Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) on Tuesday suggested that President Trump refrain from delivering next month’s State of the Union address, delaying it until after the impeachment trial in the Senate wraps up.

Banks asserted on Tuesday that Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), by failing to transmit the articles of impeachment to the Senate in a timely manner, is hoping that the Senate impeachment trial will cloud over the president’s SOTU address. Therefore, Trump should delay the address until “after our country clears the divisive impeachment hurdle.”

Banks wrote on his Facebook page:

Speaker Pelosi, by delaying delivering articles of impeachment, is hoping ongoing Senate trial and impeachment cloud hangs over the president during his State of the Union address to Congress. President Trump should tell her “no games” and tell her he’ll deliver the State of the Union only after our country clears the divisive impeachment hurdle. It’s not just America watching the State of the Union each year. Tehran is watching. Hong Kong is watching. Taipei is watching. Each have made clear in the last year they want their cities & nations to look more like USA. Trump must deliver message of peace, strength & unity to freedom-loving peoples around the globe! Getting impeachment out of the way makes that message and State of the Union address stronger!

.@SpeakerPelosi, by delaying delivering articles of impeachment, is hoping ongoing Senate trial and impeachment cloud hangs over POTUS at SOTU. @realDonaldTrump should say "no games" and tell her he'll deliver SOTU only after our country clears the divisive impeachment hurdle. — Jim Banks (@RepJimBanks) January 14, 2020

Getting impeachment out of the way makes that message and State of the Union address stronger! — Jim Banks (@RepJimBanks) January 14, 2020

Pelosi invited the president to deliver a SOTU address days after leading Democrats’ partisan impeachment effort, which resulted in the passage of two articles of impeachment against the president.

“In the spirit of respecting our Constitution, I invite you to deliver your State of the Union address before a Joint Session of Congress on Tuesday, February 4, 2020 in the Chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives,” Pelosi wrote in the December letter.

President Trump ultimately accepted her invitation.

The speaker is expected to transmit the articles of impeachment to the Senate this week. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), has defended her delay, declaring that Pelosi effectively prevented a quick acquittal and insisting that she was waiting to “see the arena in which she was playing.”

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), however, suggested during a recent appearance on Sunday Morning Features that more is at play.

“The Iowa caucus is on February third,” McCarthy stated. “Bernie Sanders is in first place and what this does is benefit Joe Biden.”

“This harms Sen. Sanders, who is in first place and could become their nominee because he will be stuck in a chair because Nancy Pelosi held the papers, different than what she said to the American public why she had to move so urgently,” he added.