President Trump could address a joint session of Congress in the middle of a Senate trial weighing whether to eject him from office.
The president’s annual State of the Union address is traditionally scheduled for late January or early in February. This year, the Senate is likely to be in the midst of a trial weighing two articles of impeachment against Trump that accuse him of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
The scheduling clash could afford Trump a unique opportunity to stage a defense from the House chamber, or to criticize the impeachment process before the entire Congress and a national television audience.
Republican strategist Ron Bonjean, a former top aide to House and Senate GOP leaders, said the president could denounce impeachment as an impediment to his successful agenda.
“Trump never lets an attack go unanswered, so it’s a strong possibility that he could use his address to point out the progress he has made while going after the House Democratic leadership for putting themselves first politically instead of solving problems for American voters,” Bonjean told the Washington Examiner.
The State of the Union 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.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, holds the authority to invite the president to address Congress each year. She hasn’t announced a date yet, but the president’s annual address almost always takes place before mid-February.
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.
Trump delivered the address to Congress on Feb. 5.
The House is all but guaranteed to send the articles of impeachment to the Senate this week, setting up a January trial.
But it’s not clear how long a trial would last. The Senate took six weeks to deliberate on two articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton in 1999.
Senate Republicans, including Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, have signaled they are pushing for a quick dismissal.
“This thing will come to the Senate, and it will die quickly, and I will do everything I can to make it die quickly,” Graham told CNN International on Sunday.
But Democrats are calling for witnesses who will bolster the case against Trump, including former national security adviser John Bolton and acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney.
Trump has signaled interest in compelling testimony from his own list of officials, including Hunter Biden and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, who Trump and Republicans believe orchestrated the whistleblower complaint that led to the impeachment investigation.
If Trump is invited to deliver his State of the Union speech during his Senate trial, it would not be the first time a president addressed Congress while it was deciding whether to throw him out of office.
Clinton delivered his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Jan. 19, 1999. At the time, the Senate was conducting a trial that weighed perjury and obstruction of justice articles of impeachment against Clinton.
Clinton didn’t mention the impeachment at all in his speech and instead focused on Social Security, education reform, and “a new dawn for America” on the cusp of the 21st century. The Senate acquitted him of both charges on Feb. 12, 1999.
Clinton called on Congress to “let it be said … that we put aside our divisions and found a new hour of healing and hopefulness; that we joined together to serve and strengthen the land we love.”
Jim Manley, a Democratic strategist and former top aide in Senate leadership, said Trump may not want to address Congress after impeachment, but he should be invited.
“Assuming he has the courage to show up for a State of the Union address after being impeached by the House, which I don’t think is a given, I believe that he should absolutely be given the chance to give the address,” Manley told the Washington Examiner. “He is still the president, after all.”
