Though Trump is expected to focus on domestic issues, his intensifying threats about launching military strikes on Iran over its nuclear program cast a shadow over the address.
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger will give the Democratic Party response following Trump’s speech. California Sen. Alex Padilla, who made national headlines last year after being forced to the ground and handcuffed by federal agents, will deliver the party’s response in Spanish.
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Speaker Johnson will display Washington’s gavel during speech
Speaker Mike Johnson will display George Washington’s gavel during the State of the Union.
The U.S. Capitol Historical Society says it’s the first time the gavel will be displayed during the president’s speech to Congress. It will sit on the rostrum in honor the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding.
Washington used the gavel in 1793 to lay the cornerstone of the Capitol building, according to the Historical Society. It’s been maintained ever since by the Potomac Lodge No. 5, a Masonic Lodge in Washington, D.C.
“At the Capitol site, Washington stepped into a dug trench, laid a silver plate onto the ground, and set the cornerstone atop it,” the Capitol Historical Society wrote in a news release. “He was accompanied by brethren who conducted a Masonic ritual with corn (a symbol of nourishment), wine (a symbol of refreshment), and oil (a symbol of joy). Witnesses then chanted and celebrated until night.”
No. 2 ranked House Democratic leader won’t attend Trump’s address
Rep. Katherine Clark, the House Democratic whip, says she will skip the State of the Union address and instead attend an alternative event.
A large portion of the Democratic Caucus is planning to not attend the president’s speech, and Clark is one of the highest ranked in leadership to make that move.
“Rather than listen to Donald Trump lie to the American people, I will be hearing from the people of my district about their personal experiences with skyrocketing costs, new barriers to health care, dismantled Social Security services, and brutal cuts to medical research,” she said in a statement.
Technology has meant State of the Union firsts for presidents and voters
In the era of written messages, Americans could read the president’s report to Congress because newspapers around the country routinely reprinted excerpts or full text.
Then came mass media, allowing Americans to hear and see the president in real time. Radio audiences first heard Calvin Coolidge’s State of the Union in 1923. Truman followed with the first televised address in 1947. Lyndon Johnson moved to prime time in 1965.
Cable network expansion led to televised focus groups. Select voters listened and reacted word by word — a breakthrough in public opinion research.
George W. Bush’s White House offered the first livestream address in 2002. Barack Obama’s White House set a new curve in 2013 by adding infographics to the stream.
And now, in the social media age, snippets of the speech and commentary circulate widely — from power players and everyday voters — even as the president still speaks.
Schumer’s State of the Union guest, victim of Epstein’s abuse, calls on Trump to ‘release the damn files’
Speaking at a news conference with Senate Democrats, Dani Bensky said she and other victims want the Department of Justice to release “every single file,” to investigate those “who caused harm to so many victims” and to properly redact their information when files are released.
Bensky has said she was sexually abused by Epstein two decades ago. She said Tuesday that she felt victimized again when her information was exposed in a recent release of Epstein’s case files.
Schumer said “the American people deserve the truth and survivors deserve accountability.”
The 20th century changed the State of the Union
The president’s annual message was once a catch-all report of the executive branch, especially in the era when it was written.
That changed over the first half of the 20th century. In 1921, Congress passed the National Budget and Accounting Act, which effectively required the president to submit a separate budget proposal — even if Congress never acts on it. The Employment Act of 1946 paved the way for a separate economic report from the administration.
The latter change dovetailed with the advent of the television political era, with Truman’s televised speech in 1947.
The speech has remained policy-heavy since then but presidents from Truman forward have been freer to make an inherently political pitch for their agenda — speaking in front of Congress but clearly aiming beyond the House chamber to voters at home.
Democratic leader says Trump should apologize to Americans for the high cost of living
Jeffries says Trump should use his speech “as an opportunity to apologize to the American people for breaking every single promise that he made — particularly his promise to lower the high cost of living on Day One.”
Affordability has been top of mind for many lawmakers after Trump late last year called affordability a “hoax.”
“Nobody out there in America believes it’s a hoax, because far too many people are struggling to live paycheck. to paycheck,” Jeffries said.
While inflation has cooled some, dropping to 2.7% in January, the cost of food, gas, and apartment rents have soared after the pandemic, with consumer prices still about 25% higher than they were five years ago.
Leading Democrat on Senate Intel committee calls on Trump to explain Iran strategy
Following a classified briefing with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, called the escalating tensions with Iran “an extraordinarily serious time.”
Warner said Trump should “make the case what our country’s goals are, what our country’s interests are and how we’re going to protect American interests in the region.”
Trump adds 3 outlets to SOTU anchors lunch
One of the traditions of a president’s State of the Union is the customary lunch with anchors from the major television networks.
Usually off the record, the lunch is a chance for the president to fill in top newscasters on his thinking ahead of the high-profile address.
This year, Trump invited three other outlets to the lunch: Breitbart, Newsmax and NewsNation. Leavitt said all those outlets “deserve a seat at the highly coveted table.”
The TV era gave rise to the opposition response — with plenty of disadvantages
LBJ delivered the first prime time State of the Union in 1965. Networks gave Republicans a response time the following year and have done so since.
Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen of Illinois and House Minority Leader (and future President) Gerald Ford of Michigan shared that first response.
The role often goes to perceived rising stars (Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger will follow Trump). But it’s a thankless task. The president has the pomp and circumstance of the House chamber — impossible scenes and effects to replicate.
Results vary widely. Some, like Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams in 2019, get mostly positive reviews only to fade from the spotlight. Others, like Marco Rubio in 2013, get panned — and end up as secretary of state and a potential presidential contender.
Only Ford, George H.W. Bush (1978), Bill Clinton (1985) and Joe Biden (1986) have later given a State of the Union address themselves.
US hockey team members meet Trump in the Oval Office
“I recognize every one of you. I know every one of you,” Trump said as the players entered. “Big guys,” he observed.
Trump stood by his desk and shook hands with the players as each one approached. They wore dark long-sleeved tops with “USA,” the American flag and the Olympic rings on the front and light colored pants.
Their gold medals hung around their necks.
The teammates posed for a photograph on the South Lawn and also took in the collection of presidential portraits Trump installed along a walkway between the White House residence and the West Wing.
Democrats say negotiations over DHS shutdown are stalled as Trump blames them for funding lapse
Democratic leaders say negotiations with the White House over reopening the Department of Homeland Security are at a stalemate as they demand changes to federal immigration enforcement.
The department’s funding expired Jan. 30. Schumer said Tuesday that Democrats “have heard crickets” from the White House since they sent a proposal to end the shutdown last week.
He said the White House “has not budged on the key issues” like requiring agents to take off masks and obtain warrants before entering homes. Federal agents shot and killed two protesters in Minneapolis last month.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said that “until that changes, the DHS funding bill is not going to move forward.”
“There hasn’t been any real, recent communication with the White House,” Jeffries said.
Leavitt said Tuesday that Trump will call on Democrats to reopen the department in his State of the Union speech Tuesday evening.
Stay or go? Democratic leaders say it’s up to each member to decide
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said there will be some members who sit in “silent defiance,” and others who choose not to attend Trump’s speech.
“Some are coming and some are not,” Senate Democratic Leader Schumer said.
Speaker Mike Johnson had criticized those boycotting, but Jeffries said it’s each member’s choice based on what makes the most sense for their constituents back home.
Jeffries said the Republicans, in the majority in Congress, are in no position to lecture because rather than operate as a separate and co-equal branch of government, they’re a “reckless rubberstamp” for Trump’s agenda.
Trump to say that tech companies will pay more for electricity linked to AI development
Trump will announce as part of his State of the Union that tech companies involved in artificial intelligence are agreeing to pay higher electricity rates in areas where their data centers are located, according to a White House official who insisted on anonymity to discuss the speech.
The official said it would be one of many announcements related to the economy.
Data centers tend to use large volumes of electricity, creating a concern that they could lead to higher prices for households at a time when affordability is a leading concern for the electorate. The Wall Street Journal first reported the president’s plans to discuss.
—-Joshua Boak
US men’s Olympic hockey team members arrive at the White House
Trump invited the team to his State of the Union address after it brought home a gold medal by defeating Canada at the just-concluded Olympics in Italy.
It was not immediately clear if Trump would hold a press appearance at the White House with the members of the team.
Ukraine ambassador plans to attend State of the Union address
The address comes on the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.S., Olga Stefanishyna, said she expects that Trump, who has made ending the war a priority and whose advisers have been mediating peace negotiations, will touch on the conflict in his address.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has maintained maximalist demands, insisting Kyiv pull its forces from four Ukrainian regions that Moscow illegally annexed but never fully captured. Trump argues it’s inevitable that Russia will win control of the Ukrainian territory and has pressured President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to make a deal to save lives.
“We do not expect that … everything we heard before will change into something new, and you know we will hear something extremely like positive or you know inspiring,” Stefanishyna told reporters. “But at the same time, we want President Trump to hear us ahead of the speech that, you know, despite all the complexity and tragedy of what is happening in Ukraine, still Ukrainian people very much rely on his leadership.”
Minnesota Democrats use invitations to protest immigration crackdown
Some Democrats in Minnesota’s congressional delegation are using their privilege of inviting guests to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech to protest his administration’s immigration crackdown.
Rep. Ilhan Omar, of Minneapolis, invited four people impacted by Operation Metro Surge. They include Aliya Rahman, a disabled U.S. citizen who was filmed being pulled from her car by ICE officers on her way to a medical appointment; and Mary Granlund, chair of the Columbia Heights School Board, who championed 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, an Ecuadorian boy who was detained with his father and sent to a detention center in Texas.
But GOP Rep. Pete Stauber, from northeastern Minnesota, invited two conservative YouTubers — Nick Shirley and David Hoch — whose report alleging fraud at Minnesota child care centers caught Trump’s attention and provided an impetus for the surge.
Several Trump lieutenants could be in the spotlight after recent scrutiny
Attorney General Pam Bondi, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and FBI Director Kash Patel will be worth watching for anyone wanting clues about their standing.
Trump has publicly backed all three but each is under public scrutiny.
Noem survived a shakeup of Trump’s immigration crackdown. But she did not testify during DHS congressional hearings after two citizen protesters were killed in Minneapolis.
Bondi defended the president in a congressional hearing over the Jeffrey Epstein case files but has drawn criticism even from some Republicans for her handling of the matter.
Patel, after taking heat over the Epstein files, as well, is getting renewed attention after traveling to Milan for the Olympics even as he previously critiqued Democratic officials’ use of government resources to travel.
Trump notably did not call on either Noem or Bondi during his last Cabinet meeting that featured agency heads praising the president.
Erika Kirk will be among Trump’s guests in the House chamber, press secretary says
Leavitt said on X that Charlie Kirk’s widow will be one of the president’s guests.
“The president will call on Congress to ‘firmly reject political violence against our fellow citizens’ with Charlie Kirk’s widow in the chamber,” Leavitt posted.
Trump spoke at Kirk’s Arizona memorial service, where Erika Kirk said she forgave her husband’s assassin “because it was what Christ did. And is what Charlie would do.”
The president said during the service that he held a different view: “That’s where I disagreed with Charlie. I hate my opponent, and I don’t want the best for them. I’m sorry. I am sorry, Erika.”
Melania Trump’s speech guests represent her focus on AI education and foster youth
The White House says the guests who will sit with the first lady in the House gallery during the speech include:
Ten-year-old Everest Nevraumont, a student at the Alpha School in Austin, Texas, where learning is powered by artificial intelligence. Everest is a public speaker and advocate for AI education who gave a TEDx talk on how she uses the technology in her learning.
The first lady champions the use of AI and launched the Presidential AI Challenge, a White House-sponsored contest for students.
Foster care advocate Sierra Burns, 24, of Greenville, South Carolina. Burns grew up in foster care and benefited from the first lady’s Foster Youth to Independence Program. Last year, Melania Trump secured $30 million in funding to help young people transition out of foster care.
Spanberger to deliver Democratic rebuttal to Trump from Virginia historical site
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger will deliver Tuesday night’s Democratic response to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union from Colonial Williamsburg, invoking the historic backdrop as she frames her message.
Colonial Williamsburg, a living history museum with restored 18th-century buildings and interpreters, is seen as the center of Virginia’s early opposition to British rule. Spanberger’s team says she plans to draw on that legacy and connect it to the country’s current political moment.
In her brief rebuttal, Spanberger is also expected to emphasize affordability — the message her team credits with helping her secure a double-digit victory in flipping a previously Republican-held office.
Democratic women and their guests wearing ‘suffragette white’ to confront Trump
The women of the House Democratic Women’s Caucus and their guests, including a number of survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse, are dressing in all white for the address this evening, modeling themselves after the early 20th-century women who pressed for the right to vote and other rights.
“Tonight, when Donald Trump looks out into the chamber, he will see a wall of white,” said Democratic Rep. Jill Tokuda of Hawaii.
Some lawmakers are also wearing pins that express support for Epstein survivors and call for the release of case files on Epstein that do not redact information on his associates.
“We are standing here in solidarity so that we are not forgotten,” said Sharlene Rochard, one of the survivors,
Speaker calls boycotts of Trump’s speech ‘shameful’
The House speaker said Democrats protest everything, from the president’s joint address to the administration’s immigration enforcement crackdown.
“It’s shameful,” Johnson said.
He said the Democrats have nothing to offer but their “TDS agenda” — what the president’s supporters call “Trump Derangement Syndrome” by those opposed to the president’s policies.
A phone call, a scramble and Men’s Olympic hockey team to attend, House speaker says
Johnson says Trump called him Sunday night saying the needed to make changes.
“’We need some more guests,’” the speaker recalled Trump saying.
The visitors’ gallery was already full, Johnson explained, with waiting lists of those trying to get tickets for seats.
“’Mr. President, how many people are you talking about?” the speaker asked.
“The whole team,” he said Trump told him.
Johnson said they’ve been working out logistics and are going to “squeeze in” the gold-medal winning hockey players. “It’ll be a great moment,” he said.
The gold-medal winning women’s Olympic team declined Trump’s invitation to attend.
After confronting Noem in Los Angeles, Sen. Padilla to deliver Democrats' Spanish-language response
Sen. Alex Padilla will deliver the Democratic Party’s Spanish-language response to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union on Tuesday night, elevating a California Democrat who made national headlines last year after being forced to the ground and handcuffed by federal agents.
Padilla had confronted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem during a Los Angeles news conference, attempting to speak out about immigration raids that sparked protests in California and across the country.
The son of Mexican immigrants, Padilla said in a statement that his response will focus on “a better path — one that lowers costs, safeguards our democracy, and reins in rogue federal agencies.”
The Spanish-language response comes as Democrats try to reclaim ground with Latino voters ahead of the midterms, after Trump increased his share of Latino support in 2024 compared with 2020.
Trump and Wilson speeches have parallels and contrasts
Trump speaks days after the Supreme Court invalidated his tariffs imposed as national emergency measures, leading him to reup levies under different statutes.
Woodrow Wilson, the president who revived in-person congressional address, addressed lawmakers on tariffs weeks after taking office in 1913. It wasn’t his official annual message (that would come months later). But, like Trump, Wilson wanted to mold Congress and public opinion.
Unlike Trump, Wilson wanted income taxes on the wealthiest Americans to lower tariffs imposed through his Republican predecessors – including one of Trump’s favorites, William McKinley.
Wilson urged the U.S. to “build up trade” while trusting “the whetting of American wits by contest with the wits of the rest of the world.”
In 1917, Wilson asked Congress in-person to declare war on Germany. Trump is considering military action against Iran and has taken action in Venezuelan — but not sought congressional approval for either.
Trump owes his State of the Union platform to a Democratic predecessor
From the end of John Adams’ presidency in 1801 to the start of Woodrow Wilson’s in 1913, the State of the Union was a mere letter ferried down Pennsylvania Avenue.
Adams’ successor, Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, was considered a more comfortable writer than speaker and sought to avoid spectacles that he associated more with monarchy than a democratic republic.
So, to satisfy the Constitution’s requirement that the president “shall from time to time” apprise Congress on “the State of the Union,” the third president wrote to lawmakers instead of addressing them in person.
Thus began a century-plus tradition of written presidential read on Capitol Hill by congressional clerks.
Wilson bucked that tradition, viewing in-person speeches to Congress as a valuable presidential megaphone to shape public opinion and congressional action. Every president since has addressed joint sessions of Congress.
Trump will urge Democrats to fund the Department of Homeland Security
“He will call on Democrats in Congress to reopen the Department of Homeland Security,” Leavitt told reporters, blaming Democrats for the department’s shutdown and calling the situation “despicable.”
She said Federal Emergency Management Agency personnel are in the Northeast and working without pay as a result of the shutdown to help authorities restore power to hundreds of thousands of people after the blizzard.
DHS funding lapsed on Jan. 30 as Democrats demanded changes to federal immigration enforcement.
The shutdown is also affecting several agencies within the department, including the Coast Guard, Secret Service and Transportation Security Administration.
The White House and Democrats have been negotiating potential changes to ICE and other immigration enforcement agencies after federal agents fatally shot two protesters in Minnesota.
But the two sides appear to be at a stalemate after the White House rejected the latest offer from Democrats last week.
Kansas City Mayor says urban crime is dropping ‘in spite of Trump’
Democrats are attempting to get ahead of Trump’s anticipated celebration of lower crime rates during his State of the Union speech.
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said the drop is because of initiatives taken at the local level — not the aggressive steps from the White House.
“While mayors would welcome a federal partner who works with them, and not against them, the Trump Administration has done nothing to help,” Lucas said in a statement. “In fact, it has actively made our cities less safe.”
Lucas, who leads the Democratic Mayors Association, said the administration has “recklessly attacked our cities, undermining them at every turn.”
Trump will be face-to-face with the Supreme Court he trashed
The president blasted the three Republican-appointed Supreme Court justices who sided against his tariffs.
He’ll almost certainly have them sitting in front of him Tuesday night. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett are regular attendees at the State of the Union.
When reporters asked Trump about his appointees, Gorsuch and Barrett, he declared their tariff votes “an embarrassment to their families.”
Trump has been similarly personal on the debate stage during campaigns. But he has a history of avoiding conflict with rivals — real and perceived — when they’re in the room. He was especially chummy with New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani in the Oval Office after previously calling him a communist.
President Barack Obama notably criticized the court during a joint address after its Citizen United decision that expanded big money in politics. Roberts shook his head, visibly perturbed by Obama’s critique.
House Democratic leader invites Jackson family among SOTU guests
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries said House Democrats intend to carry on the legacy of the late Rev. Jesse Jackson.
The Brooklyn congressman also invited Vonetta Rougier, a bus operator and a caregiver for her family, from his district. He said she is “picking up extra shifts just to keep up with the skyrocketing price of housing, food and healthcare.”
He he is also welcoming Marina Lacerda, who is among the Epstein survivors attending as guests of the Democratic Women’s Caucus.