Two days after incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi formally invited President Trump to deliver the State of the Union address before Congress January 29, the President told Newsmax Sunday morning he is accepting the invitation.
Trump, however, did not reply to our followup question about whether he would deliver the annual address in person or possibly deliver it as a broadcast message from the Oval Office.
“I will be giving the State of the Union address,” Trump told us, as he briefly met with reporters while preparing to board the Marine One helicopter for a trip to Camp David.
He added that he received Pelosi’s invitation and was “looking forward” to delivering the annual message.
Since Woodrow Wilson, all presidents have delivered the State of the Union before a joint session of Congress until the tradition was broken by Herbert Hoover (who reverted to the previous practice of submitting the message in writing).
In 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt restored the practice of delivering the address to Congress. In 1944, however, FDR did break precedent by broadcasting the State of the Union on radio from the White House. Back from a wartime summit conference and battling the flu, he had no desire to stand up for more than an hour before lawmakers.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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