Pelosi cancels Trump's State of the Union address in House after the president calls the speaker's bluff

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Pelosi cancels Trump's State of the Union address in House after the president calls the speaker's bluff

President Trump and Democrats at impasse as shutdown continues; reaction and analysis from the 'Special Report' All-Stars.

This is a rush transcript from "Special Report," January 24, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: The State of the Union speech has been canceled by Nancy Pelosi because she doesn't want to hear the truth. We were planning on doing a really very important speech.

REP. NANCY PELOSI, D-CALIF., HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: The government is closed. We have said very clearly from the start, and I wrote to him a second time to say, since government is shutdown, let's work together on a mutually agreeable date, and we can welcome you to the Capitol to give a State of the Union address.

TRUMP: I think that's a great blotch on the incredible country that we all love. It's a great, great, horrible mark. We'll do something in the alternative.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRET BAIER, HOST: It started that the President was saying, I'm going forward with the invitation and I will deliver the State of the Union address in the house chamber next Tuesday. But that didn't get far, a response from the House Speaker.

If you look at our latest Fox News poll where people in America seem to be on this, on the State of the Union speech, deliver as usual, 56 percent, skip altogether, 33 percent. But the Speaker's letter soon after the President said he was going forward, "When I extended the invitation on January 3rd for you to deliver the State of the Union address, it was on the mutually agreed-upon date January 29th. At that time there was no thought that the government would still be shut down. My further correspondence, January 16th, I said we should work together to find a mutually agreeable date when the government has reopened, and I hope that we can still do that. I am writing to inform you 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 the government has opened."

Where is this going? Let's bring in our panel, Jonah Goldberg, senior editor at "National Review," Susan Page, Washington bureau chief at "USA Today," and Mollie Hemingway, senior editor at "The Federalist." We debated how big a deal this was, this back and forth. There's a lot of things happening around the world, but it is pretty unique, Jonah, for this moment in political history.

JONAH GOLDBERG, SENIOR EDITOR, "NATIONAL REVIEW": Yes. I think it's not a great spectacle. I think Donald Trump was right to call Nancy Pelosi's bluff on the security thing, because I always thought that was a fairly bogus and lame thing. Nancy Pelosi doesn't want him there, she should stand up for her institution and say so.

I had a hard time believing when 10 percent of the American people say they are severely affected by the shutdown according to this poll, that even a fraction of those people are really heartbroken that they may not see the State of the Union address. I think this is something that Washington cares about a great deal. If he gives a speech from someplace else it will substitute just fine for it. But I can't stand the State of the Union Address, so I'm glad to see it taken down a peg. But it is a sign of the partisan breakdown in Washington.

BAIER: You are a SOTU truther.

GOLDBERG: I am.

BAIER: You just want the whole thing --

GOLDBERG: Woodrow Wilson is the guy who reinvented the thing about going to Congress. Woodrow Wilson is the worst president in American history, so I just want to leave it there.

BAIER: Susan, beyond this back and forth, if doesn't seem if they can't get the address right that there's any progress on dealing with the shutdown.

SUSAN PAGE, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, "USA TODAY": Or like an infrastructure bill, or anything else this year, right? One of the things that we see unfolding now is the way that these two powerful people who represent their parties are going to operate for the next two years. And I think it doesn't give you much hope on legislative action on anything or on a path to opening the government. In fact, it's 33 days. The President is taking it on the chin in polls. Polls consistently show him down from December. And yet you don't even see urgent negotiations going on at this point.

BAIER: Right, our poll, let's see, Fox poll two, most responsible for the government shutdown, you're right, President Trump's 51 percent, Democrats in Congress 34 percent. That matches other polls. What best describes the emergency major problem in the government shutdown, actually gets the most attention from people polled in her latest poll. Here is some of the frustration in the House and Senate about all of this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ROB WOODALL, R-GA: I'm not saying that that's the right answer. I'm not saying that that's the best we can do. I'm not saying that's for the conversation ends. I am asking my friends, when does the conversation begin?

REP. JIM MCGOVERN, D-MASS: This is the first time in history that a Congress has ended in a government shutdown. And with all due respect to my friends, that's what you left us with.

SEN. PATRICK LEAHY, D-VT: We are looking weak to the rest of the world. We are looking foolish to the rest of the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: Mollie?

MOLLIE HEMINGWAY, SENIOR EDITOR, "THE FEDERALIST": Looking at some of these poll numbers is so interesting. You showed the one that has 51 percent of the country blames Trump for the shutdown. Considering that he said he was willing to take full credit for it and that he thought border security and enforcement of our nation's laws and rule of law are so important he is willing to shut the government down, that it's only 51 percent I think speaks to some of this recalcitrance we're seeing where Nancy Pelosi says she couldn't even imagine that the government would be shut down after this long, yet she has done absolutely nothing to open it back up. She has offered $1 for border security. That is not a serious person right now.

BAIER: There is a break, it seems. You have Clyburn and Steny Hoyer, others talking about border security a lot. There is an offer on the table, $5.7 billion, but it can't include a barrier or wall, they say.

HEMINGWAY: Even though barriers and walls are used to good effect in various places along the southern border.

BAIER: But doesn't there seem to be a crack in the Democratic position of non-negotiating?

HEMINGWAY: You're seeing some people be how you would expect adults to be, saying, OK, you've offered this. We'd like to offer this slight less attractive thing for you, and then you kind of start working. But again, when Nancy Pelosi has offered $1, that is what she thinks is her powerful bed, and then to do all these antics.

Yes, I agree, we've talked about the State of the Union not being a very -- we might not like it. It is also an institution. It's particularly a modern institution. And to be the first speaker in history to get rid of this norm, to get rid of this thing and then to complain about other people who are supposedly big norm breakers when you're the one who is actually destroying modern institutions, it undercuts a major --

PAGE: Let me defend the State of the Union. I love the State of the Union.

(LAUGHTER)

PAGE: You've all of Congress, you've got the diplomatic corps, you have members of the Supreme Court, you have the press corps, you have invited guests up in the galleries on the other side. I think it is a wonderful statement about their government, our unity. I think it is wonderful institute. I love hearing what presidents have to say, what priorities they set, how the theatrics of Congress applauding. I disagree with you. I am pro State of the Union.

GOLDBERG: And I think it's a monarchical carbuncle on republican values in that the president of United States is not a king. I felt this way under Barack Obama, I feel that way under Donald Trump. We treat it as if he is the guy running the government when in fact the Congress is the supreme branch.

On the norm violation thing, I think it's absolutely true that Speaker Pelosi is violating norms, but Donald Trump comes in bragging about how he is a disruptor. When you're a disrupter, other people react in disruptive ways as well. There are cascades and feedbacks in all of this. And I think that one of the things you talk to Democrats on the Hill, what they'll say is, they are negotiating. And I think it's absolutely true the Trump White House has offered some perfectly reasonable negotiation tactics. They've moved positions and Democrats haven't, but that's in part because Nancy Pelosi is locked into this idea that what they don't want to do is credit this idea that you can shut down the government to get what you want from Congress.

BAIER: The hostage-taking they talk about.

GOLDBERG: They are talking past each other.

BAIER: And the hostage message was very prominent on Capitol Hill today.

I want to just tick through a couple of these polls. Some people like polls as a snapshot of time, other people hate them. We're going to show you what ours shows. FOX poll five, U.S.-Mexico border, build the wall, more border agents, and there you see the breakdown. Build the wall, 43 percent, and more border agents, 73 percent. Hardship, Jonah, you mentioned this, that your family is experiencing the government shutdown, 10 percent severe, and there you see the breakdown, obviously for the 800,000 employees, they are feeling it directly.

President Trump's job approval, we have it at 43 percent approve, 54 percent disapprove. This tracks a little higher than some others. A.P. has it down in the 30s I saw tonight. And satisfied with the direction of the country, Mollie, downtick, 38 percent not in the right direction from where it was.

HEMINGWAY: It is always interesting to know what makes people dissatisfied. Is it seeing things like the Covington high school kids getting totally trashed by the media and lied about and seeing that happen?

BAIER: Right, we don't have that visual in that poll.

HEMINGWAY: -- held accountable. Or is it something else about the economy? We don't know why they are not happy with the direction, but it could be any number of reasons.

BAIER: That's right. Panel, standby.

Next up, the Trump administration wades deep into the Venezuelan political turmoil.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUAN GUAIDO, OPPOSITION LEADER (through translator): I swear to formally assume the powers of the National Executive as the President in charge of Venezuela.

MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT: We hope that Nicolas Maduro will accept a peaceful transition of power in Venezuela, that he will accept the will of the people to move this country forward and embrace their new president, Juan Guaido.

NICOLAS MADURO, VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT: I have given the order to the foreign minister of the republic to initiate a total and absolute revision with the government of United States of America.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: All options, always, all options are on the table.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: The Trump administration, the President, recognizing the head of the opposition party Juan Guaido, as the leader of Venezuela. This as protests continue tonight on the streets. So far the wires are reporting seven people killed in protests today in Venezuela. We are back with the panel. A significant move, Susan, when our country says, you know what, your president is not your president. It's this other guy.

PAGE: Very significant. And in this case we have an issue of international relations on which we are not isolated. Canada, other countries in South America, Brazil, are agreeing that the disputed president of Venezuela has to go. Vice President Pence said he hopes that he will get the message and leave peacefully. There are no signs that he's about to do that.

BAIER: Right. And he has a history, Jonah, of cracking down, and we expect that to continue, maybe even this opposition leader possibly getting arrested.

JONAH GOLDBERG, SENIOR EDITOR, "NATIONAL REVIEW": Yes. And I am sure that we are all quaking in our boots that they have cut off relationships with us. This is a big deal.

It's a big problem, and one of the big problems also is the military, the leadership of which is completely corrupt and bought off by the Maduro regime, even if they would like to split with Maduro, the problem is that they may be complicit in all sorts crimes against humanity, and so their fate is sort of tied up with keeping the Maduro regime going. The truth of it is Maduro is losing the support of the poor people who were staying behind who have been his base, and if he loses those, it's going to be a people power thing. It is a prudential question for us. Morally I think we are completely right, I think the Trump administration is completely right morally. But does our support for the opposition make it harder for the opposition or easier? And I just don't know the answer to that.

BAIER: This is an big moment, though. Remember in the Obama administration when the Iran protests were happening, the Green Revolution, the Obama administration chose not to weigh in on that. This is this administration putting its foot in there, saying this guy is not legitimate and we are standing with the opposition.

HEMINGWAY: Right, and speaking of State of the Unions, it was Monroe's seventh State of the Union where he issued that doctrine about caring about making sure that foreign actors don't get involved in this hemisphere. When you're making a decision about whether to be involved in someone else's civil conflict, generally speaking you just want to only get involved with it affects your national interest.

There is no question that this Maduro socialist government has destroyed the lives of its people.

BAIER: And that socialist doesn't work there.

HEMINGWAY: That there is a humanitarian crisis, economic crisis, and now a political crisis. And it's something that does affect us, and it could also be the kind of thing that if we get involved militarily, it could affect us even more in the sense of there is already a refugee crisis with Venezuelans trying to flee. If we support a civil war of some kind, it could make that refugee crisis even worse and something that affects us. So we have to think prudently about how to involve ourselves.

BAIER: The President did hint at that, though, all things are on the table. You heard Senator Rubio saying if this gets bad don't count out that we're not going to do something. That was quite something.

PAGE: The president did say that, but I would be surprised if we take military action in Venezuela, especially given President Trump's reluctance to get involved militarily around the world. He has been trying to withdraw from the places where we're involved.

But we have a lot of tools here. We have a lot of economic sanctions that we could impose against Venezuela that could have a big difference, at some cost to ourselves if we sanction oil, for instance, they'll be some cost to the U.S. oil industry, but we have tools that the president could use.

BAIER: And more tools as the U.S. energy, ability to produce her own oil and gas, has stepped up. One question is whether Venezuela turns to Russia or China as a rescue line.

GOLDBERG: Right, which is another reason to talk about the Monroe doctrine and that great State of the Union delivered on paper.

(LAUGHTER)

GOLDBERG: And we don't want them to have any kind of beachhead down there. The Cubans are playing mischief in there for a very long time, and that is something to keep an eye on.

BAIER: The State of the Union took it on the chin tonight.

(LAUGHTER)

BAIER: We'll see if it makes a comeback tomorrow. When we come back, a winter wonderland gets an unexpected visitor.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BAIER: Finally tonight, we always look for interesting video. This one is just interesting. A moose on the loose. Snowboarders and skiers at a Colorado ski resort say the moose is no problem. Isn't that pretty? And suddenly it starts chasing them. The moose just starts charging. Nobody was hurt, but no thank you. Moose on the ski -- no, that's not good. Anyway, we thought the video was good and we thought we'd show you.

Thanks for inviting us into your home tonight.

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