President Trump told House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Wednesday he will deliver the State of the Union address next week in the House chamber, rejecting her request to delay the speech due to the partial government shutdown.
“I look forward to seeing you on the evening of January 29th in the chamber of the House of Representatives,” Mr. Trump told Mrs. Pelosi in a letter. “It would be so very sad for our country if the State of the Union were not delivered on time, on schedule, and very importantly, on location!”
Mrs. Pelosi had originally invited the president to deliver the speech, but then asked the president to delay it or deliver it in writing, citing security concerns from the shutdown.
But the president wrote to her, “There are no security concerns regarding the State of the Union address. Therefore I will be honoring your invitation, and fulfilling my constitutional duty, to deliver important information to the people and Congress of the United States of America regarding the State of our Union.”
The president noted that he had accepted Mrs. Pelosi’s “kind” initial invitation before she tried to withdraw it on Jan. 16.
He also said that even before he could ask, the Department of Homeland Security and the Secret Service told him that “there would be absolutely no problem regarding security with respect to the event.”
“They have since confirmed this publicly,” the president said.
Mrs. Pelosi’s attempt to withdraw the invitation was followed by Mr. Trump abruptly canceling of a military jet that was to fly her and a group of lawmakers to Afghanistan and Belgium for a six-day trip. The president said she should stay in Washington to negotiate an end to the shutdown, or she could fly on a commercial airline to Afghanistan.
Before Mr. Trump released his letter, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, had said it was “highly unlikely” the address would take place on the House floor if the government was still closed.
• David Sherfinski contributed to this story.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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