President Donald Trump’s second State of the Union address will not take place on Tuesday, an aide to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told CNN.
The aide confirmed that the address, which was originally scheduled for Tuesday, will not happen – answering a key question about the address’s fate in the wake of the reopening of the federal government.
At a news conference Friday following Trump’s announcement that there was a deal to end the partial government shutdown, Pelosi said, “The State of the Union is not planned now.” The California Democrat added that discussions about the date of the address would take place after the shutdown – the longest in US history – officially ended.
Trump’s director of strategic communications Mercedes Schlapp said Monday that the White House has been in discussions with Pelosi’s office about rescheduling the address and that “we should have a response soon.”
In order to give an address like the State of the Union to a joint session of Congress, both the House and Senate must pass a resolution allowing it to happen, making Pelosi’s voice an important part of the discussions.
Trump’s State of the Union address originally faced uncertainty earlier this month when Pelosi told the President that the address should either not happen while the government is partly closed or that he should deliver it in writing, citing security concerns. Trump eventually agreed last week to give the address after the shutdown ended.
CNN’s Betsy Klein, Clare Foran and Jim Acosta contributed to this report.
