suburb of Detroit. 

The annual dinner is affectionately known in D.C. as 'NerdProm.'

President Donald Trump told DailyMail.com outside the White House last month that he would skip the White House Correspondents Dinner for the third year in a row

President Trump skipped the dinner last year to hold a campaign style rally in Michigan

Trump has never attended the dinner as president but did go in 2011 when Barack Obama was in the White House. 

Obama and comedian Seth Meyers, the featured entertainer, both resoundingly mocked him that night.

At the time Trump was best known as the host of NBC's 'The Apprentice' and a fervent supporter of the 'birther' movement, which promoted the disproven claim that Obama was born outside the United States.

Obama roasted Trump for about five minutes that night. 

'No one is happier, no one is prouder to put this birth certificate matter to rest than the Donald,' Obama said. 'That's because he can finally get back to focusing on the issues that matter, like: Did we fake the moon landing? What really happened in Roswell? And where are Biggie and Tupac?'

Meyers also threw out some zingers. 

'Donald Trump has been saying that he will run for president as a Republican - which is surprising, since I just assumed that he was running as a joke,' he said.

 At the 2011 dinner, President Obama and comedian Seth Meyers mocked Donald Trump

Comedian Michelle Wolf's performance at last year's dinner had some in the audience laughing, while others were left sitting in a stony silence 

'Donald Trump owns the Miss USA pageant, which is great for Republicans because it will streamline their search for a vice president,' he noted.

Trump has not attended since. 

Historian Ron Chernow is the featured speaker for this year's event, after comedian Michelle Wolf's performance last year was panned and her jokes about White House press secretary Sarah Sanders resulted in heavy criticism.

Wolf offered a blistering critique of Sanders, who was seated just feet away, and mocked everything from her truthfulness to her eye makeup and Southern roots.

'I have to say I'm a little star-struck, I loved you as Aunt Lydia in 'A Handmaid's Tale.' Mike Pence, if you haven't seen it you would love it,' said Wolf, turning to Sanders. 

'I like Sarah, I think she's really resourceful. She burns facts and uses the ash to create a perfect smokey eye,' she said. 'Maybe she's born with it, maybe it's lies.

'I'm never really sure what to call Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Is it Sarah Sanders? Is it Sarah Huckabee Sanders? Is it Cousin Huckabee? Is it Aunt Huckabee Sanders?'

Trump declared the dinner 'dead' last year 

'What's 'Uncle Tom' but for white women who disappoint other white women? Ah, I know! Aunt Coulter!'

Then-WHCA president Margaret Talev, a White House correspondent with Bloomberg News, said Wolf's speech was 'not in the spirit' of the dinner.

'Last night's program was meant to offer a unifying message about our common commitment to a vigorous and free press while honoring civility, great reporting and scholarship winners, not to divide people,' Talev said.

'Unfortunately, the entertainer's monologue was not in the spirit of the mission.' 

After Wolf's performance, Trump declared the dinner 'dead.'

'The White House Correspondents’ Dinner is DEAD as we know it,' the president declared on Twitter the Monday after the dinner. 'This was a total disaster and an embarrassment to our great Country and all that it stands for.'

'FAKE NEWS is alive and well and beautifully represented on Saturday night!'