House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has invited President Trump to deliver the State of the Union address next week. She sent him a letter, posted on Twitter by her spokesman, Drew Hammill, that read, “In our conversation today, we agreed on February 5th. 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.”
Hamill said that the conversation between Mr. Trump and Pelosi was the first they’d had since Jan. 9, the day he met her in the White House Situation Room about the shutdown. Their meeting that day ended abruptly, with the president walking out of the room after Pelosi said she was not willing to support a border wall soon, even if the government reopened.
Last week, before the partial government shutdown ended, Mr. Trump had acceded to Pelosi’s request that he reschedule the speech until after the government was open again. This was more than a request, however — Pelosi said that she would not allow a vote on a concurrent resolution authorizing him to make the address in the House chamber.
The White House is reviewing Pelosi’s letter and invitation.
Rebecca Kaplan, Steven Portnoy and Fin Gomez contributed to this report.
