• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ripped up pages of President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address immediately after he concluded his speech on Tuesday night.
• That came after Trump appeared to reject a handshake from Pelosi before he began his speech.
• The open contempt between the two comes nearly two months after Pelosi spearheaded Trump’s impeachment for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

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At the end of President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday night, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ripped up a printed copy of his speech and tossed it aside as the president left the lectern to applause from the rest of the chamber.

The stunning gesture of rebuke from Pelosi came after Trump appeared to snub the House Speaker when she attempted to shake his hand before his speech.

The open displays of contempt exhibited by the two leaders comes nearly two months after Pelosi spearheaded Trump’s impeachment on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

As she exhibited the chamber on Tuesday, Pelosi told reporters that she ripped up the speech because “it was the the courteous thing to do considering the alternatives.”

Politico editor Blake Hounshell reported Tuesday night that Pelosi’s dramatic move wasn’t planned.

The White House quickly condemned Pelosi’s move, writing in a tweet that the Speaker disrespected all the Americans honoured in Trump’s speech.

Pelosi quickly responded to the criticism with a photo of Trump apparently refusing to shake her hand.

The night was punctuated by a few apparent moments of tension between Pelosi and Trump.

Immediately before Trump began his address on Tuesday night, Pelosi reached out to shake the president’s hand and Trump snubbed her by turning away without a greeting. She looked surprised and bemused for a moment afterwards.

Some of the same dynamics were on display during last year’s State of the Union address.

A photograph of Pelosi smirking and exaggeratedly applauding Trump during his 2019 State of the Union went viral at the time. Many – led by social media pundits – interpreted the moment as emblematic of their difficult relationship.

After Pelosi opened an impeachment inquiry into Trump in late September the House of Representatives voted to impeach Trump on the two impeachment articles on December 18.

The two leaders, who have openly clashed in public multiple times since Pelosi assumed the speakership in January 2019, hadn’t spoken since October 2019 before encountering each other in the House chamber for the State of the Union.

Throughout Trump’s speech, Pelosi’s official Twitter account posted a steady stream of attacks and broadsides on the president and his record, including calling him “a liar” and sniping at Trump for taking credit for the negotiation of the US-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) trade deal without acknowledging Pelosi’s work on the deal.

Read more:

Trump snubbed Pelosi as she tried to shake his hand before his State of the Union address – nearly 2 months after the House impeached him

Nancy Pelosi broke tradition when introducing Trump at the State of the Union, leaving out the words ‘honour’ and ‘privilege’

Democratic women are wearing white to Trump’s State of the Union address as a shoutout to the women’s suffrage movement

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