The White House has released excerpts of President Donald Trump’s first State of the Union address, just hours before he will deliver it.
The president plans to say the following:
“This is our New American Moment. There has never been a better time to start living the American dream.”
“Tonight, I want to talk about what kind of future we are going to have, and what kind of nation we are going to be. All of us, together, as one team, one people, and one American family.”
“I am asking both parties to come together to give us the safe, fast, reliable, and modern infrastructure our economy needs and our people deserve.”
“Struggling communities, especially immigrant communities, will also be helped by immigration policies that focus on the best interests of American Workers and American Families.”
“So tonight I am extending an open hand to work with members of both parties, Democrats and Republicans, to protect our citizens, of every background, color, and creed.”
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue will be the “designated survivor” during tonight’s address, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed to NBC News.
Each year, one member of the the president’s cabinet is whisked away to an undisclosed location during the State of the Union in case a catastrophic event occurs at the Capitol. The tradition goes back at least to the Cold War.
The designated survivor is briefed on what would happen if tragedy strikes during the speech and prepares to take over duties as the acting commander-in-chief.
Expect at least seven responses, including the official Democratic Party rebuttal from Rep. Joe Kennedy, D-Mass.
Virginia Del. Elizabeth Guzman, a newly elected Democrat in the state, will give also an official response in Spanish. From there, it’s choose your own adventure. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., will broadcast his response on social media, and Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., will react on BET.
But wait, there’s more. Former Rep. Donna Edwards, D-Md., will give the official Working Families Party response via Facebook Live, while Jill Stein and Ajamu Baraka will deliver the Green Party’s response.
Another rejoinder, called “The People’s Response,” will air after the official Democratic response on NowThis News. The event will feature prominent progressive activists and celebrity cameos by Patton Oswalt, Sarah Silverman, and Deborah Messing.
Alex Seitz-Wald contributed reporting.
Rep. Paul Gosar’s tweets earlier Tuesday, requesting that U.S. Capitol Police arrest any “illegal aliens” attending President Donald Trump’s first State of the Union, prompted a Twitter spat with fellow Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake.
Flake, a frequent Trump critic who is working on a deal to protect DACA recipients, posted, “This is why we can’t have nice things…”
Gosar, an immigration hardliner who in his earlier posts also called for any undocumented immigrants attending the speech to be deported, hit back with a choice insult of his own. Flake announced in October that he wouldn’t run for re-election this year.
In an interview with NBC News, Flake countered again, saying that Gosar “implied that those with DACA status, the so-called DREAMers who would be here are not legally here. They are. They have legal status.”
The guest seat belonging to Rep. Tim Ryan for tonight’s address will be empty, as part of an effort by the Ohio Democrat to honor an immigrant named Amer Othman, as well as all others “wrongfully targeted for deportation.”
Earlier this month, Othman, an Ohio businessman who immigrated to the U.S. from his native Jordan more than 30 years ago, was arrested at his ICE check-in.
“President Trump must realize that when his words become public policy in places like Youngstown, families like Amer’s are ripped apart,” Ryan said in a statement.
“That is why my guest seat at the State of the Union will remain empty — in honor of Amer and all those people being heartlessly targeted by the Trump Administration,” Ryan said.
As we call up experts and prepare to fact check Donald Trump’s very first State of the Union, we looked back at the year in presidential falsehoods.
He might suggest undocumented immigrants commit more crimes (we checked in June and there’s no evidence of that) or claim that America is more dangerous than it really is (that’s a dangerous falsehood, law enforcement sources told us in February) as he has in other major addresses. Or perhaps he’ll talk about mining jobs like he did in July (we couldn’t find the 45,000 he took credit for creating), or question the number of intelligence agencies in the U.S. as he did in May.
White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney said President Donald Trump will deliver a “positive” and policy driven speech that is unlikely to address the controversies that have engulfed his administration.
“What I think you’re going to see tonight is, kind of, a quick look back at the successes the administration has had over the course of the year and analysis of where we are today and a look forward,” Mulvaney said on “Meet The Press Daily.”
Mulvaney said questions about special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation and the threat Russia could pose to the midterm elections are unrelated to the focus of the president’s first SOTU address.
The Dow Jones suffered a triple-digit drop on Tuesday — just hours before President Donald Trump was set to deliver his State of the Union address, a speech that many expect will tout the stock market’s highs and focus on the impact the administration has had on the economy.
Markets closed sharply lower Tuesday for a second straight day of dramatic losses, with health-related stocks tumbling after Amazon, Chase, and Berkshire Hathaway announced a joint health care initiative that was seen by many investors as a shot across the bow to the pharmaceutical industry.
It was the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s worst day since August and its first two-day losing streak in more than a month.
First Lady Melania Trump took to Twitter Tuesday afternoon to discuss her guests for her husband’s first State of the Union address — among them veterans who have battled ISIS, law enforcement officers on the front lines of the opioid crisis, and American workers who benefit from Trump’s tax cuts.
The first lady’s tweet comes amid reported tensions between her and the president that, according to The New York Times, arose following reports that Donald Trump’s personal lawyer had brokered a $130,000 payment to a porn actress to prevent her from publicly discussing an alleged sexual encounter purported to have occurred in 2006. Trump and Melania married in 2005.
Last week, the first lady skipped attending the World Economic Forum with the president, opting instead to visit the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington and to spend some time at the spa at Mar-a-Lago.