Published 13:30 IST, December 21st 2019
US President Trump invited to give State of the Union speech
US President Donald Trump has been invited by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to give the State of the Union address in front of both houses of Congress on Feb 4.
US President Donald Trump has been invited by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to give the State of the Union address in front of Congress on February 4. Nancy Pelosi extended her formal invitation to Trump on Friday to attend a special joint session of the US Congress. The picture of the invitation was posted on Twitter.
State of the Union Adress in front of both houses
The invitation to deliver the State of the Union address comes days after the Democrat-led House of Representatives decided to impeach Donald Trump as approved two articles of impeachment. This means that Donald Trump's address could possibly be a fiery one. The impeachment trial is set to begin in the Senate in early January. Given that the Senate is controlled by the Republicans, impeachment is unlikely. White House spokesman Hogan Gidley later announced that Trump had accepted the invitation.
After successfully passing the impeachment vote in the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that she will not be committing to immediately sending the articles of impeachment to the Upper House of the Congress where the impeachment trial is to take place. She claims that there are procedural roadblocks among other concerns preventing the Democrats from sending the articles.
Democratic leaders have been trying to convince the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to adhere to their demands concerning the procedure of the trial. They also wish to bring in a firsthand witness like acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney to testify in the Senate. During her statement, Pelosi said that the Democrats will decide on a time to send the articles to the Senate as a group.
The US House voted 230 to 197 to impeach Trump for abuse of power. His impeachment now makes him the third US President to be removed through the highest constitutional remedy after Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998. Trump faced impeachment charges after it was alleged that he had misused his power as President to pressurize Ukraine to investigate Democrat political rival Joe Biden ahead of the 2020 election.
Updated 14:07 IST, December 21st 2019