White House Correspondents’ Dinner weekend kicked off with one of DC’s newer power traditions — the third annual Bytes & Bylines bash at the sprawling residence of Spanish Ambassador Ramón Gil-Casares on Thursday night.
Spotted there were envoys from Ireland and Afghanistan, DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and RNC chief digital officer Gerrit Lansing. South African Ambassador Mninwa Mahlangu powwowed with venture capitalist and Harvard scholar Hugo Van Vuuren. Hosts Eric Kuhn, Allen Gannett, Susanna Quinn and John McCarthy circulated with former “Meet the Press” exec producer Betsy Fischer Martin, UTA Foundation director René Jones, and Obama and Clinton adviser Gene Sperling.
Chef José Andrés mixed elaborate cocktails, including one involving an ingredient dispensed from an atomizer that made a libation named “Purple Rain” change color.
Expected at the dinner: Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, Morgan Freeman, Kerry Washington, Odell Beckham Jr., Kendall Jenner, and the cast of “Spotlight.”