--- title: State of the Union: Nancy Pelosi Looks at Paper Instead of Trump description: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi kept looking at her papers during the State of the Union, instead of President Donald Trump. canonical: https://time.com/5522272/nancy-pelosi-paper-state-of-the-union/ author: Abby Vesoulis article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-02-06T02:57:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T22:41:34.672Z article:section: Politics og:title: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Keeps Looking at Her Papers During the State of the Union, Instead of President Trump og:description: Social media noticed og:url: https://time.com/5522272/nancy-pelosi-paper-state-of-the-union/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte4cb1845279e8c2b/6989449dab6d77874a6b4c28/gettyimages-1094200738.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: President Trump Delivers State Of The Union Address To Joint Session Of Congress og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Keeps Looking at Her Papers During the State of the Union, Instead of President Trump twitter:description: Social media noticed twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte4cb1845279e8c2b/6989449dab6d77874a6b4c28/gettyimages-1094200738.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Keeps Looking at Her Papers During the State of the Union, Instead of President Trump  by [Abby Vesoulis](https://time.com/author/abby-vesoulis/)  ## Abby Vesoulis Feb 6, 2019 2:57 AM UTC  President Donald Trump, with Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Mike Pence looking on, delivers the State of the Union address in the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives at the U.S. Capitol Building on February 5, 2019 in Washington, DC. President Trump's second State of the Union address was postponed one week due to the partial government shutdown. President Donald Trump, with Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Mike Pence looking on, delivers the State of the Union address in the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives at the U.S. Capitol Building on February 5, 2019 in Washington, DC. President Trump's second State of the Union address was postponed one week due to the partial government shutdown.Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images  by [Abby Vesoulis](https://time.com/author/abby-vesoulis/)  ## Abby Vesoulis Feb 6, 2019 2:57 AM UTC Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has an unofficial job during tonight’s State of the Union: as the sole face of the Democratic party on camera directly behind President Donald Trump, she is tasked with listening and reacting to his remarks, knowing that those who are tuning in at home can see her. But as Trump spoke, Pelosi couldn’t help but to shift her gaze from the back of Trump’s head to sheets of paper on the desk in front of her. Some of social media suggested she was reading ahead in Trump’s speech or fact-checking his claims. Others wondered whether she might be reading over the introduction she was supposed to, but didn’t get a chance to give the President. Trump’s State of the Union address broke tradition by starting without the formal introduction typically offered by the Speaker of the House. Trump, also breaking traditional cordiality, failed to congratulate House Democrats on their success during the midterms, or on Nancy Pelosi’s reclamation of the House gavel. Whatever is on the paper, viewers on social media are curious. > [](https://twitter.com/TalKopan/status/1092970029371424768) > [](https://twitter.com/CNNJason/status/1092970918148800512) > [](https://twitter.com/Donball/status/1092973295639584768) > [](https://twitter.com/TomLynch%5F/status/1092969868658323456) State of the Union: Nancy Pelosi Looks at Paper Instead of Trump ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5522272/nancy-pelosi-paper-state-of-the-union/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5522272/nancy-pelosi-paper-state-of-the-union/"},"headline":"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Keeps Looking at Her Papers During the State of the Union, Instead of President Trump","datePublished":"2019-02-06T02:57:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T22:41:34.672Z","description":"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi kept looking at her papers during the State of the Union, instead of President Donald Trump.","url":"https://time.com/5522272/nancy-pelosi-paper-state-of-the-union/","keywords":["Congress","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte4cb1845279e8c2b/6989449dab6d77874a6b4c28/gettyimages-1094200738.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Abby Vesoulis","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/abby-vesoulis/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte4cb1845279e8c2b/6989449dab6d77874a6b4c28/gettyimages-1094200738.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Trump Delivers State Of The Union Address To Joint Session Of Congress","caption":"President Trump Delivers State Of The Union Address To Joint Session Of Congress","creditText":"Chip Somodevilla—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":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5522272/nancy-pelosi-paper-state-of-the-union/","name":"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Keeps Looking at Her Papers During the State of the Union, Instead of President Trump"}}]}] ```