Pelosi defends tearing up State of the Union address

WASHINGTON, D.C. (CNN) – On Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi strongly defended her decision to tear up the State of the Union address as completely appropriate, considering it a collection of false statements.

“I tore up a manifesto of mistruths,” Rep. Pelosi said. “Very hard for us to get you to talk about the issues that we are working on, HR3, infrastructure, and the rest, he misrepresented all of that. It was necessary to get the attention of the American people to say, ‘this is not true and this is how it affects you.’ And I don’t need any lessons from anybody, especially the President of the United States, about dignity.”

Trump and Pelosi had several icy moments during Tuesday night’s State of the Union speech. It started with Trump apparently ignoring an offered handshake from Pelosi and it ended with Pelosi immediately tearing up a paper copy of Trump’s remarks after he was done speaking.

“As required by the Constitution of the United States, the president is to submit in writing or in person, his statement of the State of the Union,” Pelosi said. “What happened instead was a president using the Congress of the United States as a backdrop for a reality show, presenting a state of mind that had no contact with reality whatsoever.”

Republican Senator and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell responded to the act by bringing up President Trump’s Senate acquittal. He said, “The Speaker of the House says she will refuse to accept this acquittal, whatever that means. Perhaps she will tear up the verdict the way she tore up the State of the Union address.”