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Ending showdown with Pelosi, Trump postpones State of Union

Published:Friday | January 25, 2019 | 12:23 AM
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., speaks during the US Conference of Mayors winter meeting in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, January 23, 2019. AP
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., speaks during the US Conference of Mayors winter meeting in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, January 23, 2019. AP

WASHINGTON (AP):

United States President Donald Trump said he is postponing his State of the Union address until the partial government shutdown ends, yielding after a week-long showdown with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Following a high-stakes game of dare and double-dare, Trump conceded Wednesday night that “no venue can compete with the history, tradition and importance of the House Chamber”. He said he was not looking for an alternate option after Pelosi served notice earlier in the day that he wouldn’t be allowed to deliver the address to a joint session of Congress next week.

Pelosi had taken the step after Trump said he planned to show up in spite of Democratic objections to the speech taking place with large swaths of the government shut down.

Denied that grand venue, Trump promised to come up with some sort of alternative event. The White House scrambled to find a site matching the gravitas of the traditional address from the rostrum of the House to lawmakers from both parties, Supreme Court justices, invited guests and a television audience of millions.

“As the Shutdown was going on, Nancy Pelosi asked me to give the State of the Union Address. I agreed,” Trump tweeted shortly after 11 p.m. EST. “She then changed her mind because of the Shutdown, suggesting a later date. This is her prerogative _­ I will do the Address when the Shutdown is over.”

Pelosi said Thursday that she was thankful the president recognised it was “inappropriate” to hold the State of the Union during the government shutdown, adding, “thank goodness we put that matter to rest.”

Fireworks over the speech shot back and forth between the Capitol and the White House as the month-long partial government shutdown showed no signs of ending and about 800,000 federal workers faced the prospect of going without their second pay cheque in a row come Friday.

Pelosi told Trump the House wouldn’t approve a resolution allowing him to address Congress until the shutdown ended. Trump shot back that Pelosi was afraid of hearing the truth.