House

Trump to deliver State of the Union on Feb. 5

by Juliegrace Brufke - 01/28/19 4:36 PM ET

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in a letter Monday said President Trump could give his annual State of the Union address in the House chamber on Feb. 5, shortly after lawmakers and the White House reached an agreement to end the partial government shutdown.

“When I wrote to you on January 23rd, I stated that we should work together to find a mutually agreeable date when government has reopened to schedule this year’s State of the Union address,” Pelosi wrote in the letter.

“Therefore, I invite you to deliver your State of the Union address before a Joint Session of Congress on February 5, 2019 in the House Chamber.”

Trump formally accepted the invitation later in the day.

“It is my great honor to accept,” he wrote in his response. “We have a great story to tell and yet, great goals to achieve!”

The California Democrat previously retracted Trump’s invitation to come to the Capitol Tuesday, arguing the speech should not be held until after the end of the partial government shutdown.{mosads}

Trump, who rejected the notion security at the Capitol would be problematic, in turn barred her from using military aircraft for an official visit to Afghanistan, escalating tensions between the two parties during a stalemate over border wall funding.

Trump agreed to sign a three-week stopgap measure to reopen the government that didn’t include funds for his border wall, ending a weeks-long impasse and providing a win for Democratic negotiators.

The president previously vowed not to support any spending legislation that didn’t provide funding for the wall. Democrats asserted they would not negotiate on border security until the shutdown came to an end.

The continuing resolution provides House and Senate conferees time to hash out a border security proposal. Trump has warned if they fail to put forward a plan that provides funding for the wall the government could close again in three weeks or he could declare a state of emergency to circumvent Congress.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders during a briefing on Monday weighed in on Pelosi’s decision to retract Trump’s invitation, shortly before news broke that the State of the Union was back on.

“I certainly don’t think she acted in good faith on the front end considering she cited security concerns that didn’t exist, but we’re certainly hopeful that moving forward in the future she will,” Sanders said. “The president, as he always does, looks forward to addressing the American people and we’ll do that as soon as that’s invitation is received.”

-Updated 5:47 p.m.

Tags Donald Trump Nancy Pelosi