News / Politics

Trump's State of the Union address still not happening: Pelosi

Sunday, 27 January 2019 8:50 AM [ Last Update: Sunday, 27 January 2019 9:03 AM ]

In this file photo taken on January 30, 2018, US President Donald Trump delivers the State of the Union address at the US Capitol in Washington, DC. (Photo by AFP)

President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address will not take place despite him ending the government shutdown, according to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

A spokesman for Pelosi said Saturday that the address would not happen on Tuesday as originally planned.

"It's not happening on 1/29," Drew Hammill said of the address, which hosts all members of Congress, the president's cabinet and Supreme Court justices.

In a letter to Trump on Wednesday, Pelosi informed the president that he would not be allowed to deliver his annual address until a partial government shutdown ended.

"I am writing to inform you that the House of Representatives will not consider a concurrent resolution authorizing the president’s State of the Union address in the House chamber until government has opened,” Pelosi said in her letter.

PressTV-Pelosi blocks State of Union until Trump ends shutdown

The US House of Representatives speaker informed Trump that he will not be allowed to deliver his annual State of the Union speech until a partial government shutdown ends.

The top Democrat in Congress had previously called on Trump to postpone the address, citing, among other things, security shortcomings due to the ongoing shutdown.

Trump Friday signed a bill to temporarily end the shutdown, dropping his previous insistence on immediate funding for wall construction along the Mexican border.

PressTV-Trump signs bill ending longest US government shutdown

President Donald Trump has signed legislation to reopen shuttered government departments for three weeks.

Following the signing of the bill, Pelosi told reporters a date would be fixed for the president's address, but for the time being, "the state of the union is not planned now."

"What I said to the president is when the government is opened we will discuss a mutually agreeable date," Pelosi said, adding, "I'll look forward to doing that."

Trump, who at first lashed out at Pelosi, said the speaker "doesn’t want to hear the truth. She doesn't want the American public to hear what's going on."

But later, he tweeted that he would not deliver the address until the government was reopened, as Pelosi suggested.

The White House examined other venues to host the address, but Trump said hosting the speech somewhere else would have been "disrespectful."

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