WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday invited President Donald Trump to deliver the annual State of the Union address on Feb. 4, possibly during the latter's impeachment trial.
"In the spirit of respecting our Constitution, I invite you to deliver your State of the Union address before a Joint Session of Congress on Tuesday, February 4, 2020 in the Chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives," Pelosi, a California Democrat, told Trump in a letter.
The invitation came two days after the president was impeached by the House over abuse of power in his dealings with Ukraine, as well as obstruction of Congress during the House's impeachment inquiry initiated in late September.
Pelosi has yet to commit to handing the two House-passed articles of impeachment over to the Senate, which the U.S. Constitution says has "the sole power to try all impeachments."
Pelosi said Wednesday night after the impeachment vote that her chamber will withhold the articles of impeachment and cannot name House managers for the trial "until we see what the process is on the Senate side," adding that Democrats so far "haven't seen anything that looks fair to us."
The Senate is expected to hold the trial in mid-January to determine whether to remove Trump from office -- the possibility of which Mitch McConnell, Republican from Kentucky and the chamber's Majority Leader, said is "zero."
The House's delay of the proceedings, which U.S. media cited a senior Democratic aide as saying could be at least two weeks or longer, could mean that Trump's speech informing Congress of the current status of the nation, if scheduled as Pelosi proposed in the letter, will overlap with the impeachment trial which is likely to take weeks.
McConnell has vowed a quick wrap-up of the trial to acquit Trump of the allegations.
