Pelosi invites Trump to deliver State of the Union address amid impeachment

Speaker Nancy Pelosi invited President Trump to deliver the annual State of the Union address to Congress on Tuesday, Feb. 4.

Pelosi, 79, sent a letter to the president on Friday, explaining that “our Founders crafted a Constitution based on a system of separation of powers: three co-equal branches acting as checks on each other. To ensure that balance of powers, the Constitution calls for the President to ‘from time to time give the Congress Information of the State of the Union.”

The speaker’s invitation comes as she has delayed passing the articles of impeachment to the Senate for a trial. The House of Representatives passed two articles of impeachment: one for abuse of power and another for obstruction of Congress. Following the vote, the articles have to be passed on to the Senate; however, there is no specific timeline outlined in the Constitution.

A number of Senate Republicans have urged for a quick trial and dismissal of the charges, while Democrats are looking for new witnesses to testify in front of the Senate. They have specifically called for former national security adviser John Bolton and acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney.

Should the Senate’s trial coincide with his address to Congress, he could use it to stage a defense against the impeachment process in front of all of Congress and a national audience. The address takes place in the House chamber with an audience that includes House and Senate lawmakers, the president’s Cabinet, the diplomatic corps, Supreme Court justices, and the media.

Pelosi last year postponed Trump’s State of the Union address by one week because of a spending impasse between Democrats and the president that had caused a partial government shutdown.