US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, tears her copy of US President Donald Trump's s State of the Union address after he delivered it to a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, Feb 4, 2020. Vice President Mike Pence is at left. (PATRICK SEMANSKY / AP)

WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump snubbed US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday, declining to shake her hand as he handed her a paper copy of his State of the Union speech.

At the end of his 80-min speech to a joint session of Congress, Speaker Nancy Pelosi stood and ripped apart her copy of the remarks Trump had handed her as millions watched on television

The Republican president spurned the outstretched hand of Pelosi, the Democrat’s leading elected official in Washington, upon meeting her for the first time since she stormed out of a White House meeting four months ago.

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Pelosi appeared to be taken aback. Aides to both said they had not spoken since their meeting in October.

She avoided citing the customary “high privilege and distinct honor” that usually accompanies the speaker’s introduction of the president to Congress.

US President Donald Trump arrives to deliver his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House Chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington, Feb 4, 2020, as US Speaker Nancy Pelosi reaches to shake his hand. (LEAH MILLIS / POOL VIA AP)

“Members of Congress, the President of the United States” was all she said in introducing Trump, a former real estate mogul and reality TV star-turned-politician.

At the end of his 80-minute speech to a joint session of Congress, Pelosi stood and ripped apart her copy of the remarks he had handed her as millions watched on television.

She later told reporters it was “the courteous thing to do, considering the alternative.”

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US President Donald Trump delivers his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House Chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington, Feb 4, 2020, as Vice President Mike Pence and Speaker Nancy Pelosi look on. (LEAH MILLIS / POOL VIA AP)

Kayleigh McEnany, campaign spokeswoman for Trump, said of Pelosi: “Her hatred for @realdonaldtrump has blinded her to the repulsive nature of her smug, elitist behavior.”

In a vote due to begin at 4 pm EST (2100 GMT) on Wednesday, the Republican-led Senate was expected to acquit Trump of impeachment charges he abused his powers and obstructed Congress.