House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has officially invited President Donald Trump to deliver his State of The Union address on Feb. 4, the day after the first votes are cast in the 2020 presidential election in the Hawkeye State.
The invitation was extended to Trump on Friday, two days after the House voted along partisan lines to impeach the president, with no Republican supporting the measure, two Democrats opposing and Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, who is also seeking the Democratic presidential nomination voting “present.”
“In the spirit of respecting our Constitution, I invite you to deliver your State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, February 4, 2020 in the Chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives,” Pelosi wrote in a letter to the president.
Pelosi has also announced her intention this week to withhold signing the passed articles over to the Senate for the trial to begin.
The longer the House speaker holds onto the articles of impeachment however, the deeper into the primary that an impeachment trial will trap Democratic senators running for president in Washington, which could include Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, and Michael Bennet of Colorado.
Trump has yet to accept the offer to deliver his speech to Congress on Pelosi’s requested date of Feb. 4, and it’s unclear what kind of political drama will unfold this time as past arrangements between the two for the annual address have been rife with theatre. Earlier this year, Trump declared his 2019 State of the Union “cancelled” by Pelosi after the new House speaker said she would deny the president use of the chamber while the government was shut down.
Trump ultimately gave his address on Feb. 5 after the government was re-opened following a 35-day partial shut down.
