Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas, says it would make sense to delay the State of the Union if Trump’s Senate impeachment trial goes beyond the date of Trump’s expected Feb. 4 address.
The unprecedented, odd circumstance of an impeachment trial during the State of the Union has some in Washington wondering whether Senate Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill may urge a delay.
“Well, it’s going to become awkward, isn’t it? To be the president giving the State of the Union in a chamber where he’s just been charged with high crimes and misdemeanors? It’s not my decision to make, but I can see why that might be a consideration,” Cornyn, who until January was majority whip, second in rank only to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, told the Washington Examiner.
Cornyn, a top Republican who is close to McConnell, said he has not talked to anybody else about a delay or thought much about it, but he added, “I could see why that might make sense.”
But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has already sent out the invitation to President Trump for the State of the Union, and the president already accepted. Cornyn noted that a scheduling change could only happen if both agreed to one.
The idea to delay the State of the Union was floated this weekend by former White House senior adviser Steve Bannon.
“He has to be acquitted. He will be acquitted and exonerated. That should happen, and then, he should do the State of the Union.”
