THE BATTLE RAGES ON

President Donald Trump is forging ahead with plans to deliver a State of the Union-style speech at the U.S. Capitol at the end of January in spite of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s request that he postpone it, a senior administration official told NBC News Tuesday.

Pelosi, D-Calif., holds leverage in whether a joint session of Congress can be called. The Democratic leader, who is locked in tense and seemingly frozen negotiations with Trump over dueling border security proposals, has suggested Trump postpone the speech while the government is partially shut down.

Trump has nevertheless begun laying plans for his State of the Union address, which Pelosi had previously scheduled for Jan. 29. “She invited, we accepted,” a White House official told NBC.

The White House sent a note to the sergeant-at-arms over the weekend requesting that a walk-through occur sometime this week, NBC reported. The sergeant-at-arms is tasked with leading a presidential processional toward the podium of the House chamber at the beginning of a State of the Union address.

Pelosi wrote a letter to Trump last week urging him to either reschedule his State of the Union address or deliver it in writing to Congress. In that letter, she cited “security concerns” arising from the lapse in funding for some agencies — a claim later rebuffed by Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen in a tweet.

We’ll see what develops.