House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is delaying the transfer of articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump to the Senate because she wants to be sure he's still under impeachment when he delivers his State of the Union address in February, two former aides of President George W. Bush said Monday.
Paul Rosenzweig, who served as Bush's deputy assistant secretary for policy at the Department of Homeland Security, tweeted his theory on Monday. Later, David Frum, a former Bush speechwriter who is now a senior editor at The Atlantic, expanded on the theory, reports HuffPost.
"Imagine what it would be like if he got to give the SOTU having been cleared by the Senate ― it would be a full-blown triumphal rant," wrote Rosenzweig on Twitter.
"But if the impeachment is still pending, it might, instead, be an unhinged narcissistic screed of almost unimaginable insanity," he continued. "Just think of how painful it would be for 53 Republican Senators to sit in the halls of Congress, watching a live meltdown on national TV. That, alone, would be worth the price of admission."
"Maybe I'm wrong and this hasn't crossed her mind — but I love the idea," Rosenzweig concluded.
Frum told MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell Monday night that if "there's been a trial and there's been a sham hearing" and Trump is acquitted, his speech on Feb. 4 would be "triumphal, obnoxious, overbearing."
"If the impeachment is still pending on the 4th of February, can you imagine how insane that State of the Union is going to be?" Frum added. "It's going to be like the Twitter feed. It's going to be like the Christmas Twitter feed when the family is all gone."
Trump is slated to deliver his 2020 State of the Union on Feb. 4.