Trump’s State of the Union address

Our live coverage of President Trump’s State of the Union has ended, but if you want to read and see how the night unfolded, you can…

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi responded to Trump’s Tuesday night address in a statement, criticizing the President for threatening “the United States Congress not to exercise its constitutional responsibility of oversight.”

the statement continued: “President Trump must now take concrete steps to work with Democrats to strengthen the health and economic security of families across America.?After two years of the President’s empty words, the American people deserve real results.”

President Trump claimed tonight in his speech that ISIS controlled “more than 20,000 square miles in Iraq and Syria.”

“When I took office, ISIS controlled more than 20,000 square miles in Iraq and Syria. Just two years ago. Today, we have liberated virtually all of the territory from the grip of these bloodthirsty monsters.”?

Fact check: Trump is right about the amount of territory re-captured from ISIS during his time office.

At the end of 2016, ISIS controlled territory in Syria and Iraq was about 23,320 square miles, according to IHS Jane’s. On Tuesday, Gen. Joseph Votel, the commander of US Central Command, said the group is “down to about 20 square miles that they still control.”

Tonight, Trump pointedly chose not to repeat his false statement that ISIS has been defeated, a claim his own generals have contradicted. On Tuesday, Votel said the fight against the terror group is “not over.”

In his State of the Union Speech, President Trump claimed that had he “not been elected President of the United States, we would right now … be in a major war with North Korea.”

This is questionable.

Remember: The diplomatic thaw did not begin with Trump. It began in early 2018 when South Korean President Moon Jae-in welcomed North Korean athletes to the winter Olympics in PyeongChang in February. In April, Moon and Kim Jong Un held the first inter-Korean summit in more than a decade at the Korean demilitarized zone.?

Before that, Trump’s rhetoric had arguably raised tensions. His August 2017 threat to meet North Korea “with fire, fury and, frankly, power the likes of which the world has never seen before,” prompted Pyongyang, the next day, to threaten to strike the US territory of Guam with an “enveloping fire.”

Trump did break precedent by hastily agreeing to an historic summit in Singapore with Kim. The June 2018 talks led to a vaguely worded commitment to “complete denuclearization.” Talks between the US and North Korea have faltered due to both sides’ drastically different definitions of denuclearization, but Trump announced during the speech that he would meet for a second summit with Kim on February 27-28 in Vietnam.

Sen. Bernie Sanders disputed President Trump’s touting of economic boom times in America during his own live-streamed response to the State of the Union speech.

He also spelled out the costs of the government shutdown and placed the blame squarely on Trump’s insistence on funding for a border wall.

“No, President Trump, building a wall is not an emergency,” Sanders said. “What we need to do is not waste billions of dollars on a wall, but to finally address the need for comprehensive immigration reform, including a path to citizenship for millions of undocumented people.”

Sanders, who is expected to enter the Democratic presidential primary soon, had come under criticism of his own from some in the party who felt his decision to give the remarks, though he has done the same in past years, risked casting a shadow over Stacey Abrams’ speech. (Abrams delivered the Democratic response following Trump’s address.)

Earlier in the day, Symone Sanders, a national press secretary for the Vermont senator during his 2016 presidential campaign and now a CNN contributor, said she would have advised him not to give the talk.

“If Sen. Sanders is somebody that’s thinking about throwing his name in the ring for president, and he knows he has an issue with people saying that they don’t think he supports and uplifts the voices of black women, of people of color, do not step on Stacey Abrams,” she said. “Do not give more fodder to the people that are already going to be critical of you in the first place.

In his State of the Union speech, President Trump said the southern border is “lawless,” while making the case for sending an additional 3,750 troops to the border.

“The lawless state of our southern border is a threat to the safety, security and financial well-being of all Americans,” Trump said.

Here’s what we know about the nature of crime around the border region as well as security there:

One thing to note: Studies and officials have also found that the US side of the border is relatively safe compared to other US cities.

“Violent crime rates have remained the same or dropped in many border cities” in the last five years prior to 2016, for which data is available, found an analysis by the?Texas Tribune.

For example, “border communities like Laredo, El Paso, Edinburg and Brownsville all saw fewer than 400 crimes for every 100,000 residents,”?according to the 2016 report.

“You’ve got to understand, we’re a border city so we have a lot of local law enforcement,” said Ponce Trevi?o, Webb County Jail commander, told the Tribune.

Former Customs and Border Patrol Commissioner David Aguilar said in 2015 that “border communities are safer than the interior locations of each of the border states. Violent crime is lesser along the border than it is in the interior,” reported the?Huffington Post.

Stacey Abrams, a rising star in the Democratic Party, delivered its response to the State of the Union from southwest Atlanta.

The former Democratic gubernatorial candidate, who donned a white brooch as a hat tip to the suffragettes, set a personal tone, starting off what might be considered her biggest spotlight moment to date, talking about her childhood, saying that her family “went back and forth between lower middle class and working poor.

Yet, even when they came home weary and bone-tired, my parents found a way to show us all who we could be.” She added that “faith, service, education and responsibility” were their family values.

Recalling distributing meals to furloughed federal workers during the recent shutdown, Abrams said that making Federal Workers’ “livelihoods a pawn for political games is a disgrace. The shutdown was a stunt engineered by the President of the United States, one that defied every tenet of fairness and abandoned not just our people - but our values.”

Regarding the immigration debate, Abrams said “we know bipartisanship could craft a 21st century immigration plan, but this administration chooses to cage children and tear families apart. Compassionate treatment at the border is not the same as open borders.” Adding “America is made stronger by the presence of immigrants – not walls.”

Abrams, who’s own race was mired in controversy over voter irregularities, said there is much this country can do, “But none of these ambitions are possible without the bedrock guarantee of our right to vote.”

Abrams continued, “in this time of division and crisis, we must come together and stand for, and with, one another. America has stumbled time and again on its quest towards justice and equality; but with each generation, we have revisited our fundamental truths, and where we falter, we make amends.”??

As she wrapped up her remarks, Abrams said “even as I am very disappointed by the president’s approach to our problems – I still don’t want him to fail. But we need him to tell the truth, and to respect his duties and the extraordinary diversity that defines America.”

Watch:

President Trump blasted the Senate for failing to confirm more than 300 nominees to executive branch positions.

Fact check: This is misleading. While it is true that confirmations for the Trump administration’s nominations lag behind the rate of confirmation for other American presidents, it is inaccurate to suggest that it is entirely the Republican controlled-Senate’s fault.

The Senate has not confirmed 274 of the 705 key executive branch positions tracked by the?Washington Post?and the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service. While Trump and Senate Republicans sharply criticize Democrats for slowing down the confirmation process, more than half of those positions — 144 to be exact — are open because the Trump administration has not yet nominated a candidate, according to their study. The jobs range from ambassadorships to important undersecretary roles to governorships at the Federal Reserve board.

Overall, Partnership’s analysis shows that 54% of Trump civilian executive branch nominations have been confirmed, much lower than the 77% of Obama nominees confirmed at the same point in his presidency.

Earlier tonight, President Trump referenced a newly passed law in New York that allows abortions after 24 weeks if the fetus is not viable or when necessary to protect the life of the mother.

The Reproductive Health Act also preserves access to abortions and removes abortion from the state’s criminal code, among other protections.

What Trump said:

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo responded with this:

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York retweeted a post saying the congresswoman was wearing a pin for 7-year-old Jakelin Caal, the child from Guatemala who died in the custody of US Customs and Border Protection last year.

Here’s the message Ocasio-Cortez retweeted:

Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Michigan, also posted on Instagram an image of the pin, with the caption “We are bringing Jakelin Caal into the room with us during the?#SOTU.”

President Trump made an inaccurate connection between El Paso’s previously high crime rates and the construction of a border wall during his speech tonight.

What he said:

What we know: The President’s statement, which has been repeated by public officials and the White House over the course of the last year, makes an inaccurate connection.?

According to an analysis of FBI crimes data and city law enforcement data?analyzed by the El Paso Times, violent crime in El Paso peaked in 1993. Border fence construction didn’t begin until 2008, and was completed in 2009.

But violent crime fell long before the wall was built in El Paso, with violent crime falling 34% between 1993 and 2006 in the city. And according to the El Paso Times, from 2006 to 2011, violent crime in El Paso actually increased by 17 percent.

President Trump brought up US expenditures for conflicts “in Afghanistan and Iraq,” and claimed, “We have spent more than $7 trillion dollars in the Middle East.”

Fact check: This is false – never mind that Afghanistan isn’t in the Middle East.

And it’s not the first time Trump has floated this claim about spending on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The non-partisan Congressional Research Service?said?that between 2001 and 2014, the operational costs for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were $1.6 trillion.

A CNN?analysis?found that in order to get to $7 trillion, you have to add future spending, most of which is for veterans over the next 35 years.

Member's of Trump's Cabinet

Following Trump’s State of the Union address, members of his administration were quick to applaud the President for his remarks through statements.

Here’s a look at how some of his Cabinet responded:

In his address tonight, President Trump claimed he would support the “largest numbers ever” of immigrants — but only if they came here legally.

Fact check: This is at odds with what’s been the administration’s stance on legal immigration. Trump has both sought to cut legal immigration and has made it more difficult for asylum seekers.?

Administration officials have?signaled?a desire to curtail a number of aspects of the legal immigration system, from family-based immigration to the diversity visa lottery.

While major overhauls of legal immigration policies would require Congress to pass legislation, immigrant rights advocates say there are signs the Trump administration is already reshaping the system in more subtle ways, making it more difficult to obtain certain visas. The Trump administration has also?slashed?the number of refugees the US has taken in.?

Last week, the administration also began implementing the so-called Migrant Protection Protocols, which allows for the administration to?return?some migrants seeking asylum in the United States to Mexico to await their immigration court hearing.

As of last week, more than a dozen migrants had been returned to Mexico under the Trump administration’s new asylum policy since execution of the program began, according to senior DHS officials.

CNN’s Van Jones fired back at fellow contributor Rick Santorum’s analysis of President Trump’s second State of the Union address Tuesday night, saying the speech was a mix of “cookies and dog poop.”

“I saw this as a psychotically incoherent speech with cookies and dog poop,” said Jones, moments after the speech had concluded.

Jones made his point in response to Santorum’s argument that Trump had put forth concrete proposals that represented outreach to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Democrats, and that it lacked red meat for his conservative base.

Trump offered “a couple [of proposals] for the base, a couple for the other side and ‘this is what I want to do,’” said the former Republican senator.

Watch:

Rep. Ann Wagner (R-MO)

Rep. Ann Wagner confirmed to CNN after the State of the Union that she was the member to shout in approval when Trump discussed paid family leave.

“That was me!” the Missouri Republican said.

What happened: After President Trump mentioned his administration’s work on a nationwide family leave plan, someone in the audience shouted, “Yes!”

“I am also proud to be the first?president to include in my?budget a plan for nationwide?paid?family?leave?so that every?new parent has the chance to?bond with their newborn child,” Trump said.

Watch:

President Trump, speaking to the full chamber, touted his administration’s economic gains since he took office.

“In just over two years since the election, we have launched an unprecedented economic boom – a?boom that has rarely been seen before,” he said.

Fact check: Trump can claim some credit for the acceleration of the economy on his watch, but not most of it.

He inherited a labor market in the later stages of a long recovery from the Great Recession, with fairly consistent job creation. Growth in monthly payrolls reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics?averaged 217,000 jobs under President Obama’s second term, and under Trump it has averaged 203,000, pushing the overall unemployment rate to the lowest level since 1969 and unprecedented levels for people of color.

The economy has added 4.87 million jobs since Trump took office, not 5.3 million, the number he cited.?

Wage growth has picked up since late 2017?especially for rank and file workers, but not to the above 3.5% rates seen in the late 1990s and mid-2000s. Some of the pace of the increase had to do with states and cities raising their minimum wages, which the President had no hand in.

Indeed, the economy grew at a rate of 4.2% in the second quarter of 2018, fueled in part by the surge in government defense spending, as well as a large corporate tax cut that temporarily goosed business investment. By the?third quarter of 2018, growth slowed to a rate of 3.4%.

A key point to remember: Economists forecast a further deceleration through 2019, as the effects of the fiscal stimulus wear off and as businesses and consumers confront higher interest rates.

Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams is giving the Democratic rebuttal to Trump’s State of the Union.

“Tonight, we are coming for America, for a better America,” she said.

She recounted a story from her childhood, echoing that language.

About the venue: Abrams is delivering her remarks from the IBEW Local 613 union hall in southwest Atlanta. This was the first local endorser of her 2018 campaign for Governor of Georgia. She has always had strong ties with labor.?

Several members of IBEW Local 613 were in the audience.

Watch:

Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams is now giving the Democratic response to President Trump’s State of the Union address.

Abrams, who is seen as a rising star in the Democratic party, has already released excerpts of her speech.

In her speech, she blasts Trump for the shutdown, saying it was “engineered by the President of the United States, one that defied every tenet of fairness and abandoned not just our people — but our values.”

We’ll bring you highlights from her speech momentarily.

President Trump just wrapped up his State of the Union speech.

Trump spoke for 82 minutes in the House chambers in front of Democratic and Republican lawmakers and their guests.

Trump made some major announcements, including a second summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, during his speech. He also called for bipartisanship and unity.

Read Trump’s entire speech here.

Watching Trump’s speech and notice House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was holding a stack of papers?

Her spokesman Drew Hammill confirmed that she’s looking at a copy of President Trump’s speech whenever she’s looking at the papers in front of her.

The President handed her a copy at the beginning of the speech.???

Lawmakers inside the US Capitol for Trump’s State of the Union erupted into song to wish a Holocaust survivor who also escaped Pittsburgh synagogue shooting a happy birthday.

As President Trump introduced Judah Samet, he mentioned it was his 81st birthday today.

“Tonight, we are also joined by?Pittsburgh survivor Judah Samet.?He arrived at the synagogue as?the massacre began, but not only?did Judah narrowly escape death?last fall, more than seven?decades ago, he narrowly?survived the Nazi concentration?camps.?Today is Judah’s 81st birthday,” Trump said.

The room the started singing “Happy Birthday.”

“They wouldn’t do that for me,?Judah,” Trump joked.

Watch:

Timothy Matson is a survivor of the anti-Semitic Tree of Life Synagogue massacre in Pittsburgh that left 11 dead last October.

Matson, a member of the Pittsburgh police department’s SWAT team, was a first responder that day.

“He suffered multiple gunshot wounds and saved countless lives in that heinous, anti-Semitic attack,” according to the White House.

Trump thanked Matson during his speech:

Watch:

President Trump talked up his efforts to accelerate the end of the US’s troop presence in Syria and Afghanistan.

Trump also touted the peace talks in Afghanistan to end the US’s longest-running war, saying he has “accelerated” negotiations to reach a political settlement.

“Our troops have fought with unmatched valor – and thanks to their bravery, we are now able to pursue a political solution to this long and bloody conflict,” Trump said.

Pointing to the conflict spanning nearly two decades, Trump said the US must at least try to reach a peace?settlement.

“It’s time,” he said.

Watch:

President Trump just officially announced his second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. It’s scheduled for Feb. 27 and 28.

“If I had not been elected?president of the United States,?we would right now, in my?opinion, be in a major war with?North Korea,” Trump said. “Much work remains to be done,?but my relationship with Kim?Jong Un is a good one.?Chairman Kim and I will meet?again on February 27th and 28th?in Vietnam.”

What we know about the summit: A source familiar with the?summit’s planning said which city it will be held in is still under discussion, but it could end up being Hanoi or Da Nang.

State Department Special Representative to North Korea, Steve Biegun, is heading to Pyongyang tomorrow to solidify some details of the?summit, including the city. He will also press for the North Korean counterpart to attend a series of working level meetings between now and the?summit.?

Watch:

In his State of the Union address tonight, President Trump claimed that, “Year after year, countless Americans are murdered by criminal illegal aliens.”

Trump has repeatedly cited crimes committed by undocumented immigrants—both during his presidential campaign and during his tenure in office. This is the second time he’s invited family members of victims to the State of the Union.?

Fact check: The Bureau of Justice does not include citizenship in its?breakdown?of national arrest statistics, so there is no reliable federal data to quantify the number of crimes committed by undocumented immigrants.

Here’s what the statistics do show on immigration and crime:

President Trump made a point to address a controversial piece of legislation in Virginia, which would loosen restrictions on late-term abortions – a measure that embattled Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam supported.

Trump said he would ask Congress to pass legislation banning this type of procedure:

Last week, Northam’s office responded to backlash he had received for his comments voicing support for the legislation.

“No woman seeks a third trimester abortion except in the case of tragic or difficult circumstances, such as a nonviable pregnancy or in the event of severe fetal abnormalities, and the governor’s comments were limited to the actions physicians would take in the event that a woman in those circumstances went into labor,” Ofirah Yheskel, Northam’s spokesperson, wrote in a statement, CNN reported at the time.

Watch:

President Trump just introduced his youngest guest: 10-year-old Grace Eline.

About Grace: At 9 years old, Eline was diagnosed with germinoma, a type of brain cancer.

“Grace recently finished chemotherapy and today shows no evidence of the disease. She is determined to help other children who are fighting cancer,” said the White House.

Watch:

President Trump made two key bipartisan policy pitches in his address, urging a divided Congress to work with him to pass legislation improving US infrastructure and addressing the high cost of prescription drugs.

On passing infrastructure legislation, the President said: “This is not an option. This is a necessity.”

And when he turned to health care — “the next major priority for me” — he prompted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to quickly rise to her feet with calls for protecting “patients with pre-existing conditions.”

The President said he wants to work with Congress on legislation to lower healthcare costs and prescription drug pricing.

“We must do more. It’s unacceptable that Americans pay vastly more than people in other countries for the exact same drugs, often made in the exact same place,” Trump said. “This is wrong, this is unfair?and together we will stop it and we’ll stop it fast.”

Watch:

President Trump, during his State of the Union address tonight, made his argument against illegal immigration, claiming that “1 in 3 women is sexually assaulted on the long journey north.”

Fact check: Indeed, the trek to the US-Mexico border has been reported to be violent. According to data from?Doctors Without Borders, 68.3% of migrants and refugees “entering Mexico reported being victims of violence during their transit toward the United States,” and nearly one-third of women said they’d been sexually abused.?

But this needs some perspective. This?very violence is why women choose to travel in caravans, to achieve safety in numbers. Trump has offered no specifics about how his policies would address the scourge of sexual violence faced by migrants.

The administration has argued in the past that by building the wall, migrants will be deterred from making the journey.

Dressed in all white, a group of Democratic women just stood to cheer during President Trump’s State of the Union — and even Trump was surprised.

Trump was discussing women in the workforce when the moment happened.

“No one has benefited more from?a thriving economy than?women?who have filled 58% of the newly?created jobs last year,” Trump said.

Many lawmakers in the room, including some Democratic women, stood to cheer.

“You weren’t supposed to do?that,” Trump joked.?“Thank you very much.?Thank you very much.?All Americans can be proud that?we have more?women?in the?workforce than ever before.”

Then, Trump urged the women to keep standing.

“Don’t sit yet.?You’re going to like this.?And exactly one century after?Congress passed the?constitutional amendment giving?women?the right to vote, we also?have more?women?serving in?congress than at any time,” he said.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi stood up after that line, and gestured for others in the room to do the same.

Watch:

Trump reiterated his promise of a wall on the southern border, saying, “I will get it built.”

Democrats and Republicans failed to come up with a long-term agreement regarding Trump’s demand for border wall funding, which resulted in the longest government shutdown in US history.

“My administration has sent to?congress a common-sense proposal?to end the crisis on the?southern border.?It includes humanitarian?assistance, more law?enforcement, drug detection at?our ports, closing loopholes?that enable child smuggling, and?plans for a new physical barrier?or wall to secure the vast areas?between our ports of entry,” Trump said.

Watch:

In his speech tonight, President Trump urged Congress to pass legislation to confront what he called “an urgent national crisis” at the US southern border.

Remarking on the 10 days that remain before funding lapses once again, Trump said Congress must “fund our government, protect our homeland and secure our southern border.”

Trump also once again called attention to the latest caravan of migrants making its way toward the United States and accused Mexican cities without evidence of bussing?undocumented immigrants to the US southern border.

Trump drew hoots of disapproval?from Democrats when he called attention to the caravans and touted his deployment of additional troops to the southern border.

Trump argued border security is a “moral issue.”

“The lawless state of our southern border is a threat to the safety, security and financial well being of all America,” he said.

Watch:

President Trump just highlighted the story of Alice Johnson, one of his 13 guests at tonight’s address.

Johnson, a first-time nonviolent drug offender, had her sentence commuted by Trump last June following his Oval Office meeting with Kim Kardashian West.

More about Johnson: She had served 21 years of a life sentence after she was convicted on charges of conspiracy to possess cocaine and attempted possession of cocaine, according to the nonprofit organization Can-Do, which advocates for clemency for nonviolent drug offenders.

“Alice, thank you for reminding us that we always have the power to shape our own destiny,” Trump said.

Watch:

In his address, President Trump slammed “ridiculous partisan investigations” and called for an end to “war and investigation.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who is seated directly behind Trump and next to Vice President Mike Pence, appeared to shake her head at Trump’s mention of investigations.

The Trump administration has been hampered with several investigations, including multiple probes into the 2016 election, and there is an expectation that more oversight investigations will arise now that Democrats hold the majority in the House.

Here’s what Trump said:

Watch the moment here:

President Trump, speaking in the House chamber tonight, claimed that “We have unleashed a revolution in American Energy – the United States is now the No. 1 producer of oil and natural gas in the world.”

Fact-check: This is true, but needs context.??

What you need to know: The US became the world’s largest crude oil producer in August 2018, when it surpassed Russia for the first time since 1999 in terms of total daily crude production, according to the US Energy Information Administration.?Earlier in the year, the US surpassed Saudi Arabia’s crude oil production for the first time since 1973.?It has been the largest producer of natural gas since 2011.?

The rise in US oil and gas production is due in large part to advances in fracking technology that allowed drillers to access reserves socked away in shale formations buried deep underground. Production dipped in 2015 and 2016 as a result of overproduction and a collapse in oil prices, but recovered quickly once supply stabilized and prices increased, just as Trump was coming into office.

The Trump administration often touts its moves to relax Obama-era rules on oil and gas production, such as one restricting the flaring of methane from fracking sites. He has also opened public lands to more drilling.?It’s unclear though, given the decade of increased energy production in the US, how much of an impact any of those moves have had.

President Trump, in blunt terms, just laid out the state of the union.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, sitting right behind Trump, did not stand to clap. Some Republicans in the House stood and chanted “USA.”

“That sounds so good,” Trump said. “Our country is vibrant, and our?economy is thriving like never?before.”

Watch:

President Trump struck a bipartisan tone at the beginning of his State of the Union address.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Mike Pence both stood to clap after that line.

“Together, we can break decades of political stalemate,” he added.

Watch the moment below:

Trump acknowledged Buzz Aldrin, who was in attendance on Tuesday night, thanking the Apollo 11 astronaut before saying “this year, American astronauts?will go back to space on?American rockets.”

He continued: “Thank you, Buzz.?This year, American astronauts?will go back to space on?American rockets.”

Watch:

President Trump kicked off his State of the Union address with a call for bipartisanship.

“As we begin a new Congress, I stand here ready to work with you to achieve historic breakthroughs for all Americans. Millions of our fellow citizens are watching us now, gathered in this great chamber, hoping that we will govern not as two parties but as one nation. The agenda I will lay out this evening is not a Republican agenda or a Democrat agenda. It is the agenda of the American People,” he said.

Trump called for collaboration on jobs, trade, infrastructure, healthcare, immigration, and foreign policy.

“Victory is not winning for our party. Victory is winning for our country,” Trump said.

Many of the Democratic lawmakers dressed in white stood to applaud, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

See the moment here:

President Trump arrived at the US Capitol. He shook Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s hand before starting his remarks.

See President Trump enter House chamber below:

First Lady Melania Trump, wearing a black suit, just arrived at the US Capitol for the President’s State of the Union address.

Last year, she wore a white pantsuit. Wearing white has become common among female politicians who want to make a statement — in 2017, Democratic women wore white to represent women’s suffrage.

“A lot of people saw the white pantsuit she wore last year as a quite signal. You look at all the Democratic women here again and we wondered what she was thinking wearing white,” CNN’s Kate Bennett explained.

The President’s daughter, Tiffany, is dressed in white tonight.

See the first lady’s arrival:

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Elena Kagan, Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch have arrived at the House Chamber for tonight’s State of the Union address.

Here’s who’s not attending tonight: Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, as expected.

Ginsburg, who last night made her first public appearance since her December cancer surgery, did not attend President Trump’s previous State of the Union address.

Watch Supreme Court justices arrive below:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California, just shook hands with Vice President Mike Pence as lawmakers await President Trump inside the House Chamber.

This is Pelosi’s first State of the Union speech as House speaker with Trump in office, after winning the speakership race in last month.

See the handshake here:

Secretary of energy Rick Perry is this year’s designated survivor.

What this means: Every year the administration appoints one member of the Cabinet to remain outside the House chamber during the State of the Union in case disaster strikes.

Perry, former governor of Texas, became the secretary of energy in March 2017.

?A veteran of the United States Air Force, Perry ran for president twice, in the 2012 and 2016 Republican primaries. He appeared as a contestant on “Dancing With the Stars” in the fall of 2016. Trump nominated his former rival for the Energy Department post in December 2016.

President Trump just got in a car at the White House and he’s heading to the US Capitol for his second State of the Union address.

First Lady Melania Trump is arriving separately for the second year in a row.

See the moment below:

President Trump will announce that a second summit between North Korea and the US will take place in Vietnam on Feb. 27 and 28, according to a source familiar with the summit’s planning and Trump’s remarks tonight.

The city in Vietnam is still under discussion, and the summit could end up being Hanoi or Da Nang.

Steve Biegun, a State Department special representative to North Korea, is heading to Pyongyang tomorrow to solidify some details of the summit including the city where it will take place. He will also press North Korea to attend a series of working level meetings between now and the summit.??

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told her followers on Twitter earlier today that they should watch “none” of President Trump’s State of the Union address.

Asked by CNN’s Dana Bash if there was anything the President could say tonight that would make her think she work with him, or see any common ground, Ocasio-Cortez cited criminal justice reform and infrastructure as two areas she might be open to.

But she’s not holding her breath.

“I don’t expect him to change too much of his tune, I expect him to dress it up,” she said. “I’m open if he wants to change his platform.”

Watch Ocasio-Cortez’s response below:

Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan and General Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will be attending the State of the Union tonight, according to multiple defense officials.

Typically, the chiefs of the branches attend if their schedules permit, including the commandant of the Coast Guard and commanding general of the National Guard.?

General Paul Selva, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will not be attending President Trump’s address tonight, as he is designated to stay behind for continuity of military command, according to two US defense officials.

Guidance from a military official is the same as previous years. It is…?

President Trump will preview the administration’s women’s empowerment initiative — which is spearheaded by his daughter Ivanka Trump — in his State of the Union address tonight, according to a source close to the President’s daughter.?

It’s something Ivanka has been working on for the past two years, and aligns with her other initiatives that she launched while working in the administration, such as the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative with the World Bank, and others.

Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris issued a prebuttal to President Trump before his State of the Union address this evening, asking supporters to recommit themselves to fighting for “an optimistic America.”?

The California senator criticized Trump’s policy agenda, his recent shutdown of the government and his treatment of immigrants. She accused him of rewriting the rules to help big corporations and powerful interests.

Alluding to Trump’s speech last year, Harris said his calls for unity have thus far been hollow. This evening, she said during a Facebook Live, “is a moment for the President to rise above politics.”

“Let’s fight for an America where the economy works for working people, an America where healthcare and education are fundamental rights, not a privilege for the wealthy few,” she added.

In an echo of her stump speech on the campaign trail, the Democratic senator also encouraged the nation’s leaders to “speak truth” about “the threat of climate change, about our broken criminal justice system, about our weakened position in the world and about the realities of racism, sexism,?anti-Semitism, homophobia and transphobia.”

Harris invited Trisha Pesiri-Dybvik as her guest at the State of the Union. Pesiri-Dybvik lost her home in one of California’s recent wildfires and was furloughed during the shutdown.

An earlier image of Kamala Harris was removed because AFP, the agency that shot and edited the photo, has advised that it did not meet its quality standards.

Vice President Mike Pence and acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney briefed surrogates Monday evening at the White House ahead of President Trump’s speech.

About 20 key supporters were briefed by the President, Pence, Mulvaney and counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway, according another source in the room.

Mulvaney told the group the address would be about 50% foreign policy.

Here’s what else Trump will talk about:

Trump, who spoke during the meeting, was “in a good mood, very upbeat,” and thanked the surrogates for their continued support.

Excerpts from President Trump’s State of the Union address were just released.

Trump in his speech calls for end of what he describes as a “political stalemate.”

Read some more excerpts from his address below:

President Trump is expected to spend 40% to 50% of his speech?tonight covering national security topics, according to a Trump adviser who attended a meeting with his surrogates ahead of the State of the Union.

Trump is expected to address the crisis in Venezuela and will likely deliver a stern warning to Nicolás Maduro. The adviser noted Trump has already assembled a “coalition of the willing” on Venezuela. Though the adviser did not say whether Trump will threaten military action.

Trump is also expected to appeal for bipartisanship in his address. But he will also complain that Democrats have yet to join him at the bargaining table in a real way.?

Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams is delivering the Democratic response after President Trump’s State of the Union address.

Abrams, who has been talked about as a rising star in the Democratic Party, released excerpts of her speech tonight, which will air after Trump’s address.

In her speech, she blasts Trump for the shutdown, saying it was “engineered by the President of the United States, one that defied every tenet of fairness and abandoned not just our people — but our values.”

Read some of the excerpts from her speech below:?

“Our power and strength as Americans lives in our hard work and our belief in more.

My family understood firsthand that while success is not guaranteed, we live in a nation where opportunity is possible.

But we do not succeed alone – in these United States, when times are tough, we can persevere because our friends and neighbors will come for us.

***

Just a few weeks ago, I joined volunteers to distribute meals to furloughed federal workers. They waited in line for a box of food and a sliver of hope since they hadn’t received a paycheck in weeks.

Making their livelihoods a pawn for political games is a disgrace.

The shutdown was a stunt engineered by the President of the United States, one that defied every tenet of fairness and abandoned not just our people - but our values.?

?***

For seven years, I led the Democratic Party in the Georgia House of Representatives. I didn’t always agree with the Republican Speaker or Governor, but I understood that our constituents didn’t care about our political parties – they cared about their lives.

So, when we had to negotiate criminal justice reform or transportation or foster care improvements, the leaders of our state didn’t shut down – we came together. And we kept our word.

It should be no different in our nation’s capital.

We may come from different sides of the political aisle; but, our joint commitment to the ideals of this nation cannot be negotiable.

***

In Georgia and around the country, people are striving for a middle class where a salary truly equals economic security.

But instead, families’ hopes are being crushed by Republican leadership that ignores real life or just doesn’t understand it.

***

This is the next battle for our democracy, one where all eligible citizens can have their say about the vision we want for our country.

We must reject the cynicism that says allowing every eligible vote to be cast and counted is a “power grab.”

Americans understand that these are the values our brave men and women in uniform and our veterans risk their lives to defend.

The foundation of our moral leadership around the globe is free and fair elections, where voters pick their leaders – not where politicians pick their voters.”

First lady Melania Trump said she and her husband are “honored to welcome our inspiring guests” to the US Capitol for the President’s State of the Union speech.

The Trumps invited 13 guests to this year’s address. They represent “the very best of America,” the White House said.

The guests include Alice Marie Johnson, a first-time nonviolent drug offender whose sentence was commuted by the President last June following his Oval Office meeting about Johnson with Kim Kardashian West.?

Here’s the first lady’s message:

Several members of Congress have selected guests primed for politics for an evening in the shadow of the recent and possibly looming government shutdowns.

Each member of Congress may bring a guest to the address, and many representatives choose guests who highlight key policy issues or stances that they support.

Here’s who different members of Congress will bring as their guests to the State of the Union:

Senate

House of Representatives

Keep reading.

Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch (L) talks with Chief Justice John Roberts (R) on the steps of the Supreme Court on June 15, 2017 in Washington, DC.

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Elena Kagan, Brett Kavanaugh, and Neil Gorsuch are all expected to attend the State of the Union address tonight, according to a Supreme Court spokesperson.

Here’s who’s not attending tonight: Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, Samuel Alito, and Clarence Thomas are not expected to be there.

Ginsburg, who last night made her first public appearance since her December cancer surgery, did not attend President Trump’s previous State of the Union address.

President Trump’s tone in his State of the Union speech will be incompatible with the President’s normal combative rhetoric, a senior administration official told reporters on Friday.

“Well the State of the Union is unlike other occasions in the year. And one tries to, in that occasion, when you have 60 — 60 to 70 unfiltered minutes to the American public you get a chance to explain your whole agenda,” the official said.

With that in mind, Trump will say, according to an excerpt: “Together, we can break decades of political stalemate, we can bridge old divisions, heal old wounds, build new coalitions, forge new solutions, and unlock the extraordinary promise of America’s future.”

The speech will address issues of concern to all Americans, like the cost of prescription drugs, infrastructure and national security — a section that is likely to include mention of the rising US role in Venezuela’s political meltdown.

The speech is also likely to contain material that will overshadow any conciliatory moves by the President.

Judging by his own teases over the last few days, he has?no plan to steer clear of his demand?for funding for his border wall as a deadline looms 12 days away that threatens to close down the government again.

The document below was given out to people who attended a State of the Union surrogate meeting on Monday.

According to the document, the theme of President Trump’s address will be “Choosing Greatness.”

Read the document:

First lady Melania Trump will be departing the White House solo for the second year in a row.

She’ll be leaving 40 minutes ahead of her husband for his State of the Union address.?

She’s breaking tradition: Last year, the first lady disrupted the longstanding tradition of the first couple exiting the White House together and both getting into “The Beast,” the armored limousine of the President, for the brief drive to the Capitol.??

Instead, the first lady made a previously publicly unannounced decision to take an entirely separate motorcade to the State of the Union.

This year’s State of the Union follows the longest government shutdown in US history — so there’s a lot of things you may want to pay attention to.

Here’s what to watch for tonight:

Watch more:

Hours ahead of his State of the Union address, President Trump tweeted that he is looking forward to the speech.

He included a picture of a headline from Drudge Report that states his approval rating is at 48%.

Note: Trump’s overall approval rating stands at 40% approve to 55% disapprove, according to the latest CNN poll.

Some House members were spotted on the floor a few hours before President Trump’s speech, with some saving seats along the center aisle to get a good spot for the President’s arrival.

Republican Reps. Louie Gohmert, of Texas; Matt Gaetz, of Florida; and Billy Long, of Missouri were among those spotted hovering near or sitting in aisle seats. Gohmert, for example, has been sitting there for hours.?

Also spotted on the House floor was Democratic Rep. Jeff Van Drew, of New Jersey, and Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty, of Ohio.?

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and chef Jose Andres help distribute food to furloughed federal workers at the World Central Kitchen on Jan. 22.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has invited a bunch of guests to this year’s State of the Union address.

Among them is José Andrés, the renowned chef who recently?provided free meals?to furloughed workers during and after the partial government shutdown.

Andrés’ #ChefsForFeds campaign opened a kitchen and café near the White House to feed government employees who were not getting paid during the shutdown — and the movement?soon expanded?to 12 states and Puerto Rico.?

Here is who else she’s invited, according to a list provided by her office:

The House Democratic Women’s Working Group is inviting female members of both parties to wear white to the State of the Union address as a symbol of solidarity.

“Wearing suffragette white is a respectful message of solidarity with women across the country, and a declaration that we will not go back on our hard-earned rights,” Rep. Lois Frankel of Florida, the chair of the working group, told CNN.

Frankel pointed out there have never been as many Democratic women serving in Congress as there are today.

This won’t be the first time: In 2017, the?same group coordinated Democratic women wearing white?to Trump’s joint address to Congress. At the time, the women said they were wearing white not only in memory of the women’s suffrage movement but also to show Trump their support for a number of issues affecting women, including affordable health care, reproductive rights and equal pay.

Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams said Tuesday she has accepted an invitation to give the Democratic response to the State of the Union address.

Abrams has been talked about as a rising star in the Democratic Party. She gained a national following during her unsuccessful bid to become governor of Georgia last fall.

Abrams said last week that she is “honored” to give the Democratic response. Her spokesperson said Abrams would be the first black woman to give the Democratic response to the State of the Union.

An undocumented worker fired from President Trump’s New Jersey golf club will be in attendance at the State of the Union address tonight.

Victorina Morales, a Guatemalan native, worked for years at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, before describing herself as an undocumented worker to The?New York Times?in December. She was ultimately terminated from her job and currently faces deportation.

Morales was invited to Trump’s State of the Union address by Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, a Democrat from New Jersey, which the congresswoman’s office and Morales’ attorney confirmed separately to CNN.

The Washington Post?first reported the news of the invitation.

Watch more:

President Trump attended a meeting with surrogates ahead of tonight’s State of the Union address.

One of Trump’s advisers, who also?attended the meeting, said the President was so passionate about his desire for a barrier at the southern border, he even discussed the idea of painting the stretch of fencing?where it meets the Pacific Ocean in San Diego.?

Trump, according to the adviser, said he doesn’t like the way it?looks, noting there is some graffiti on that section of the border fencing.?Trump complained that a general informed him that painting that portion of the wall may not be possible as it could cause environmental harm.?

The source had said Trump didn’t like the graffiti that was showing up on that section of the wall.?

Trump and his son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, met with contractors at the White House to discuss building the border wall late last week, two sources with knowledge of the meeting told CNN. He also met with contractors on Monday, a day ahead of his State of the Union address, according to two people familiar with the meetings.

Some context: We’re not sure if Trump’s proposed border wall will come up during his speech tonight, but it was the key sticking point in the government shutdown that ultimately postponed this address.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi disinvited Trump from giving his speech on Jan. 29 because of the partial government shutdown, which went into effect when Trump and Democrats couldn’t agree on funding for a barrier on the border. While the shutdown ended on Jan. 25, the State of the Union was rescheduled for today.

The State of the Union address was postponed after President Trump and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi spent a week writing letters back and forth. Pelosi’s request to postpone the speech — and her eventual decision to disinvite Trump — came during the longest government shutdown in US history.

Here’s a brief recap of how it all went down: