Trump fires back at Nancy Pelosi shutting down SOTU speech — and says he's planning an 'alternative'

President Donald Trump excoriated House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for refusing to allow the House of Representatives to invite the president to give his annual State of the Union address – and he hinted that he would not back down.

"The State of the Union speech has been canceled by Nancy Pelosi because she doesn't want to hear the truth," Trump said to reporters at the White House Wednesday.

"She doesn't want the American public to hear what's going on," he added. "And she's afraid of the truth."

"I will say that the American people want to hear the truth. They have to hear the truth," the president concluded.

"And the truth is all about and said," he said, "I think, and I hope, well, we were planning on doing a really very important speech in front of the House, the Senate, the Supreme Court, and everybody else that's there, it's called the State of the Union, it's in the Constitution."

'We'll do something in the alternative'

The president also hinted that he was working on an "alternative" route to hold the State of the Union address despite Pelosi's cancelation.

"We're supposed to be doing it and now, Nancy Pelosi, or Nancy as I call her, she doesn't want to hear the truth," he repeated.

"I think that's a great blotch on the incredible country that we all love," Trump continued. "It's a great great horrible mark. I don't believe it's ever happened before."

"So it's a sad thing for our country," he concluded. "We'll do something in the alternative, we'll be talking to you about that at a later date."

On Tuesday, White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley hinted at the possibility of an alternate venue for the speech.

"There are many ways he can deliver the State of the Union address," he said. "I'm not going to get ahead of anything he would announce."

Pelosi first asked the president to postpone the speech over supposed national security concerns that many found to be spurious. The president responded by canceling a trip that Pelosi and other Democrats were planning to the Middle East. Pelosi's latest move was to outright cancel the invitation for the president to give the State of the Union speech.

Watch the president's comments below: