--- title: Read Trump and Pelosi's Terse State of the Union Letters description: President Donald Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have resorted to curt letters about the State of the Union. canonical: https://time.com/5511096/trump-pelosi-letters-state-of-the-union/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-01-23T20:42:42.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T22:34:45.938Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read the Terse Letters Trump and Pelosi Sent Each Other About the State of the Union og:description: They have resorted to sending curt letters about their thoughts on the speech og:url: https://time.com/5511096/trump-pelosi-letters-state-of-the-union/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc4e9f853fb2a8bd7/698943df929fadbff2bf2917/trump-pelosi-state-of-the-union.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: trump-pelosi-state-of-the-union og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read the Terse Letters Trump and Pelosi Sent Each Other About the State of the Union twitter:description: They have resorted to sending curt letters about their thoughts on the speech twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc4e9f853fb2a8bd7/698943df929fadbff2bf2917/trump-pelosi-state-of-the-union.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read the Terse Letters Trump and Pelosi Sent Each Other About the State of the Union > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=c742a5f4-0da2-4d2c-82df-2db3a32e4bc1&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) by [Kathy Ehrich Dowd](https://time.com/author/kathy-dowd/) ## Kathy Ehrich Dowd Jan 23, 2019 8:42 PM UTC  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and U.S. President Donald Trump argue before a meeting at the White House on Dec. 11, 2018 in Washington, DC. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and U.S. President Donald Trump argue before a meeting at the White House on Dec. 11, 2018 in Washington, DC. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI—AFP/Getty Images by [Kathy Ehrich Dowd](https://time.com/author/kathy-dowd/) ## Kathy Ehrich Dowd Jan 23, 2019 8:42 PM UTC With the fate of next Tuesday’s State of the Union address unclear amid the [longest government shutdown in history](http://time.com/5499397/shutdown-longest-history/), President Donald Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have resorted to curt letters to communicate their thoughts on when and how it should proceed. Trump kicked off the back-and-forth Wednesday when [he sent a letter](http://time.com/5510891/trump-tells-pelosi-no-state-of-the-union-delay/) to Pelosi stating his intentions to move forward with a speech to a joint session of Congress, noting that “it would be so very sad for our Country if the State of the Union were not delivered on time, on schedule, and very importantly, on location!” The President further stated that he rejected Pelosi’s letter from Jan. 16, in which she asked him to delay the speech due to the shutdown and potential security concerns. He made the case that there are no security concerns related to the shutdown, and “therefore I will be honoring your invitation” that she earlier issued on Jan. 3\. (A day after Pelosi’s Jan. 16 letter, the President [abruptly canceled her trip to Afghanistan.)](http://time.com/5506128/donald-trump-nancy-pelosi-afghanistan-trip/) Pelosi soon [fired back with her own terse letter](http://time.com/5511124/nancy-pelosi-postpones-state-of-the-union-letter/) to Trump later Wednesday, informing the President “that the House of Representatives will not consider a concurrent resolution authorizing the President’s State of the Union address in the House Chamber until government has opened.” She also explained that when she invited Trump to deliver the State of the Union address to Congress in her Jan. 3 letter, “there was no thought that the government would still be shut down.” The California lawmaker also told Trump the Democratic-controlled House won’t pass the measure he needs to give the nationally televised speech from the House floor, but still hopes they can “work together to find a mutually agreeable date when government has reopened” to reschedule. Read their letters from the past month below. > [](https://twitter.com/PressSec/status/1088124637844828162) > [](https://twitter.com/SpeakerPelosi/status/1088168895117176832) > [](https://twitter.com/SpeakerPelosi/status/1085549944969285634) > [](https://twitter.com/PressSec/status/1085978219872964608) > [](https://twitter.com/SpeakerPelosi/status/1080981329259433984) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5511096/trump-pelosi-letters-state-of-the-union/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5511096/trump-pelosi-letters-state-of-the-union/"},"headline":"Read the Terse Letters Trump and Pelosi Sent Each Other About the State of the Union","datePublished":"2019-01-23T20:42:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T22:34:45.938Z","description":"They have resorted to sending curt letters about their thoughts on the speech","url":"https://time.com/5511096/trump-pelosi-letters-state-of-the-union/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc4e9f853fb2a8bd7/698943df929fadbff2bf2917/trump-pelosi-state-of-the-union.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kathy Ehrich Dowd","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/kathy-dowd/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc4e9f853fb2a8bd7/698943df929fadbff2bf2917/trump-pelosi-state-of-the-union.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"trump-pelosi-state-of-the-union","caption":"US-politics-budget","creditText":"BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5511096/trump-pelosi-letters-state-of-the-union/","name":"Read the Terse Letters Trump and Pelosi Sent Each Other About the State of the Union"}}]}] ```