Pelosi to stop Trump from holding State of Union address in House Chamber after his 'sarcastic' letter

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has shut down Donald Trump after receiving a defiant letter from the White House claiming the State of the Union address would happen next week no matter what.

Flexing her powers as speaker, Ms Pelosi said the House would "not consider" a concurrent resolution with the Senate that is required before the president could officially be invited to deliver the joint address.

Responding to Ms Pelosi's decision to keep him from giving a State of the Union, Mr Trump claimed from the White House that the speaker is "afraid of the truth". He said he would "do something in the alternative", suggesting he may deliver a speech or hold a rally next week instead.

"I said we should work together to find a mutually agreeable date when government has re-opened and I hope that we can still do that," Ms Pelosi wrote in a letter on Wednesday, referring to a letter sent to the president on 16 January notifying him that the speech would be delayed because of the shutdown.

She continued: "I am writing to inform you that the House of Representatives will not consider a concurrent resolution authorising the President's State of the Union address in the House Chamber until government has opened".

The president said earlier in the day that he would deliver the yearly remarks in spite of Ms Pelosi's request, thanking her for her initial invitation on 3 January and claiming that the Department of Homeland Security had told him that it would be safe to go ahead with the State of the Union in spite of the ongoing partial government shutdown that has impacted the Secret Service budget.

That letter was interpeted to be a dare for Ms Pelosi to cancel the State of the Union.

"I was contacted by the Department of Homeland Security and the United States Secret Service to explain there would be absolutely no problem regarding security with respect to this event", the letter says.

"Therefore, I will be honouring your invitation, and fulfilling my Constitutional duty, to deliver important information to the people and Congress of the United States of America regarding the State of the Union", the leter continues.

The letters are the latest in a back and forth between the president and Ms Pelosi, who requested in her 16 January letter that Mr Trump postpone his State of the Union or deliver it in writing since Secret Service agents tasked with ensuring the safety of the event — which traditionally brings together the vast majority of members of Congress as well as all but one of the president's cabinet — as not been paid as a result of the shutdown.

Federal workers who have been furloughed or asked to work without pay during the partial shutdown are expecting to not receive a second pay cheque later this week.

While Ms Pelosi had sent a letter to the president earlier this year inviting him to to deliver remarks as a part of the yearly event, that document was merely a formality. Before the State of the Union can take place, the House and Senate must both approve a concurrent resolution making the date and time of the speech official in the House chambers. Ms Pelosi's letter makes clear that she will not allow a vote in the House for such a resolution to pass.

The Wednesday letter from Mr Trump indicating his plan to go ahead with his speech follows after reports that the White House was considering multiple options for the speech, including potentially holding a rally if he is unable to deliver his speech in the Capitol. White House officials have also been in contact with officials at the Capitol about the potential speech on 29 January.

The US government has experienced a partial shutdown since funding lapsed just before Christmas, with Mr Trump refusing to sign funding legislation unless he is given the $5.7bn he says is necessary to build a border wall and to promote border security.

Democrats have, meanwhile, offered a package that has included $1.3bn in "border security" funding, but does not allow for border wall construction.

With 800,000 federal employees furloughed or working without pay, Mr Trump's support from congressional Republicans has appeared to wane recently, with at least three senators defecting to say the shutdown should end with or without border wall funding. Those senators include Alaska's Lisa Murkowski, Colorado's Cory Gardner, and Maine's Susan Collins.

But, while a funding bill package that does not include wall funding could possibly be approved in the Senate if it comes to a vote — and then approved by the Democrat-controlled House — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has refused to bring a bill to the floor for a vote that would be rejected by the president.