Trump to deliver SOTU address amid impeachment trial

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday (local time) will deliver his annual State of the Union (SOTU) address to a Joint Session of the United States Congress, amid his ongoing impeachment trial in the Senate.

The address is scheduled to begin at 9 pm (ET) i.e., 7:30 am in India on Wednesday. The address will be live-streamed by the White House and several news networks across the world.

Trump's SOTU address comes at a time when the senators are slated to vote on the decision to a possible conviction of the US President on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of justice.

According to the Voice of America, the theme of the speech will be the "Great American Comeback".

"It is unprecedented in our nation's history to have a SOTU address from an impeached president running for re-election," University of Akron Political Science Professor David Cohen was quoted as saying.

"These events read like political thriller fiction except they are actually happening," he said.

Trump's Tuesday speech will be the third SOTU address of his tenure at the White House. Earlier, annual messages by US Presidents included reports on the state of the country's economy.

This is the third time in the country's 244-year history that a US President has been impeached and targeted for removal from office.

Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998 were both impeached by the House but acquitted in Senate trials. Another President, Richard Nixon, resigned in 1974 in the face of certain impeachment in a political corruption scandal.