Trump to skip St. Patrick's Day Hill luncheon, blames Pelosi
West Palm Beach, Florida — Irish eyes at the U.S. Capitol will not smile on President Trump on St. Patrick's Day.
Mr. Trump is skipping an annual bipartisan luncheon with House and Senate lawmakers celebrating the ties that bind the U.S. and Ireland, a White House spokesman said.
Trump blamed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, pointing to the impeachment inquiry launched by the Democrat-led House last year.
"Since the speaker has chosen to tear this nation apart with her actions and her rhetoric, the president will not participate in moments where she so often chooses to drive discord and disunity," spokesman Judd Deere said in an emailed statement.
The House speaker traditionally hosts the luncheon.
Mr. Trump instead will celebrate with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar at the White House on Thursday — five days before St. Patrick's Day. Deere said the relationship between the U.S. and Ireland "has never been stronger."
Drew Hammill, a spokesman for Pelosi, said congressional support for the U.S.-Ireland relationship is at a high.
"One would think that the White House could set petty, partisan politics aside for this historic occasion," Hammill said in an email.
Mr. Trump attended the luncheon in 2017 and 2018 when Representative Paul Ryan, a Republican from Wisconsin, was speaker, and in 2019, after Pelosi, a Democrat from California, won back the gavel.
Mr. Trump remains incensed at Pelosi after the House in December voted to impeach him on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The impeachment process stemmed from a July 25 phone call Mr. Trump had with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, during which he asked Ukraine's leader to investigate Joe Biden. The call came as the president ordered a freeze on crucial military aid to Ukraine.
The GOP-controlled Senate voted to acquit Mr. Trump on both charges last month.
Democratic Speaker Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill hosted the first St. Patrick's Day lunch in 1983. President Ronald Reagan and other House and Senate lawmakers attended the gathering, which had been arranged to ease tension between the two Irish-American leaders, according to the House.
The lunch became an annual event on Capitol Hill in 1987, missed by presidents just four times since then. Bill Clinton sent regrets after having knee surgery two days before St. Patrick's Day in 1997. George W. Bush passed on the 2003 lunch, held days before the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Last year, Pelosi said the lunch is "a tradition where we dispense with our differences, whether they're political or whether they're competitive in any other way."
Politico first reported Trump's decision.