Ocasio-Cortez and Pressley, who have been targets of Trump over the last year, both announced Tuesday that they will not be in the House chamber for the address.
Both attended Trump's State of the Union last year about a month after they first took office.
"After much deliberation, I have decided that I will not use my presence at a state ceremony to normalize Trump’s lawless conduct & subversion of the Constitution," Ocasio-Cortez wrote in a series of tweets. "None of this is normal, and I will not legitimize it."
“On the eve of Senate Republicans covering up transgressions and spreading misinformation, I cannot in good conscience attend a sham State of the Union when I have seen firsthand the damage Donald J. Trump’s rhetoric and policies have inflicted on those I love and those I represent," Pressley said in a statement.
The two other members of "The Squad" of progressive freshman congresswomen, Democratic Reps.
Rashida Tlaib (Mich.) and
Ilhan Omar (Minn.), confirmed they would attend the address on Tuesday.
Green, one of the first and most ardent backers of impeaching Trump, said Tuesday that he will again decline to attend.
"Because of an impeached, reckless, ruthless, lawless, shameless, corrupt, & unapologetically bigoted president - who is still engaging in a coverup, the state of the House, the state of the Senate, and the #StateOfTheUnion are divided," Green
tweeted. "I will NOT attend #SOTU2020."
Waters, another early proponent of impeachment who has skipped previous addresses by Trump, also said she would not attend on Tuesday.
“To think that I would attend the #SOTU to hear the message of an IMPEACHED president is a thought that in no way would be consistent w/ my fight and struggle against this dishonorable president. I will certainly NOT be there!” Waters
tweeted.
A total of
14 Democrats skipped the address in 2018, which came shortly after Trump caused a firestorm for describing African nations as "s---hole countries." Many Democrats also wanted to make a point amid their frustrations after Trump's first full year in office.
Impeachment factored into many Democrats’ decisions not to attend this year.
At least
six House Democrats boycotted Trump's State of the Union address last year. In addition to the five who are not going on Tuesday, Georgia Democratic Rep.
John Lewis did not attend last year either. He has not said whether he will attend this year's address.
"During normal times, I would consider it my duty to attend and hear the President’s agenda for the upcoming year. Unfortunately, these are not normal times," Johnson, Lewis’s fellow Georgia Democrat,
tweeted on Monday.
A total of
14 Democrats skipped the address in 2018, which came shortly after Trump caused a firestorm for describing African nations as "s---hole countries." Many Democrats also wanted to make a point amid their frustrations after Trump's first full year in office.
“I'm not interested in listening to this impeached President lie. Therefore, I will not be attending the #SOTU2020 tonight,” tweeted Thompson, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.
Rush said in a statement on Tuesday that he “cannot honor this man in any way.”
“It would be painfully hypocritical of me to endure 90 minutes of unrelenting lies and all types of distortions and untruths, while at the same time watching his Republican apologists cheer,” he said.
More than 60 Democrats also
boycotted Trump's inauguration, but most still attended the joint address a little over a month later. Green and Waters also did not attend Trump's joint address to Congress in 2017, which came shortly after his inauguration and therefore technically was not a State of the Union speech.
It will be the third year in a row that Blumenauer, Cohen and Wilson have skipped Trump's State of the Union addresses. Green and Waters also did not attend Trump's joint address to Congress in 2017, which came shortly after his inauguration and therefore technically was not a State of the Union speech.
More than 60 Democrats also
boycotted Trump's inauguration, but most still attended the joint address a little over a month later.
Trump went after Wilson, another CBC member, in 2017 after she criticized his handling over a call to the widow of a fallen solider, tweeting that she was "wacky" and "killing the Democrat Party."
Wilson said Tuesday that Trump is “too disrespectful toward women, children, immigrants, Gold Star families and poor people.”
Cohen, who previously co-introduced articles of impeachment against Trump in 2017, said in a statement on Monday that he "will not be a witness to puffery and prevarication flowing while our Constitution and our laws are disrespectfully and dangerously flouted."
Blumenauer also said that he will continue his streak since 2018 of skipping Trump's address.
“I have chosen not to dignify Trump’s parade of lies about health care, his persistent exaggeration, and his personal attacks with my attendance at this year’s State of the Union Address. His appalling performances each day continue to justify that decision, and I have no doubt tomorrow night will be more of the same — even possibly worse," Blumenauer said in a statement on Monday.
Most Democrats do plan to attend Trump's speech Tuesday night, with female lawmakers planning to
reprise their tradition of wearing white — the color of suffragettes — to show solidarity with women.
Trump will not be the first president to deliver a State of the Union address before the Senate had concluded its impeachment trial into his alleged misconduct.
Then-President
Bill Clinton delivered his State of the Union address in January 1999 while the Senate was still conducting an impeachment trial over his affair with a White House intern. Clinton pointedly did not discuss impeachment during his speech and kept a focus on his domestic policy agenda. Read more at
The Hill
