SHREDDER-IN-CHIEF

Trump Insists It Was ‘Very Illegal’ for Pelosi to Rip Up His SOTU Speech

The president said Pelosi’s destruction of an “official document” was “very disrespectful to the Chamber and to the country.”

President Trump insisted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi broke the law when she tore up his State of the Union speech—but said he would still work with Democrats. Speaking from the White House lawn on Friday, Trump called Pelosi’s act of destroying an official document “very illegal” and “very disrespectful to the Chamber and to the country.” In fact, Pelosi’s copy of the speech was not a government record so it was not illegal to destroy it, legal experts told PolitiFact. Trump, who Politico once reported has a habit of shredding official records, said he didn’t notice Pelosi had ripped up his speech until several members of Congress told him as he was leaving the room. “[Democrats] have got a bad case of Trump Derangement Syndrome,” he said. Pelosi said she tore up Wednesday’s speech because it was a “manifesto of mistruths,” and it was “necessary to get the attention of the American people to say this is not true. And this is how it affects you.”