President Donald Trump’s historic State of the Union address Tuesday was filled with dramatic and emotional moments from start to finish — and some of them didn’t even involve House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
By now, the interactions between Trump and Pelosi have gone viral. First, Trump appeared to snub Pelosi by refusing to shake her hand as he handed copies of his speech to the speaker and Vice President Mike Pence. Trump didn’t shake hands with Pence, either, so it’s possible he didn’t notice Pelosi’s attempt.
What happened after Trump finished his speech wasn’t an accident. As Trump was leaving the House dais, Pelosi ripped her copy of Trump’s speech in half, in full view of broadcast cameras worldwide.
But those weren’t the only viral moments to come out of Tuesday night’s speech. Here are some others:
Fred Guttenberg, who lost his 14-year-old daughter in the Parkland, Florida, school shooting, was escorted from the gallery during the speech.
»Meet President Trump’s SOTU guests
The dramatic moment unfolded as the president mentioned that he would protect gun rights. Guttenberg was heard shouting from the speaker’s box, and he was quickly removed from the audience by a plainclothes police officer.
Guttenberg was a guest of Pelosi’s:
Guttenberg apologized after the speech:
In an unprecedented move, Trump gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to conservative talk radio king Rush Limbaugh. The broadcaster was in the gallery with first lady Melania Trump, who then presented Limbaugh with the medal. Limbaugh recently stunned his millions of listeners that he has been diagnosed with advanced lung cancer.
Credit: Patrick Semansky
Credit: Patrick Semansky
The wife and children of Sgt. 1st Class Townsend Williams were also in the gallery next to the first lady. They were surprised to see his return from deployment in Afghanistan during the speech.
Charles McGee, who recently turned 100, is one of the surviving Tuskegee Airmen who served in World War II, plus the Korean and Vietnam wars. He received a series of standing ovations that lasted several minutes.
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