Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi made news – and waves – Wednesday morning by sending President Donald Trump a letter effectively withdrawing her official invitation to deliver the State of the Union to Congress on January 29. The Speaker told the President he could deliver it by mail, or they could work together to come up with a different date.
Why?
The shutdown.
Many on the left are crediting Pelosi’s political acumen and brinksmanship for the move, but the Speaker of the House told reporters this is about safety and security of the leaders of the federal government.
“We would have the President of the United States, the Vice President of the United States, the entire Congress of the United States – the House and Senate – the Supreme Court, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Cabinet of the United States, and the Diplomatic Corps, all in the same room.”
“This requires hundreds of people working on the logistics of it. Most of those people are either furloughed or victims of the shutdown.”
Watch:
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PELOSI TO TRUMP: DELIVER THE STATE OF THE UNION ‘IN WRITING’ UNLESS YOU END THE SHUTDOWN ‘THIS WEEK’