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State of the Union: Donald Trump to give his first address – live updates State of the Union: Donald Trump to give his first address – live updates
(35 minutes later)
They keep coming. Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner are in place. There’s senator Bernie Sanders walking in. Eric Trump and wife Lara are in place, as are Don Jr and Tiffany Trump.
Senator Bernie Sanders enters the room, smiling and shaking hands. Schumer appears to make a joke about offering him his seat.
At state of the union address at US Capitol. Mike Pence, Mitch McConnell, Chuck Schumer and others enter to applause and start shaking various hands.
Spotted in the back of the House chamber: John Delaney, whose first ads in Iowa go up on Sunday, talking to Iowa's lone Democrat Dave Loebsack
Video feeds of the House chamber (check the top of the blog) now have the luminaries filing in. There’s Mike Pence: white hair, red tie and a sparkle in his eye. He takes his post next to Paul Ryan, the House speaker, who will sit behind Trump on the rostrum.
Here come a bunch of Democratic senators: Booker, Wyden, Menendez, Flake – oh wait he’s a Republican.
In the room tonight for the Guardian are Washington bureau chief David Smith (@smithinamerica) and politics reporter Ben Jacobs (@bencjacobs).
In the blog you’ll find a full complement of supporting voices, with snap analysis, fact-checking, color commentary and more. Stay tuned!
The Guardian Mobile Innovation Lab is testing out an experimental format for coverage of the State of the Union – so if you like experiments... please join!
It’s tailored to you – you’ll only see new information on each visit, and it’s best viewed on phones. Android users with Chrome browsers can also sign up to get notified when there are key updates.
Check it out here.
Join Washington bureau chief David Smith and political reporter Sabrina Siddiqui for a live discussion on the Guardian US Facebook page (RSVP), Wednesday 31 January at 12.30pm ET.
They’ll share their thoughts on Trump’s State of the Union address and answer your questions about covering the Trump administration. Leave your questions via this form.
Our political reporter Sabrina Siddiqui flags excerpts from Rep Kennedy’s planned rebuttal:
Excerpts from Joe Kennedy’s Democratic response to Trump’s SOTU: "Bullies may land a punch. They might leave a mark. But they have never, not once, in the history of our United States, managed to match the strength and spirit of a people united in defense of their future."
In Democratic SOTU rebuttal, Rep. Joe Kennedy will say: "This administration isn’t just targeting the laws that protect us — they are targeting the very idea that we are all worthy of protection."
Dozens of Dreamers will attend the State of the Union despite a threat tweeted by a Republican congressman from Arizona to arrest “illegal aliens.”
Rep Paul Gosar on Tuesday called for the deportation of any undocumented immigrants attending tonight’s state of the union, placing him at odds with Donald Trump and fellow Republicans who have expressed a desire to protect immigrants who arrived in the United States as children but whose status may be in doubt.
Today, Congressman Paul Gosar contacted the U.S. Capitol Police, as well as Attorney General Jeff Sessions, asking they consider checking identification of all attending the State of the Union address and arresting any illegal aliens in attendance.
“Of all the places where the Rule of Law needs to be enforced, it should be in the hallowed halls of Congress,” Gosar said in a statement ahead of President Donald Trump’s speech. “Any illegal aliens attempting to go through security, under any pretext of invitation or otherwise, should be arrested and deported.”
The comments come as several Democrats and at least one Republican have invited Dreamers to attend the speech.
Gosar’s remarks drew swift condemnation. House minority leader Nancy Pelosi said Gosar was “outside the circle of decency”.
The Guardian was unable to identify any Dreamers who planned to attend as guests of lawmakers whose legal status had expired. Dreamers who are still protected under the DACA program would theoretically not be subject to deportation.
Read further:
Donald Trump will announce an executive order reserving the right to move new inmates to the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, according to multiple reports.
The prison has been heavily criticized for circumventing the constitution, hosting prisoner abuse, damaging US efforts to combat terrorism, violating basic human rights and costing a lot.
Calls for the closure of the prison were a perennial fixture of Barack Obama’s State of the Union addresses.
The last time a prisoner arrived at Guantanamo was in 2008, according to a New York Times tracker. About 780 people have been sent to the prison since 2002. More than 500 were released by president George W Bush. Forty-one remain.
Do you remember when...Do you remember when...
20132013
Thirsty MarcoThirsty Marco
HE WENT FOR THE WATER!!!!!!!!!HE WENT FOR THE WATER!!!!!!!!!
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Boehner disaster faceBoehner disaster face
20132013
MarsRover BobakMarsRover Bobak
SQUEEEEEEEEEEE @FLOTUS just hugged me! #SOTUSQUEEEEEEEEEEE @FLOTUS just hugged me! #SOTU
20142014
Rep Grimm threatens to throw reporter off balconyRep Grimm threatens to throw reporter off balcony
20152015
‘I know cause I won both of em’‘I know cause I won both of em’
20152015
RBG at restRBG at rest
There is no polite way to say this: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is being nudged awake by her colleaguesThere is no polite way to say this: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is being nudged awake by her colleagues
The excerpts of Trump’s speech don’t make mention of the Russia investigations...The excerpts of Trump’s speech don’t make mention of the Russia investigations...
Nixon on Watergate in State of the Union, 44 years ago tomorrow night: "I believe the time has come to bring that investigation and the other investigations of this matter to an end. One year of Watergate is enough!" pic.twitter.com/F6ndl2kA3nNixon on Watergate in State of the Union, 44 years ago tomorrow night: "I believe the time has come to bring that investigation and the other investigations of this matter to an end. One year of Watergate is enough!" pic.twitter.com/F6ndl2kA3n
It looks like Donald Trump’s speech has cribbed a line from ... Hillary Clinton.It looks like Donald Trump’s speech has cribbed a line from ... Hillary Clinton.
In this excerpts released earlier Trump hailed a “New American Moment”.In this excerpts released earlier Trump hailed a “New American Moment”.
It’s a snappy phrase. It’s also a phrase Clinton used in a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations in 2010, as Tommy Vietor – Barack Obama’s former National Security Council spokesman – has pointed out.It’s a snappy phrase. It’s also a phrase Clinton used in a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations in 2010, as Tommy Vietor – Barack Obama’s former National Security Council spokesman – has pointed out.
I thought Trump's "New American Moment" SOTU line sounded familiar. Sure enough, here it is in a 2010 speech by @HillaryClinton https://t.co/Ea9xdumzht pic.twitter.com/Smv6PZEifnI thought Trump's "New American Moment" SOTU line sounded familiar. Sure enough, here it is in a 2010 speech by @HillaryClinton https://t.co/Ea9xdumzht pic.twitter.com/Smv6PZEifn
As you might recall, Melania Trump cribbed some of Michelle Obama’s speech at the Republican national convention in 2016.As you might recall, Melania Trump cribbed some of Michelle Obama’s speech at the Republican national convention in 2016.
Members of the Democratic Women’s Working Group in the House plan to wear black tonight, following the lead of entertainers at this year’s Golden Globe awards. The gesture is in support of the #MeToo movement and in protest of the president, who has been accused of sexual misconduct by at least 20 women:
Robin Bell, the projection artist whose previous work includes an installation on Trump’s Washington hotel reading “Pay Trump bribes here,” has a new projection tonight at the scene of the speech:
The State of Resistance is Strong #resist #sotu https://t.co/9SqXhrPVf1
If Trump’s Twitter feed is anything to go by, he will no doubt boast about his tremendous record with the US stock markets.
Dow just crashes through 25,000. Congrats! Big cuts in unnecessary regulations continuing.
The extent to which presidents control the stock markets is highly debatable but there is no arguing with the fact that US markets have hit a series of record highs since he took office.
When Obama left the White House, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the stock market bellwether, stood at around 19,700 and now it’s over a record-breaking 26,000. Hefty gains and driven, so Trump will argue, by a new era of business confidence thanks to his tax cuts and red tape slashing.
But take a longer look and you’ll see his achievements - so far - pale into insignificance compared to Barack Obama’s. When Obama took office, during the worst recession in living memory, the Dow stood at a little under 8,000, meaning it more than doubled under his presidency. That’s a record Trump will find hard to beat.
Ominously the Dow dropped 362 points today - it’s worst day fall since May. Trump has yet to mention that on Twitter.
At least eight Democrats are boycotting tonight’s event: Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, Pramila Jayapal of Washington, John Lewis of Georgia, Frederica Wilson of Florida, Gregory Meeks of New York, Maxine Waters of California and Bobby Rush and Jan Schakowsky of Illinois.
The supreme court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will also be missing. And so will some of you out there...
Godspeed to all of you watching the #sotu - I don’t have the stomach for it
A live blog of the speech may be a strange place to ask whether anyone’s not going to watch – presumably if you’re following along here, you’ll tune in for the main event (or you are looking forward to it?!) – but anyone out there prefer not to?
Be advised that we’ll have a video stream on the blog when the speech starts, and it will be on every TV news channel, so if you do hope to avoid it, you should probably rev up Netflix or whatnot...
Bon appetit.
Pre-#SOTU fam dinner — @IvankaTrump, Jared Kushner, @TiffanyATrump, @EricTrump, @LaraLeaTrump, Arabella, and Theodore pic.twitter.com/mSRdSh5EAE
After the State of the Union, the actress Stephanie Clifford who performs as Stormy Daniels will appear on the late night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live!, where she is certain to face questions about an alleged liaison with Donald Trump.
On Tuesday afternoon, Daniels issued a new denial of allegations that she had an affair with Trump in 2006.
“Over the past few weeks I have been asked countless times to comment on reports of an alleged sexual relationship I had with Donald Trump many, many, many years ago,” Daniels said in a statement.
“The fact of the matter is that each party to this alleged affair denied its existence in 2006, 2011, 2016, 2017 and now again in 2018. I am not denying the affair because I was paid ‘hush money’ as has been reported in overseas owned tabloids. I am denying this affair because it never happened.”
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that a Trump Organization attorney, Michael Cohen, paid Daniels $130,000 just before the 2016 election to keep quiet about an affair she had with Trump a decade earlier, soon after Melania Trump gave birth to the couple’s only son, Barron. Cohen later produced an email in which Clifford apparently denied a “sexual and/or romantic affair” and receipt of “hush money”.
Joe Kennedy III, a 37-year-old Massachusetts congressman who is a grandson of former senator and attorney general Robert F Kennedy and great-nephew of President John F Kennedy, will deliver a Democratic response to Trump’s speech from a vocational high school in Fall River, Massachusetts, a former textile hub outside Boston.
“From healthcare to economic justice to civil rights, the Democratic agenda stands in powerful contrast to President Trump’s broken promises to American families,” Kennedy said this week.
His speech will be followed by a Spanish-language response delivered by Elizabeth Guzman, one of the first Latina women elected to the Virginia house of delegates. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, the congresswoman Maxine Waters of California, and the former Maryland congresswoman Donna Edwards will also offer their takes.
Per tradition and an abundance of caution, one member of the president’s cabinet does not attend the State of the Union, in case some tragedy befalls Capitol Hill on a night when most every significant member of national government is in a single room.
Here’s our political reporter Ben Jacobs:
Per White House: Tonight's designated survivor is Sonny Perdue
Perdue is the agriculture secretary. He used to be governor of Georgia. And if he does somehow become head of government, it appears that Trump’s support for voter suppression and inhumane immigration policy would at least survive; as governor, Perdue signed tough laws in both areas.
Thanks for sharing your expectations for this speech! Digging into them, we’d say they are rather, low:
Anyone want to place bets on how many times he says "tremendous" and "massive" during the course of the speech?
What is the State of the Union?
In free fall.
There will be consonants. There will be vowels. Maybe in the right order, sometimes.
He will be restrained because he won't be talking, he'll be reading a speech written by a grown-up (which are getting harder to recruit for his White House). But he will take credit for the sun coming up each day. Then tomorrow he'll start another twitter war with Rosie O'Donnell.
For all SOTO drinking game participants, herewith the guidelines. One shot of whiskey when Melania tries and fails to smile. Two shots when he trashes Elizabeth Warren. Three if you're still tuned in after 20 minutes.
And finally:
We're at the stage now where if he manages to not actually shit himself at the podium, he'll be hailed as presidential.
I yearn for the sweet embrace of death, I really do.
Struck by the eloquence of those excerpts? Thank these guys:
.@POTUS speech-writing team. pic.twitter.com/XrkeIVU0F8