Trump to tout U.S. ‘comeback’

President Donald Trump will use next week’s State of the Union to promote what he calls the “Great American comeback,” according to a senior administration official.

The speech comes at a moment when Trump is hoping to put his Senate impeachment trial behind him. White House officials say Trump wants to use the nationallytelevised address to highlight his administration’s efforts to bolster the economy, tighten immigration rules and lower prescription drug costs just as his reelection effort accelerate.

“I think it’s safe to say the speech will celebrate American economic and military strength and present an optimistic vision of America’s future,” said the senior administration official, who briefed reporters on the broad outlines of the speech that Trump is scheduled to deliver before a joint session of Congress Tuesday

But for the second straight year, Trump will deliver his speech with a cloud over his presidency as his Senate impeachment edges to a rancorous close. Last year, Trump was forced to postpone his speech because of the longest government shutdown in the nation’s history triggered by bitter partisan battle over his push for funding for his border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Trump appeared headed for an all-butcertain impeachment acquittal as senators prepared on Friday to reject efforts to call more witnesses to testify about his efforts to pressure Ukraine’s president to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son’s business dealings in the Eastern European nation.