WASHINGTON _ In his first State of the Union address on Tuesday night, President Donald Trump steered clear of any reference to the special counsel investigation that has shadowed his administration.
It was a noteworthy omission since the president has rarely shied away from expressing his thoughts on a probe that he has derided as a "hoax" and a "witch hunt."
By ignoring the investigation, Trump followed the example set by former President Bill Clinton.
During his State of the Union speech in 1999, Clinton did not mention his ongoing impeachment trial in the House, which stemmed from his affair with a White House intern.
Nor did Clinton bring up the issue the following year, after he had been acquitted by the Senate.
Former President Richard Nixon took a different approach, bringing up the "so-called Watergate affair" near the end of his State of the Union speech in 1974.
Nixon said he had turned over all the material needed by the special prosecutor who was probing the break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters.
Congress had not yet subpoenaed Oval Office recordings that revealed Nixon had directed CIA officials to impede the FBI investigation into the scandal.
"I believe the time has come to bring that investigation and the other investigations of this matter to an end," Nixon said. "One year of Watergate is enough."
It was his final State of the Union speech, and he resigned six months later.
