GOP introduces resolution to condemn Pelosi for ripping up Trump’s State of the Union speech

Just hours after their colleagues in the Senate voted to acquit President Trump on the two articles of impeachment brought against him, Republican lawmakers in the House introduced a resolution to condemn House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for ripping up a copy of Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday night.

The privileged resolution, which was introduced Wednesday by Texas Republican Rep. Kay Granger, blasted Pelosi’s public shredding of the text of the address as “a breach of decorum” and said it brought “discredit on the House.”

After sparring with Republicans on the floor, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said he will move to table, or set aside the resolution, but since the measure is privileged the House must consider the resolution between now and Friday.

Pelosi’s action on Tuesday evening has stolen much of the spotlight from Trump’s State of the Union address.

As Trump finished his address -- and with television cameras focused on him, Pelosi and Vice President Mike Pence -- the speaker ripped in two the paper the speech was printed on. As Trump stepped down from the pulpit, she ripped papers again. Then a third time. And a fourth. 

"It was a manifesto of mistruths,” Pelosi told reporters as she left the Capitol. The ripping was not planned, according to a person close to the Democrat speaker who was unauthorized to speak publicly.

She added: “I felt very liberated last night."

Pelosi’s action led to widespread Republican condemnation that spilled over onto the House floor when Granger introduced the privileged resolution.

On Wednesday evening, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Hoyer had a feisty exchange in which the Republican leader called the copy of Trump’s address a "document of the House," arguing that it should not have been destroyed.

The State of the Union has for the last two years been a tense affair between Pelosi and Trump.

Before the speech even began Tuesday night, Trump seemingly ignored Pelosi’s outstretched hand for a handshake after he handed her the text of his speech.

It’s unclear if Trump didn’t see her hand or just didn’t want to reciprocate, but he promptly turned away from her to face the crowd gathered on the House floor.

Following last year’s address, Pelosi’s style of applause went viral after The Washington Post referred to it as “withering,” “pitying” and “Lucille Bluth-like in its contemptuousness,” in reference to the comedic matriarch from the "Arrested Development." The New York Times wrote a story about the applause with the headline: “As Pelosi Applauds Trump, the Internet Sees a Clapback."