Nancy Pelosi broke tradition when introducing Trump at the State of the Union, leaving out the words 'honor' and 'privilege'

dchoi@businessinsider.com (David Choi)

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Business Insider•February 4, 2020

 

• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi broke congressional tradition by introducing President Donald Trump as only "the president of the United States."
• Previous House speakers have introduced the sitting commander in chief by saying they had the "high privilege and distinct honor of presenting to you the president of the United States."
• Pelosi gave President George W. Bush the full introduction in the 2007 State of the Union address.
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi broke congressional tradition by introducing President Donald Trump as only "the president of the United States" during the State of the Union address on Tuesday evening.
"Members of Congress, the president of the United States," Pelosi said, introducing Trump in front of the joint session of Congress.

Previous House speakers have introduced the sitting commander in chief by saying they had the "high privilege and distinct honor of presenting to you the president of the United States."

Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois introduced President Bill Clinton with all the formalities in 1999, when Clinton, like Trump, was facing his impeachment trial.

Paul Ryan, the GOP former House speaker from Wisconsin, similarly introduced President Barack Obama in the 2016 State of the Union address. (Though Ryan's introduction of Trump in 2018 reportedly raised a few eyebrows after he mistakenly said he had the privilege of "preventing" the president, before quickly correcting himself.)

During last year's State of the Union address, it was Trump who appeared to break tradition by starting his speech after shaking hands with Vice President Mike Pence and Pelosi but before the House leader could make a formal introduction.

When asked about the 2019 incident, Pelosi reportedly denied it was a snub.

"What do you mean? I introduced him," Pelosi said, at the time, according to The Hill. "I did introduce him. I said, 'Members of Congress, I present you the president of the United States.' There was no snub."