Trump delivers first joint address to Congress since return to power – CNN

• Trump hails record: President Donald Trump tonight repeated debunked claims about wasteful spending, touted divisive executive actions and said he’s “just getting started.” His speech was the longest first address to a joint session of Congress or State of the Union speech. Here are takeaways and fact checks of his address.

• Tariff agenda: The president doubled down on his tariff agenda, which has sent stocks sinking, businesses scrambling and consumer confidence plunging. Trump is scheduled to speak with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tomorrow morning, a source told CNN, a day after the two leaders engaged in an extraordinary back-and-forth over a brewing trade war.

• Disruption in the chamber: Shortly after he began speaking, Trump was interrupted by Democratic lawmakers, leading to Speaker Mike Johnson directing the House sergeant at arms to remove Democratic Rep. Al Green of Texas. Several other House Democrats walked out while wearing “Resist” T-shirts.

• Democratic rebuttal: Freshman Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan criticized Elon Musk during her party’s rebuttal, saying the country didn’t need the chaos of his DOGE-led cuts. She also said Trump’s economic plan will only help billionaires and cost average Americans.

Our live coverage of President Donald Trump’s speech to Congress has moved. Follow today’s live updates on the reaction to the president’s address, read more about the speech here and see notable pictures from the night.

President Donald Trump gave his first address to a joint session of Congress since returning to power, covering topics from domestic policy to foreign affairs.

In the longest annual address in modern history, Trump focused on the economy — digging in on trade and tariffs and promising to provide “relief to working families” amid high inflation.

Immigration was also a key focus, with Trump stressing crimes allegedly committed by undocumented immigrants and calling for stricter border security. He also touted his 2024 election victory and critiqued the Biden administration in a divisive speech that drew protests from Democratic lawmakers.

Modern America’s political chasm never looked so bleak.

President Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress on Tuesday night adopted the customs of a familiar annual political observance. But they failed to bridge the chasm of misunderstanding and contempt cleaving the country down the middle.

“Mr. Speaker, the president of the United States” roared the House sergeant at arms in his fabled refrain before Trump entered the House of Representatives.

It was one of the only normal moments on a night that exemplified broken national unity as the president embarks on a second term that millions believe will usher in a new American golden age and millions more fear will destroy the country they love.

On Trump’s left were his adoring, raucous followers, who leapt to their feet repeatedly, cheering “USA, USA, USA,” and “Trump, Trump, Trump,” on the benches of the Republican Party he has transformed beyond all recognition into a personal political movement.

His speech was indistinguishable from his campaign rallies, which pulsated with flaming rhetoric, falsehoods and demagoguery.

But the trinity of the president, Vice President JD Vance and Speaker Mike Johnson on the House dais spoke of unbridled GOP power, as Senate Majority leader John Thune and conservative Supreme Court justices looked on from below.

Read Collinson’s full analysis.

President Donald Trump’s speech Tuesday night was well-received by those who backed him against Kamala Harris in the 2024 election, but alienated Democratic voters who oppose his agenda, a CNN focus group in the Philadelphia suburbs found.

Speaking to CNN’s Boris Sanchez, a group of Bucks County voters weighed in on Trump’s address. Last year, he became the first Republican to win the political battleground in a presidential race since 1988 with his 291-vote victory out of about 400,000 cast.

Carolyn Debuque, a retired Air National Guard probation officer from Quakertown, said Trump’s speech was “very positive.” A Republican who voted for Trump, she said the new tariffs on imports from China, Canada and Mexico “should have been done a long time ago.”

“I think now we’re taking back things that never should have been given away,” she said.

Democrats, though, were sharply critical.

“There wasn’t very much that was positive to me about the speech,” said Dr. Imogene Taylor-Kelly, a Democrat and Harris voter from Doylestown. “It’s more of a divisive method, that he tries to pit us against each other, whether it’s racially or economically or where we live.”

Read more reaction.

President Donald Trump claimed on Tuesday that the US military is having “among the best recruiting results ever in the history of our services,” and that the Army had its “single-best recruiting month in 15 years” in January.

He added that “just a few months ago” the US “couldn’t recruit anywhere.”

This needs context. According to the Defense Department, military recruitment was already up over 10% in fiscal year 2024 compared with the year prior, and the delayed entry program for the active-duty military was up 10% in fiscal year 2025.

The delayed entry program is a way for recruits to join the military but not ship out until a later date.

And looking specifically at the Army’s recruitment, former Army Secretary Christine Wormuth, who served until January 20, told Fox News that the uptick started before Trump was elected — and that the Army in fact started seeing increased numbers in February 2024.

President Donald Trump’s address to Congress did little to change opinions of his policies among those who tuned in, according to a CNN Poll conducted by SSRS.

In a survey conducted prior to the speech, 61% said they believed his policies would move the country in the right direction, with 38% saying they would take the country in the wrong direction. Afterward, the results shifted to 66% and 34% respectively.

The viewership of Trump’s speech also leaned Republican – continuing the pattern of highly partisan audiences seen during his first term as president. About 60% of viewers said they approved of Trump’s handling of the presidency overall – though his broader approval rating with the American public has plummeted, a CNN poll released Sunday found.

Disapproval of disruption: Eight in 10 of those who watched said they felt that Democratic Rep. Al Green’s interruption of Trump’s speech in protest was inappropriate, with 20% calling it an appropriate reaction.

President Donald Trump mentioned his predecessor 12 times during his speech to Congress Tuesday evening, per CNN’s count.

Trump’s first mention of former President Joe Biden came approximately eight minutes into the speech, and was during a section of the president’s remarks about immigration.

“In comparison, under Joe Biden, the worst president in American history, there were hundreds of thousands,” Trump said about border crossings.

Trump’s other mentions of Biden came throughout the speech and on a variety of topics, including environmental protections, inflation, the job market, the CHIPS Act, power plants, farmers, and US aid to Ukraine.

Punching bag: CNN reported last month that even though Biden has left the White House, he’s never far from Trump’s mind. The former president has been a recurring punchline – and punching bag – in nearly every appearance Trump has made since returning to power. With Republicans in full control of Washington, Trump is forever in search of a foil and Biden tops the list.

CNN’s Jeff Zeleny and Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.

During his speech to Congress on Tuesday, President Donald Trump repeated a false claim that he got China to purchase $50 billion worth of agricultural goods during his first administration and that the Biden administration “didn’t enforce it.”

That’s misleading. China agreed to increase agricultural purchases by $12.5 billion in 2020 and $19.5 billion in 2021, as part of a trade pact signed with the US in January 2020. That did occur in 2020 but not in 2021, when US agricultural exports to China increased by $6.4 billion compared with 2020, according to US Department of Agriculture data.

Nevertheless, the pact never specified that China would have to continue to keep up such purchase levels beyond 2021.

Rather, it said: “The Parties project that the trajectory of increases in the amounts of manufactured goods, agricultural goods, energy products, and services purchased and imported into China from the United States will continue in calendar years 2022 through 2025.”

2022 surpassed 2021 levels of $33 billion, according to USDA data. However, by 2023, US agricultural exports to China declined by $9 billion.

The Republican-heavy audience that turned in to hear President Donald Trump’s speech on Tuesday greeted it with tempered positivity, according to a CNN Poll conducted by SSRS.

Roughly 70% of viewers said they had at least a somewhat positive reaction, with a smaller 44% offering a very positive response.

That’s lower than the 57% of viewers who rated Trump’s initial address to Congress very positively eight years ago, or the 51% who said the same of former President Joe Biden’s initial address in 2021. It also comes just below the 48% “very positive” rating Trump saw for his 2018 State of the Union.

Good marks from speech watchers are typical for presidential addresses to Congress, which tend to attract generally friendly audiences that disproportionately hail from presidents’ own parties.

By contrast, Trump’s approval rating is underwater with the American public as a whole, a CNN poll released Sunday found, with 48% of US adults approving of his performance as president and 52% disapproving. The general public also rates Trump more negatively than positively on whether he has the right priorities and whether his policies are taking the country in the right direction, that survey found.

How we got these results: The CNN poll was conducted by text message with 431 US adults who said they watched the presidential address on Tuesday, and are representative of the views of speech-watchers only. Respondents were recruited to participate before the speech, and were selected by a survey of members of the SSRS Opinion Panel, a nationally representative panel recruited using probability-based sampling techniques.

Democratic Sen. Chris Coons said he thinks that the way some members of his party opted to push back against President Donald Trump’s speech was not the best way to deliver a message of opposition.

“Look, I think there are clear, forceful, truthful, engaged responses that we can and should deliver to the messages that President Trump delivered tonight. I don’t think trying to yell over him in a nationally televised address is especially constructive,” Coons told CNN.

Other Democratic senators noted though that there were Democrats applauding at some points in the speech.

Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren said that she applauded several times even if the cameras didn’t catch her. “I applauded for people who are here, people who’ve had extraordinary life stories. And I’m very happy that they had an opportunity to be recognized,” she said.

Warren said separately, “Evidently applauding as the Democrats did when he talked about the aid that we’ve given to Ukraine hit a nerve.”

Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar also said she clapped several times. “The majority of Democrats attended the address and listened to him. And that’s what we’re supposed to do when we are in the Congress, but I think the bigger story was that it was the most divisive speech I’ve ever heard,” Klobuchar said.

Americans applied for British citizenship in record numbers last year, with a historically high volume of applications submitted in the last quarter of 2024 – a period coinciding with US President Donald Trump’s re-election.

More than 6,100 US citizens applied for UK citizenship last year, the most since records began in 2004, when fewer than 3,000 Americans submitted an application, according to data from the UK’s Home Office.

Last year’s numbers also saw a marked uptick from 2023, a year with fewer than 5,000 applications by US citizens.

Applications by Americans soared in the last three months of 2024, when more than 1,700 people applied – the most in any quarter in the past two decades.

The surge is reminiscent of an upswing recorded in the first six months of 2020, when more than 5,800 Americans gave up their citizenship, nearly tripling the number from all of 2019.

That uptick came in the wake of Trump’s first presidency and changes in tax policy, analysts argued then, and were mostly Americans who had already been living in Britain for some time.

Read the full story.

GOP lawmakers were highly critical after some of their Democratic colleagues protested or pushed back on President Donald Trump’s speech to Congress by walking out of the chamber, not attending at all, or holding up signs during his remarks.

This comes as House Republican leaders suggested that censure – a rare rebuke – is on the table for Democratic Rep. Al Green after he was removed from the chamber during the speech.

GOP Rep. Andrew Garbarino said Democrats let “personal” vendettas about Trump get in the way of the speech and his policy plans. “There’s a lot of things he talked about that everybody could have cheered for,” he said.

Republican Sen. Mike Rounds said he was “disappointed” by how Democrats acted. “When you’re talking about veterans and you’re talking about firefighters and you’re talking about kids that are getting awards, that’s when you come together, Republicans and Democrats,” he said.

Rep. Tim Burchett accused the Democrats’ of engaging in political stunts to attract attention. “They’re going to go back and give each other high fives, ‘Oh, we really stuck it to them,’ and they just look like fools,” Burchett said.

Rep. Don Bacon acknowledged past moments when Republican lawmakers interrupted presidential addresses made by former President Joe Biden, but still criticized Democrats.

“I was embarrassed when two of our people were yelling at Biden a year ago, or two years ago, or I don’t know how far along it was. Tonight was just terrible, it was embarrassing … People getting up, and the signs. I just think we gotta be better than this, and the vitriol, the divide was very clear tonight,” he said.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said he’s certain there will be many members who will put forward a resolution to censure Democratic Rep. Al Green, who was removed from the chamber a few minutes into the address by President Donald Trump to a joint session Tuesday.

“He made history in a terrible way, and I hope he enjoys it,” Johnson said, adding, “I’m quite certain there’ll be many who will bring forward a resolution on him,” when asked if Green would be censured.

Green was removed from the House floor at the beginning of the address after he shouted at Trump that he has “no mandate” and refused to sit down.

Censure is typically a rare move by lawmakers and amounts to a significant rebuke of a member of Congress, though it does not carry an explicit penalty beyond a public admonition of a lawmaker and is not as severe as expulsion. The House can vote to censure a member. Republicans had warned prior to the speech that any Democrats who ignored standards of decorum could face a censure vote.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise told CNN’s Manu Raju that a censure vote against Green will “obviously” be considered.

“You saw a lot of disgraceful displays by the Democrats, from Al Green yelling and knowing in clear violation of the House rules that he was trying to interrupt a speech that we were not going to let happen,” Scalise said.

CNN’s Sarah Ferris contributed to this post.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday delivered his first address to Congress since returning to power.

The 47th president recapped his first 43 days in office, highlighting his work on tariffs, government cuts and foreign affairs in what was officially the longest first address to a joint session of Congress or State of the Union speech.

Trump was interrupted several times by Democratic lawmakers, including Democratic Rep. Al Green of Texas, who was ultimately removed from the crowd.

See photos from throughout the night:

President Donald Trump repeated tonight a regular false claim that the US has spent $350 billion, “like taking candy from a baby,” to support Ukraine’s defense while Europe has collectively provided just $100 billion in aid.

That is not close to correct.

According to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a German think tank that closely tracks wartime aid to Ukraine, Europe – the European Union plus individual European countries – had collectively committed far more total wartime military, financial and humanitarian aid to Ukraine through December 2024 (about $263 billion at current exchange rates) than the US committed (about $126 billion). Europe had also allocated more military, financial and humanitarian aid (about $140 billion) than the US allocated (about $121 billion).

The US did have a slim lead in one particular category, military aid allocated, providing about $68 billion compared with about $66 billion from Europe. But even that was nowhere close to the giant gulf described by Trump.

It’s possible to arrive at different totals using different counting methodologies, but there is no apparent basis for Trump’s “$350 billion” figure. The US government inspector general overseeing the Ukraine response says on its website that the US had appropriated nearly $183 billion for the Ukraine response through December 2024, including about $83 billion actually disbursed – and that includes funding spent in the US or sent to countries other than Ukraine.

In his address to Congress on Tuesday, President Donald Trump grossly exaggerated the rise in autism prevalence in the US, saying the latest diagnosis rate of 1 in 36 children is up from 1 in 10,000 children “not long ago.”

The autism diagnosis rate has increased steadily over the past few decades — there was 1 diagnosis for every 36 children by age 8 in 2020, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, up from 1 diagnosis for every 150 children in 2000.

But that is not even close to Trump’s claim of 1 in 10,000. Experts say significant improvement in identifying and diagnosing autism is a key driver behind the rise in reported rates.

Some of the earliest studies on autism diagnosis from the 1960s and 1970s estimate reported autism prevalence to be in the range of 2 to 4 cases for every 10,000 children.

President Donald Trump addressed a joint session to Congress and Americans on Tuesday, outlining his accomplishments in the first weeks of his second term and his vision for the rest of the four years going forward. It was officially the longest of such speeches on record.

“America is back,” Trump said at the top of his speech, to cheers from mostly the Republican side of the chamber.

Trump has so far reimagined the use of executive authority, shifted the role of the US in the world, and transformed the size and scope of the federal government.

Here are some of the key lines from the speech:

Democratic Michigan Rep. Elissa Slotkin said that President Donald Trump “stole” the line “peace through strength” from Ronald Reagan and that the former Republican president would be “rolling in his grave” after the “spectacle” in the Oval Office with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

“We all want an end to the war in Ukraine, but Reagan understood that true strength required America to combine our military and economic might with moral clarity, and that scene in the Oval Office wasn’t just a bad episode of reality TV, it summed up Trump’s whole approach to the world,” Slotkin said in her rebuttal.

“He believes in cozying up to dictators like Vladimir Putin and kicking our friends like the Canadians in the teeth. He sees American leadership as merely a series of real estate transactions. As a Cold War kid, I’m thankful it was Reagan and not Trump in office in the 1980s. Trump would have lost us the Cold War,” she continued.

Watch the moment:
Newly elected Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan delivers her party’s response to President Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress. #cnn #cnnnews #democrats #trump
Trump touted withdrawing a second time from the Paris climate agreement, claiming in his address to Congress that the landmark climate deal was costing the US “trillions of dollars that other countries were not paying.”

This claim is inaccurate.

Former President Joe Biden pledged to pay $11.4 billion per year toward international climate financing upon taking office. However, the US contribution to a global finance goal ended up being far lower because Congress appropriated less money than Biden’s goal. Biden’s State Department announced it had allocated $5.8 billion to international climate finance by 2022. US climate finance contributions have never reached trillions of dollars.

The US wasn’t the only laggard on its climate finance commitments; other nations have struggled to meet a collective $100 billion climate financing goal meant to help countries vulnerable to sea level rise and droughts. China, the UK and the EU have all contributed. That goal was tripled to $300 billion annually by 2035 at the most recent United Nations Climate Conference.

Sen. Elissa Slotkin, who is giving the Democratic rebuttal to President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress, called for voters to get more involved with politics, arguing that democracy is “worth saving.”

In her speech, she said Americans should not “tune out,” and urged Americans to hold elected officials accountable and get organized.

“It’s easy to be exhausted, but America needs you now more than ever. If previous generations had not fought for this democracy, where would we be today?” Slotkin said.

She told voters they should go to town halls and tell their elected representatives what they think.

“Pick just one issue you’re passionate about and engage. And doomscrolling doesn’t count. Join a group that cares about your issue and act,” Slotkin said.

If you want the most concise window into President Donald Trump’s deeply held belief in the value of tariffs, four words tell the story.

“Now it’s our turn.”

That was Trump’s rationale tonight for sweeping, worldwide tariffs he plans to implement on April 2. The tariffs come at a moment markets have whipsawed over the long-term feasibility of the 25% tariffs he slapped on Canada and Mexico less than 24 hours ago.

Traders — and consumers — should take note.

Yes, Trump uses tariffs as a negotiating tool, but his plans to reshape global trade are simply not a strategic ploy. Trump is deeply serious about this, his advisers say, and largely dismisses the near-universal view from economists that they raise prices and primarily hurt consumers.

If there are doubts about it — as there clearly are on Wall Street — I’d point to another line from tonight’s speech. Trump’s assertion that tariffs are about “protecting the soul of our country.”

Translation: buckle up.

Trump showed no sign of backing off his unprecedented Canada-Mexico tariffs tonight, despite the fact one top adviser suggested he could do so as soon as tomorrow. He made clear the “reciprocal” tariff proposal coming next month isn’t being scaled back any time soon.

And perhaps most telling of all — congressional Republicans, who are lukewarm at best on the widescale deployment of taxes on imports, stood and politely applauded throughout that entire section.

Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin on Tuesday criticized Elon Musk during her rebuttal to President Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress, acknowledging while the country needs “a more efficient government,” it doesn’t need to be as chaotic as the DOGE-led cuts to the government have been.

“While we’re on the subject of Elon Musk, is there anyone in America who is comfortable with him and his gang of 20-year-olds using their own computer servers to poke through your tax returns, your health information and your bank accounts?” the junior Michigan senator said. “No oversight, no protections against cyber attack, no guardrails on what they do with your private data.”

Slotkin added: “We need a more efficient government. You want to cut waste? I’ll help you do it. But change doesn’t need to be chaotic or make us less safe. The mindless firing of people who work to protect our nuclear weapons, keep our planes from crashing, and conduct the research that finds the cure for cancer, only to rehire them two days later? No CEO in America could do that without being summarily fired.”

President Donald Trump’s economic plan does not help Americans get ahead, Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin said in her party’s response to President Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress.

Slotkin emphasized the need to bring down prices of groceries, housing and health care, bring back jobs and supply chains from China, and provide stability to American businesses.

“And we need a tax system that is fair for people who don’t happen to make $1 billion. Look, the president talked a big game on the economy, but it’s always important to read the fine print. So do his plans actually help Americans get ahead? Not even close,” the newly elected senator from Michigan said.

“President Trump is trying to deliver an unprecedented giveaway to his billionaire friends. He’s on the hunt to find trillions of dollars to pass along to the wealthiest in America,” Slotkin said.

The senator, speaking from her home state, warned that Trump’s economic plan will cost average Americans.

“He’s going to make you pay in every part of your life. Grocery and home prices are going up — not down. And he hasn’t laid out a credible plan to deal with either of those. His tariffs on allies like Canada will raise prices on energy, lumber and cars and start a trade war that will hurt manufacturing and farmers. Your premiums and prescriptions will cost more, because the math on his proposals doesn’t work without going after your health care. Meanwhile, for those keeping score, the national debt is going up — not down. And if he’s not careful, he could walk us right into a recession.”

Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan outlined what she said are three core beliefs Americans share.

“The middle class is the engine of our country, that strong national security protects us from harm and that our democracy — no matter how messy — is unparalleled and worth fighting for,” she said.

She went on to say that “America wants change, but there’s a responsible way to make change and a reckless way and we can make that change without forgetting who we are as a country and as a democracy.”

Newly elected Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan is delivering her party’s response to President Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress, as Democrats work to define the party’s future following tough losses last fall.

She’s giving the response in a Michigan town that offers a picture-perfect look at America’s political divide: Wyandotte — a working-class community of about 25,000 that sits 15 miles south of Detroit — which both she and Trump won in November.

Trump won the city with 51% of the vote, narrowly defeating former Vice President Kamala Harris. Slotkin won it by 49%, edging out Mike Rogers in one of the closest Senate races in the nation.

The theme of Slotkin’s speech is economic security, aides said, which is designed not only to offer a response to Trump’s tariff decision but his increasingly friendly posture toward Russian President Vladimir Putin in his quest to end the Ukraine war.

About Slotkin: The speech will give a high-profile platform to Slotkin, a former CIA analyst and congresswoman. Congressional Democratic leaders view her as an up-and-comer in the party and believe her ability to win a Senate seat in a state Trump won is evidence of her broad appeal to voters.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer called Slotkin “a rising star in our party,” telling reporters “the American people are going to love what she has to say. She’s just great on both economic and national security.”

At 48 years old, Slotkin is the youngest Democratic woman elected to the Senate, but she has entered less as a disruptor and more as a potential swing vote on key issues like immigration.

CNN’s Jeff Zeleny and Ethan Cohen contributed reporting to this post.

President Donald Trump repeated his false claim that 38,000 Americans died during the building of the Panama Canal. That figure is not even close to true, experts on the canal’s construction say.

While the century-old records are imprecise, they show about 5,600 people died during the canal’s American construction phase between 1903 and 1914 — and “of those, the vast majority were Afro-Caribbeans,” such as workers from Barbados and Jamaica, according to Julie Greene, a history professor at the University of Maryland and author of the book “The Canal Builders: Making America’s Empire at the Panama Canal.”

The late historian David McCullough, author of another book on the building of the canal, found that “the number of white Americans who died was about 350.”

President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress clocked in at roughly one hour and 39 minutes.

That makes it the longest annual address to Congress since at least 1964, according to data from the American Presidency Project, surpassing former President Bill Clinton’s last State of the Union in 2000, which was about one hour and 29 minutes long.

Included in the 99-minute runtime of Trump’s address is a roughly two-minute interruption when Texas Democratic Rep. Al Green was escorted from the House chamber.

While the first speech of a presidency isn’t technically a State of the Union address, it functions similarly as an annual message to Congress.

President Donald Trump harkened back to his promise of a “golden age of America” as he concluded his remarks to a joint session of Congress, repeating the line that began his speech and was also a key theme of his inaugural address.

“My fellow Americans, get ready for an incredible future, because the golden age of America has only just begun. It will be like nothing that has ever been seen before,” he vowed.

Trump’s speech underscored the fast-paced, divisive first six weeks of his second term as he repeatedly went after former President Joe Biden, highlighted his accomplishments, and laid out new priorities.

Marc Fogel, an American teacher who was wrongfully detained in Russia, received a standing ovation in the House chamber.

The Trump Administration negotiated a deal with Russia to release Fogel, who was facing 14 years in prison for being found carrying cannabis.

Fogel was joined by his 95-year-old mother, Malphine Fogel, who Trump met with ahead of the Butler, Pennsylvania, rally where he was nearly assassinated in July. They were tightly holding hands when Trump mentioned them during the speech.

Last summer, I promised his 95-year-old mother, Malphine, that we would bring her boy safely back home. After 22 days in office, I did just that, and they are here tonight,” Trump said.

Trump, recalling the assassination attempt against him in the town where Fogel was born, said, “My life was saved by a fraction of an inch.”

In an extended claim, President Donald Trump said 4.7 million people who are at least 100 years old are still listed in the Social Security Administration’s database and that “money is being paid to many of them.” However, this claim needs context.

The vast majority of these people do not have dates of death listed in Social Security’s database. But that doesn’t mean they are actually receiving monthly benefits.

Public data from the Social Security Administration shows that about 89,000 people age 99 or over were receiving Social Security benefits in December 2024, not even close to the millions Trump invoked.

The acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration, Leland Dudek, who was elevated to that post by the current Trump administration, tried to set the record straight in a February statement.

“The reported data are people in our records with a Social Security number who do not have a date of death associated with their record. These individuals are not necessarily receiving benefits,” Dudek said.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday made the misleading claim that former President Joe Biden “let the price of eggs get out of control.”

The avian flu has caused egg prices to rise because the United States Department of Agriculture requires the culling of entire flocks to stop the spread if the virus is detected. It’s a practice that occurred during the Biden administration, but also one that is continuing under Trump as the virus continues to infect flocks nationwide.

When Biden took office, the average price of a carton of a dozen grade A eggs across US cities was $1.47, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. By January 2023, as avian flu spread to flocks nationwide, a dozen eggs rose to $4.82 on average, a 228% increase. By the time Biden left office in January, a carton of eggs cost $4.95 on average, a 2.7% increase from a year prior. Due to short supply, egg prices are projected to increase by 41.1% this year, according to the US Department of Agriculture’s food outlook as of February 25.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sent a letter to President Donald Trump saying that his country is ready to “come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer,” the US president said on Tuesday.

During an address to a joint session of Congress, Trump said he received the “important letter” from Zelensky earlier today.

Trump said the letter read, in part, “My team and I stand ready to work under President Trump’s strong leadership to get a peace that lasts.”

“We do really value how much America has done to help Ukraine maintain its sovereignty and independence. Regarding the agreement on minerals and security, Ukraine is ready to sign it at any time that is convenient for you,” Trump said Zelensky wrote.

Trump and Zelensky were set to sign a minerals deal at the White House on Friday, until the Ukrainian leader was told to leave after a heated meeting.

The president said he was appreciative of the letter, adding that “simultaneously, we’ve had serious discussions with Russia and have received strong signals that they are ready for peace.”

Watch the moment:
President Donald Trump referenced a letter from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in his address to a joint session of Congress in Washington. #CNN #news #ukraine #zelensky #trump
President Donald Trump suggested during his address to a joint session of Congress that Russian President Vladimir Putin felt empowered to invade Ukraine because of how the Biden administration handled the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Trump lambasted former President Joe Biden’s chaotic August 2021 Afghanistan exit, which marked a political disaster for Biden as the Afghan government collapsed and the Taliban returned to power. Trump detailed the bombing outside Kabul International Airport’s Abbey Gate, which killed 13 US service members.

“When Putin saw what happened, I guess he said, ‘Well, maybe this is my chance.’ That’s how bad it was. Should have never happened. Grossly incompetent people,” Trump said of the Biden administration.

Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

President Donald Trump during his address to Congress on Tuesday recognized the family of Corey Comparatore, the firefighter who was fatally shot during the July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, that nearly also took the life of the now-president.

Trump recognized Comparatore’s wife and daughters while recounting the moment shots rang out at his rally. The shooter was killed by law enforcement. Trump sustained an injury to his ear.

“Corey was taken from us much too soon, but his destiny was to leave us all with a shining example of the selfless devotion of a true American patriot. It was love like Corey’s that built our country, and its love like Corey’s that is going to make our country more majestic than ever before.”

Trump then added that divine intervention saved his own life: “I believe that my life was saved that day in Butler for a very good reason. I was saved by God to make America great again.”

President Donald Trump touted US support to Ukraine during his address to Congress and said he is “working tirelessly to end the savage conflict” there.

“Millions of Ukrainians and Russians have been needlessly killed or wounded in this horrific and brutal conflict, with no end in sight,” Trump said. “The United States has sent hundreds of billions of dollars to support Ukraine’s defense, with no security, with no anything.Do you want to keep it going for another five years?”

He went on to call Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren a derogatory nickname that he has called her in the past for her Native American heritage.

After his comment, Warren could be seen clapping.

He went on to criticize Europe’s contributions to support for Ukraine. The president also accused former President Joe Biden of authorizing “more money in this fight than Europe has spent by billions and billions of dollars.”

“It’s hard to believe that they wouldn’t have stopped it and said at some point, ‘Come on, let’s equalize,’” Trump said of Europe.

This post was updated with more details on Trump’s remarks and the reaction.

President Donald Trump said the United States has apprehended “the top terrorist responsible” for the suicide bombing that killed 13 troops during the American withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.

“Tonight, I am pleased to announce that we have just apprehended the top terrorist responsible for that atrocity,” Trump said during his address tonight to a joint session of Congress. “And he is right now on his way here to face the swift sword of American justice.”

Moments later, FBI Director Kash Patel said on X: “As President Trump just announced, I can report that tonight the FBI, DOJ, and CIA have extradited one of the terrorists responsible for the murder of the 13 American soldiers at Abbey Gate during the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal.”

A White House official told CNN that the suspect was Mohammad Sharifullah and that he is being extradited to the US.

CNN’s Kaitlin Collins contributed to this post.

President Donald Trump reiterated his desire to take control of Greenland in tonight’s speech, but tonight, made it appear as if it would be their choice. After just mentioning the nation, some laughs broke out, including from the House Speaker Mike Johnson and Vice President JD Vance.

“We strongly support your right to determine your own future, and if you choose, we welcome you into the United States of America. We need Greenland for national security and even international security, and we’re working with everybody involved to try and get it, but we need it really for international world security, and I think we’re going to get it,” Trump said.“One way or the other, we’re going to get it. We will keep you safe. We will make you rich,” Trump said. “And together, we will take Greenland to heights like you have never thought possible before.”

Democratic freshman Rep. LaMonica McIver was one of a number of Democratic lawmakers to walk out of President Donald Trump’s address to Congress in protest.

On why she decided to leave Trump’s address, McIver said in a statement: “in just half an hour, he spewed ignorance on everything from diversity, immigration and trans kids to DOGE cuts and the cost of eggs. I heard enough, so I left. His words do nothing to help the people in my district—there’s real work to be done.”

Ahead of leaving the address, McIver posted on X, “seated and ready to hear some bullshit.”

President Donald Trump claimed that the United States had begun to reclaim the Panama Canal after making a campaign promise to bring the canal back under US control.

BlackRock, the giant US asset manager, announced Tuesday morning that it has agreed to buy two ports at either end of the canal from a Hong Kong-based firm whose ownership had angered President Donald Trump.

Trump said several times during the lead-up to his inauguration and since taking office that he intends to “take back” the canal from Panama, which took over control of the crucial international waterway in 1999 under a treaty negotiated with the United States 20 years earlier. And he cited Chinese ownership of some of the port operations as a sign that China is now running the canal.

“We didn’t give it to China, we gave it to Panama, and we’re taking it back,” Trump said.

Since its handover in 1999 the canal itself has been operated by Panama, not the Chinese, despite Trump’s stated concerns.

President Donald Trump’s claim Tuesday night that the US “will take in trillions and trillions of dollars” — a claim he has made repeatedly about his plan to slap tariffs on imports from various countries, which he already started to do – needs context.

Tariffs are paid by US importers, not foreign exporters, and it’s easy to find specific examples of companies that passed along the cost of the tariffs to US consumers.

President Donald Trump made a false claim Tuesday that the Department of Government Efficiency identified government spending of “$8 million for making mice transgender.”

Between the 2021 and 2022 fiscal years, the National Institutes of Health awarded a total of $477,121 to three projects that involved administering feminizing hormone therapy to monkeys to understand how it may affect their immune system and make them more susceptible to HIV. Feminizing hormone therapy is a gender-affirming treatment used to block the effects of the male hormone testosterone and promote feminine characteristics among transgender women.

Transgender women are nearly 50 times more likely to be infected with HIV than other adults, according to one study from 2013 across 15 countries, including the US. It’s not clear where the $8 million figure came from or why Trump referenced studies in mice instead of monkeys.

President Donald Trump claimed that the Department of Government Efficiency, the initiative led by Elon Musk, has “found hundreds of billions of dollars” in fraud.

This figure, which is uncorroborated, needs context.

As of the day of Trump’s address to Congress, DOGE claimed on its website that its work has saved an estimated $105 billion for taxpayers. But it hasn’t provided evidence to corroborate a figure that high.

DOGE listed about 2,300 contracts it claimed to have canceled across the federal government for a total claimed savings of about $8.9 billion. It also listed nearly 3,500 grants it claimed to have canceled for a total claimed savings of about $10.3 billion, but it provided no links or documentation for those cuts. And it listed about $660 million in savings from canceled government leases.

DOGE’s public tally has been marred with errors, and it has been repeatedly changed in recent weeks to remove some contracts identified as flawed by CNN and other media outlets — including a previous claim that it had saved $8 billion by canceling a contract that was actually worth a maximum of $8 million. Its website’s so-called wall of receipts has included contracts that were canceled during previous presidential administrations.

Musk and other Trump allies have claimed DOGE’s work is aimed at targeting waste, fraud and abuse. But DOGE has not released evidence that the contracts it has canceled were fraudulent. And at least some of the cuts have been reversed amid criticism.

President Donald Trump highlighted the story of 13-year-old DJ Daniel who “has always dreamed of becoming a police officer,” and then directed Sean Curran, the director of the United States Secret Service, to make Daniel a Secret Service agent.

“Tonight, DJ, we’re going to do you the biggest honor of them all. I am asking our new Secret Service director, Sean Curran, to officially make you an agent of the United States Secret Service. Thank you. DJ,” Trump said.

Curran was immediately seen handing a badge to the teen.

Lawmakers chanted “DJ! DJ!” as they celebrated him.

Here’s a bit of background on Daniel as told by Trump: “In 2018, DJ was diagnosed with brain cancer. The doctors gave him five months, at most, to live. That was more than six years ago. Since that time, DJ and his dad have been on a quest to make his dream come true. And DJ has been sworn in as an honorary law enforcement officer — actually, a number of times. The police departments love him.”

Moments later in his speech, Trump also highlighted the story of a high school senior, Jason Hartley, who wants to carry on his father’s legacy of service and attend the US Military Academy at West Point. The president surprised Hartley by telling him that his application has been accepted and he will be joining the Corps of Cadets. DJ was seen walking to Hartley to give him a high five.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday repeatedly praised law enforcement officers, as he delivered remarks in the same building where rioters he pardoned attacked police officers more than four years ago.

“We’re also once again giving our police officers the support, protection and respect they so dearly deserve. They have to get it. They have such a hard, dangerous job, but we’re going to make it less dangerous. The problem is the bad guys don’t respect the law, but they’re starting to respect it and they soon will respect it,” Trump said during his address to Congress on Tuesday.

More than 140 police officers were injured during the January 6 insurrection four years ago. On his first day in office, Trump granted a “full, complete and unconditional pardon” to virtually everyone who was convicted of January 6-related crimes.

That covers approximately 1,250 people, the vast majority of whom pleaded guilty and admitted in court that they broke the law. Approximately 300 pending cases were also dismissed, of which about 60% involved allegations of violence against law enforcement officers.

President Donald Trump’s first address to a joint session of Congress since returning to power is officially the longest of such speeches on record.

He has exceeded one hour and five minutes, the length of former President Bill Clinton’s joint session address in 1993 — previously the longest on record. Trump has also spoken longer than he did during his joint session speech in 2017, which ended just after the one hour mark.

Follow along as CNN tracks the approximate length of his speech tonight.

President Donald Trump said Tuesday his administration had “ended the tyranny of so-called diversity, equity and inclusion policies all across the entire federal government and indeed the private sector and our military.”

But while Trump is focused on DEI, private-sector employers have spent the past six weeks trying to parse the clear-as-mud implications of his executive order deriding what he classifies as “illegal” diversity, equity and inclusion “discrimination and preferences” — as well as a memo from US Attorney General Pam Bondi that encourages companies to “end” such “illegal” practices upon threat of being investigated.

Much will depend on the position that corporate leaders take and the various state laws governing DEI-related issues.

No one knows exactly what the Trump administration is referring to when it warns it won’t tolerate “illegal” DEI efforts, since many things that are mistakenly conflated with DEI — like quotas — are already illegal. And neither Trump’s order, nor Bondi’s memo, change existing anti-discrimination laws.

But experts say that when the topic of diversity comes up, employers are likely to discuss it in the broadest terms. It won’t just be about legal protections from employment discrimination on the basis of certain characteristics — for example, race, national origin and gender — but also things like neurodiversity and geographic diversity.

“Whether you call it DEI or not, it’s just good leadership,” Jennie Glazer, CEO of Coqual, a firm that does research and advises companies on how to create inclusive workplaces, previously told CNN. “The words may change, but the work is still happening.”

President Donald Trump praised first lady Melania Trump’s initiative in the foster care community and work on Capitol Hill with the “Take It Down” Act, highlighting two of her guests in attendance.

“Our first lady is joined by two impressive young women, very impressive, Haley Ferguson, who benefited from the first lady’s Fostering the Future initiative and is poised to complete her education, become a teacher, and Elliston Berry, who became a victim of an illicit, deepfake image produced by a peer,” Trump said. The chamber applauded the women, who were seated in the first lady’s guest box.

The Senate passed the “Take It Down” Act in February, which aims to protect Americans from deepfake and revenge pornography.

“Once it passes the House, I look forward to signing that bill into law. And I’m going to use that bill for myself, too, if you don’t mind, because nobody gets treated worse than I do online. Nobody,” Trump said, as some in the chamber laughed.

On Capitol Hill earlier today, in her first public remarks as first lady during Trump’s second term, she said, “In an era where digital interactions are integral to daily life, it is imperative that we safeguard children from mean-spirited and hurtful online behavior.”

President Donald Trump presented an executive order renaming a wildlife refuge in Texas to honor Jocelyn Nungaray, a 12-year-old who was murdered last summer.

The order renames the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge as the Jocelyn Nungaray National Wildlife Refuge.

Two undocumented men from Venezuela are accused of killing the girl and both are facing charges of capital murder in her death, according to the Houston Police Department.

Jocelyn’s mother was in the chamber during Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress, where he held up the signed order.

“One thing I have learned about Jocelyn is that she loved animals so much. She loved nature. Across Galveston Bay, from where Jocelyn lived in Houston, you will find a magnificent national wildlife refuge. A pristine, peaceful, 34,000 acre sanctuary for all of God’s creatures on the edge of the Gulf of America,” Trump said. “Moments ago, I formally renamed that refuge in loving memory of your beautiful daughter, Jocelyn.”

President Donald Trump repeated his familiar claim Tuesday night about how other countries have supposedly released people from their “mental institutions and insane asylums” into the US as migrants. There is no evidence for the president’s claim, which Trump’s own presidential campaign was unable to corroborate. (The campaign was unable to provide any evidence even for his narrower claim that South American countries in particular were emptying their mental health facilities to somehow dump patients upon the US.)

Trump has sometimes tried to support his claim by making another claim that the global prison population is down. But that’s wrong, too. The recorded global prison population increased from October 2021 to April 2024, from about 10.77 million people to about 10.99 million people, according to the World Prison Population List compiled by experts in the United Kingdom. “I do a daily news search to see what’s going on in prisons around the world and have seen absolutely no evidence that any country is emptying its prisons and sending them all to the US,” Helen Fair, co-author of the prison population list and research fellow at the Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research at Birkbeck, University of London, said in June 2024, when Trump made a similar claim.

President Donald Trump highlighted the major investments tech giants such as Apple, Oracle and chipmaker TSMC have announced in recent weeks during his presidential address to a joint session of Congress, as part of his push to encourage manufacturing in the US.

Apple announced last week it would invest $500 billion on growing its US facilities, which includes building a new server production hub in Houston, Texas to support Apple Intelligence.

“Tim Cook called me, he said, ‘I cannot spend it fast enough,’” Trump said during his address tonight to a joint session of Congress. “It’s going to be much higher than that, I believe.” However, the investment builds on Apple’s previous efforts to expand its US operations.

On Monday, major Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC announced it’s investing $100 billion in its US manufacturing operations. The investment will go toward building three advanced chipmaking fabrication plans in Arizona, which Trump says will create tens of thousands of jobs.

And just one day after Trump’s inauguration, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son and Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison gathered at the White House to announce Stargate, a new company aimed at building AI infrastructure in the US.

But the push likely isn’t all about boosting jobs and the US economy; it’s also about securing the US’ position as a leader in the artificial intelligence industry, a field that tech giants and business leaders believe could chart the future of the internet. Chinese tech startup DeepSeek made waves in January with an AI model that it claims was trained at a fraction of the cost of competing technology, sending shockwaves through Wall Street and the tech industry.

President Donald Trump lambasted the CHIPS and Science Act, a sweeping $280 billion law passed during the Biden administration to boost domestic semiconductor production.

“Your CHIPS Act is a horrible, horrible thing. We give hundreds of billions of dollars (to semiconductor manufacturers) and it doesn’t mean a thing. They take our money and they don’t spend it,” he said during his address tonight to Congress, contending that chip manufacturers didn’t want to pay tariffs.He added: “You should get rid of the CHIPS Act and whatever is left over, Mr. Speaker, you should use it to reduce debt or any other reason you want to,” Trump said.

House Speaker Mike Johnson stood to applaud.

The CHIPS Act passed with bipartisan majorities in 2022.

President Donald Trump recognized Laken Riley’s family, who was in attendance Tuesday night at his address to a joint session of Congress.

Riley, a 22-year-old Georgia student, was killed last year while out for a run. An undocumented migrant from Venezuela was convicted of her murder and sentenced to life without parole.

“Laken was stolen from us by a savage illegal alien gang member who was arrested while trespassing across (former President Joe) Biden’s open southern border and then set loose into the United States under the heartless policies of that failed administration,” Trump said during his address.

Trump’s first major legislative victory, the Laken Riley Act, requires detention of undocumented migrants charged with certain crimes. He called the legislation “a very strong, powerful act.”

“America will never ever forget our beautiful Laken,” Trump said.

President Donald Trump, during his address to a joint session of Congress, touted the 25% tariffs he has imposed on foreign aluminum, copper, lumber and steel.

“If we don’t have, as an example, steel and lots of other things, we don’t have a military and, frankly, we just won’t have a country very long,” he said Tuesday.

He pointed to Jeff Denard, “a proud American steelworker, fantastic person from Decatur, Alabama.”

Denard “has been working at the same steel plant for 27 years in a job that has allowed him to serve as the captain of his local volunteer fire department, raised seven children with his beautiful wife, Nicole, and over the years provide a loving home for more than 40 foster children,” Trump said.

Denard received a standing ovation from Republican lawmakers.

“Stories like Jeff’s remind us that tariffs are not just about protecting American jobs. They’re about protecting the soul of our country. Tariffs are about making America rich again and making America great again,” Trump said.

President Donald Trump has claimed that former President Joe Biden used his office to “viciously” prosecute him. That’s false.

Trump’s two federal indictments were brought by a special counsel, Jack Smith. Smith was appointed in November 2022 by Attorney General Merrick Garland, a Biden appointee — but that is not proof that Biden was involved in the prosecution effort, much less that Biden personally ordered the indictments.

Garland had said that he would resign if Biden ever asked him to act against Trump but that he was sure that would never happen. For Trump’s part, he has never provided any evidence that Biden was personally involved in the federal prosecutions.

The two cases were dropped by Smith after Trump was reelected.

President Donald Trump spent several minutes of his address doubling down on his tariff agenda, which has sent stocks sinking, businesses scrambling and consumer confidence plunging.

Trump said his tariffs would “make America rich again,” add fairness to America’s trade with foreign countries and promote American industry, including steel and agriculture.

Businesses have railed against tariffs that they fear could cause profits to fall and inflation to spike. The International Chamber of Commerce Tuesday warned Trump’s trade agenda could ignite a global trade war that could plunge the world’s economy into a Great-Depression-like event.

Stocks have fallen sharply during the past two days as Trump put into effect 25% tariffs on all Mexican goods and most Canadian goods, ending decades of free trade in North America. The Dow fell 1,300 points in two days, and the broader S&P 500 has fallen 4% since Trump took office. The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 7%, as inflation has remained persistent, businesses have warned of falling consumer spending, and consumer sentiment has tumbled in anticipation of tariffs.

Trump pooh-poohed critics on Tuesday, acknowledging that “there could be a little disturbance” and “there could be an adjustment period,” but said tariffs would ultimately bring prosperity by forcing companies to make more products in the United States – opening up jobs and opportunity. His administration has said tariffs would not add to inflation, and they would bring in revenue that, combined with savings realized from DOGE’s cuts to federal spending, would allow the government to cut taxes.

Tariffs that match other countries, dollar for dollar, are set for April 2, President Donald Trump said Tuesday in his speech to congressional lawmakers.

“Other countries have used tariffs against us for decades, and now it’s our turn to start using them against those other countries,” Trump said, mentioning countries such as India, South Korea and Brazil.

“India charges us tariffs higher than 100%, China’s average tariff on our products is twice what we charge them and South Korea’s average tariff is four times higher,” Trump said.

Last month, Trump called on his administration to investigate plans for reciprocal tariffs on all of America’s trading partners, expected to be completed on April 1. On the campaign trail, he vowed to address what he called unfair trade practices from foreign countries.

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNBC Tuesday that “it’s unbelievable the way we get ripped off around the world.”

President Donald Trump offered a direct warning to federal workers tonight: Resist his administration’s policies and you’re fired.

Citing his “mandate for bold and profound change” during an address to a joint session of Congress, Trump railed against regulations and debt approvals that slow down the workings of the federal government.

The president has sought to transform the size and scope of the federal government since taking office, empowering Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency to slash spending.

He also claimed tonight that “hundreds of thousands of federal workers… have not been showing up to work” as his administration has ordered an end to Covid-era rules allowing more flexibility.

CNN has reported that many federal offices weren’t ready for the return to work, the process wracked with problems and inefficiencies.

“My administration will reclaim power from this unaccountable bureaucracy, and we will restore true democracy to America again. And any federal bureaucrat who resists this change will be removed from office immediately,” Trump said.“Because we are draining the swamp. It’s very simple. And the days of rule by unelected bureaucrats are over,” he added.

In his address to Congress on Tuesday, President Donald Trump claimed that he terminated the “Green New Scam.”

This claim is inaccurate in various ways.

Former President Joe Biden didn’t pass the original Green New Deal, a nonbinding resolution introduced by progressive congressional Democrats in 2019 that was never turned into law. Trump hasn’t yet terminated the major environmental law Biden did pass, which is what Trump might be referring to as “the Green New Scam.” Trump has previously claimed the policy cost $9 trillion.

Biden signed a law in 2022 known as the Inflation Reduction Act, or IRA, containing $430 billion in climate and clean energy spending and tax credits. Independent estimates later raised the cost of that law to over $1 trillion by 2032, but the IRA actually saved the government $240 billion because of its increased tax enforcement and prescription drug savings, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. And importantly, the IRA’s tax credits spurred companies to build new factories and solar and wind farms in the US, creating jobs with it.

Trump and congressional Republicans haven’t killed the law, although they are aiming to take parts of it out later this year. Trump has effectively killed other climate policies Biden imposed through executive order, but it will take an act of Congress to reverse the former president’s signature climate bill.

President Donald Trump said tax cuts in his first term were part of a successful agenda that got him high marks on the economy. So he is proposing to make his tax cuts permanent and pass legislation to eliminate taxes on tips and overtime, among other proposals.

Tax cuts are part of a plan the president and his advisers have spelled out to lower prices for Americans, which also includes a combination of deregulation of energy and cutting government spending – mostly in the form of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.

However, tax cuts would almost certainly increase US borrowing, because tariffs and cuts to government spending probably cannot replace all the revenue America would lose from cutting taxes.

Oil and gas deregulation has been met with skepticism from the energy industry because fuel demand is in a slump and drilling for more oil and gas may not be profitable.

And returning savings from government cost-cutting directly to taxpayers, as Trump has proposed, could itself reignite inflation, because consumers tend to spend money when you hand it to them.

So Trump has a plan to combat high prices. But it’s a problematic solution – which could ultimately be undone by Trump’s tariff plan.

President Donald Trump said interest rates “took a beautiful drop” on Tuesday. While that didn’t quite happen on Tuesday, it is true that yields on 10-year US Treasury notes, the main bellwether for interest rates Americans pay to borrow money, have fallen since Trump has taken office.

But it’s not necessarily for reasons that are worth celebrating.

The drop in yields comes as Americans are increasingly worried about the state of the economy, with consumer sentiment dropping to historic lows and jobless claims ticking up.

That’s leading to worries of a brewing recession, especially with the Altanta Federal Reserve’s GDP forecasting algorithm predicting the US economy will have contracted by 2.8% for the first quarter of this year.

During President Donald Trump’s address to Congress, several House Democratic lawmakers, including Reps. Melanie Stansbury and Jasmine Crockett, walked out while wearing “resist” T-shirts.

It comes after House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries urged Democrats not to bring props to the address, according to a source in a closed-door caucus meeting Tuesday.

The ultimate message from Democratic leaders is for their members to voice their opposition, but not create a spectacle that could be seized on by the GOP.

President Donald Trump gave Elon Musk and the newly-created Department of Government Efficiency a shoutout in his address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday.

“To further combat inflation we will not only be reducing the cost of energy, but we’ll be ending the flagrant waste of taxpayer dollars,” he said, outlining his goal for DOGE.

Trump said DOGE is “headed by Elon Musk, who is in the gallery tonight.”

Musk stood and acknowledged the cheers from the crowd. Trump added: “Thank you, Elon. He’s working very hard. He didn’t need this.”

“Everybody here, even this side, appreciates it, I believe,” Trump said, referring to the side of the chamber where many Democrats are sitting. “They just don’t want to admit that.”

Some background: While Trump said Musk was in charge of DOGE, a White House official told CNN last week that Amy Gleason is the acting administrator of the US DOGE Service, the agency that houses the temporary Department of Government Efficiency.

Gleason has a background in health care and previously worked at the US Digital Service, an office created by President Barack Obama. Her position with DOGE was first reported by the Washington Examiner.

While Musk has served as the initiative’s public face and continues to issue social-media directives to government workers, the White House has maintained that his status is one of a special government employee, and not a full-time worker.

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins and Tierney Sneed contributed reporting to this post, which has been updated with background about who is in charge of DOGE.

GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is wearing a red hat on the House floor during President Donald Trump’s speech to Congress that reads “Trump was right about everything.”

Greene wore a red “Make America Great Again” hat while she interrupted former President Joe Biden in his 2024 State of the Union address.

Hats are not permitted on the House floor.

President Donald Trump previewed a plan to take action on domestic production of “critical minerals and rare earths.”

“Later this week, I will also take historic action to dramatically expand production of critical minerals and rare earths here in the USA,” the president said during his address to Congress Tuesday.

Materials such as graphite, lithium, uranium and the 17 chemical elements known as rare earths are critical for economic growth and national security.

They are essential to the production of electronics, clean energy technology, including wind turbines, energy networks and electric vehicles, as well as some weapons systems.

Remember: Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky were set to sign a minerals deal at the White House on Friday, until the Ukrainian leader was told to leave after a heated meeting. Zelensky said Tuesday that the meeting was “regrettable” and Ukraine is ready to sign the deal.

President Donald Trump is scheduled to speak with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tomorrow morning, a person familiar with the call says, a day after the two North American leaders engaged in an extraordinary back-and-forth over a brewing trade war.

Some background: Trump’s Commerce secretary Howard Lutnick said this afternoon that the president could announce a trade deal with Mexico and Canada as soon as tomorrow.

“I think he’s going to work something out with them,” Lutnick said on Fox Business. “It’s not going to be a pause, none of that pause stuff, but I think he’s going to figure out, you do more, and I’ll meet you in the middle some way, and we’re going to probably be announcing that tomorrow.”

President Donald Trump said during his joint address to Congress on Tuesday that “small-business optimism saw its single-largest one-month gain ever recorded — a 41-point jump.”

This claim needs context. If Trump was referring to the commonly cited NFIB Small Business Optimism Index (his spokespeople didn’t respond to a previous CNN request to clarify), his claim about a 41-point increase appears to be a reference to one component — the percentage of small-business owners expecting the economy to improve. That measure did soar a net 41 percentage points from pre-election October to post-election November.

And Trump didn’t mention that the total index then declined in January, to a level that is still high but lower than it was under Trump in September 2020 and October 2020 — less than five years ago.

Illegal border crossings: Trump claimed that, since taking office again, he has already achieved the lowest number of illegal border crossings “ever recorded.” That’s false.

He could have accurately said the number of Border Patrol apprehensions at the southern border in February — the first full month of his second term — is the lowest in many decades, at least if it’s true that the number was 8,326, as he claimed on social media before the speech. But official federal statistics show there were fewer Border Patrol encounters with migrants at the southwest border in some of the months of the early 1960s.

President Donald Trump took time during his address to a joint session of Congress to highlight a student athlete, touting a recent executive action he signed banning transgender women from women’s sports.

According to the White House, Payton McNabb is “a former high school athlete who had her dreams of competing in college sports crushed in a September 2022 volleyball match when a biological man playing on the opposing women’s team spiked the volleyball at Payton’s face, leaving her with a traumatic brain injury.”

She is attending the address as one of first lady Melania Trump’s guests.

“It’s demeaning for women and it’s very bad for our country,” Trump said of transgender athletes Tuesday. “We’re not going to put up with it any longer.”

President Donald Trump said Tuesday in his speech before Congress that he got rid of an “electrical vehicle mandate” enacted by the Biden administration.

But there has never been a federal mandate prohibiting Americans from buying gasoline-powered cars, which he claimed existed in his inaugural address.

“We ended the last administration’s insane electric vehicle mandate, saving our auto workers and companies from economic destruction,” Trump said in his speech.

During the Biden administration there was legislation passed to support electric vehicles. Trump signed an executive order shortly after taking office in January seeking to reverse that, which includes eliminating a $7,500 tax credit for EV buyers that was passed by Congress and signed into law in 2022, in addition to ending federal support for vehicle-charging stations and low-interest loans for traditional automakers building new plants to build EVs and the batteries they need. However, eliminating those policies may require congressional action.

Minutes into President Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress, a disturbance from Democratic Rep. Al Green of Texas resulted in him being escorted out of the chamber by the House Sergeant at Arms.

Standing up during Trump’s remarks, Green lifted his cane in the air and started yelling out.

“Members are engaging in willful and continuing breach of decorum, and the chair is prepared to direct the Sergeant at Arms to restore order to the joint session,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said, after delivering a warning.

“Mr. Green take your seat,” Johnson said. “Take your seat, sir.”

“He has no mandate,” Green said, referring to Trump.

“Finding that members continue to engage in willful and concerted disruption of proper decorum, the chair now directs the Sergeant at Arms to restore order, remove this gentleman from the chamber,” Johnson said, as applause broke out from the Republican side.

Some Republicans also sang out, “Na-na-na-na, hey, hey, hey, goodbye.”

Speaking to reporters after exiting the chamber, Green claimed that Trump’s budget will have “deep cuts in Medicaid.”

“The President said he had a mandate, and I was making it clear that the president does not have a mandate to cut Medicaid,” Green said.

Defending his method of breaking decorum, Green said “it is the best way to get it across to a person who uses his incivility against our civility,” adding that he is “willing to suffer any punishment.” Green also said he is working on articles of impeachment against Trump.

“This president is unfit. He should not hold the office. 34 felony convictions, two times impeached,” Green said.

Some context: Last week, Johnson told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, “The White House has made a commitment. The president said over and over and over, ‘We’re not going to touch Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid.’ We’ve made the same commitment. Now that said, what we are going to do is go into those programs and carve out the fraud, waste and abuse, and find efficiencies.”

Several Democratic lawmakers are taking part in a protest of President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress, holding up signs that read “Musk steals” as Trump rattles off a list of his second-term accomplishments.

The fan-sized signs held by Democrats read “Musk steals” on one side — slamming the world’s richest man, who has become one of Trump’s closest advisers — and some read “false” on the other. Other signs read “save Medicaid” and “protect veterans.”

Trump spoke directly to the Democratic side of the chamber: “This is my fifth such speech to Congress, and once again, I look at the Democrats in front of me and I realize there is absolutely nothing I can say to make them happy or to make them stand or smile or applaud.”

“Nothing I can do,” the president added. “I could find a cure to the most devastating disease — a disease that would wipe out entire nations or announce the answers to the greatest economy in history — or the stoppage of crime to the lowest levels ever recorded. And these people sitting right here will not clap, will not stand, and certainly will not cheer for these astronomical achievements.”

President Donald Trump touted his actions to pull the United States out of multiple international agreements like the Paris Climate Accord and organizations like the World Health Organization, calling it a “time for big dreams and bold action.”

“Every day, my administration is fighting to deliver the change America needs to bring a future that America deserves,” he said during his address to a joint session of Congress.

Here is a list of some actions he touted:

As CNN reported earlier today, Trump is using his speech tonight to deflect from the furious critiques over tariffs and to highlight the executive orders he has signed on cultural issues that are widely popular with the Trump base.

President Donald Trump wasted no time touting his electoral victory during his address to a joint address to Congress on Tuesday, claiming that his win gave him “a mandate like has not been seen in many decades.”

In response, Republicans in the chamber stood up and cheered, chanting, “USA!”

As he was starting to speak again, some lawmakers started “booing” him.

Trump said the electoral map is one that “reads almost completely red for Republican.”

President Donald Trump’s second term is off and running with a cascade of executive actions signed in his first few weeks and more promised in the weeks to come.

During his address to Congress, Trump touted the executive actions he has announced so far.

Trump has vowed to enact a sweeping agenda and reshape the federal government, saying in his inaugural address that “the golden age of America” was starting and naming priorities such as immigration, trade and national security.

Here’s a recap of Trump’s executive actions so far:

President Donald Trump began an address to a joint session of Congress with a three-word message: “America is back.”

Taking a victory lap, the president called back to his inaugural address.

“Six weeks ago, I stood beneath the dome of this Capitol and proclaimed the ‘dawn of the golden age of America.’ From that moment on, it has been nothing but swift and unrelenting action to usher in the greatest and most successful era in the history of our country,” he said.

Trump has so far reimagined the use of executive authority, shifted the role of the US in the world, and transformed the size and scope of the federal government.

“We have accomplished more in 43 days than most administrations accomplished in four years or eight years. And we are just getting started,” he said.
President Donald Trump takes the stage to speak to a joint session of Congress in Washington on Tuesday night. Trump says America is “on the verge of a comeback.”
President Donald Trump intends to say he’s committed to getting “dramatic and immediate relief to working families,” after he “inherited, from the last administration, an economic catastrophe and an inflation nightmare,” according to excerpts released by the White House ahead of his Congressional address.

“Their policies drove up energy prices, pushed up the cost of groceries, and drove the necessities of life out of reach for millions of Americans,” Trump is set to say.

It’s not quite so cut and dry, though.

The verdict on what caused inflation to reach a 40-year high in 2022 has mixed research findings. Some drew a much more direct link between inflation and increased government spending during the Biden administration. But many economists recognize that a confluence of factors caused prices to go up across the American economy, including the pandemic that snarled supply chains and geopolitical fallout, specifically Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, that triggered food and energy price shocks.

Democratic Rep. Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico held a sign that read “this is not normal” as President Donald Trump greeted lawmakers upon entering the chamber before his address to a joint session of Congress.

An individual across the aisle appeared to snatch the sign from Stansbury’s hands after Trump passed by the lawmaker.

President Donald Trump is now delivering his address to a joint session of Congress.

The address will be heavily focused on his domestic agenda, an official told CNN, with Trump previewing his core policy proposals for the next four years.

The speech is also expected to act as an extension and explanation of what his administration has done since he was inaugurated in January. He will face his biggest audience yet as he pushes for congressional Republicans, who have narrow majorities, to turn his agenda into law.

Here are some of the key things to keep in mind:

President Donald Trump has just entered the chamber for his address to a joint session of Congress tonight.

He is expected to outline the swift actions of his first weeks in office and look ahead to the next four years, according to excerpts of the speech from the White House.

As he walked down the aisle to the dais, he stopped to shake hands with lawmakers lining the path. Cheers filled the chamber, but some Democrats stayed seated and silent.

The president also greeted the Supreme Court justices in attendance.

Lawmakers often invite guests to attend a presidential address to Congress in an effort to draw attention to key issues for their party. House Speaker Mike Johnson’s guests include Tom Homan, President Donald Trump’s border czar, as Trump and congressional Republicans have made countering illegal immigration a key pillar of their agenda.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ guests include one New Yorker who Jeffries said received critical health care through Medicaid. This comes as Democrats are warning that Medicaid could be at risk for cuts as congressional Republicans work to advance Trump’s legislative agenda. Johnson has said that Republicans will not make cuts to Medicaid, Medicare or Social Security as they work to pass — and pay for — Trump’s agenda, but he has said that the GOP will target “fraud, waste and abuse” in those programs.

President Donald Trump’s Cabinet members entered the House chamber moments ago after first lady Melania Trump.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio led the Cabinet into the chamber.

Here’s a look at the Cabinet members confirmed so far by the Senate:

First lady Melania Trump has entered the chamber for President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress.

The first lady has 15 guests — including a teenage girl bullied with AI-generated deepfakes, the family of the firefighter killed during the Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and the mother and sister of slain student Laken Riley.

Her guests represent key administration accomplishments — from an executive order banning transgender women from women’s sports to its efforts to bring home Marc Fogel, an American who was wrongfully imprisoned by Russia.

They also represent issues the administration has vowed to tackle, including a push by the first lady to pass a bill to protect Americans from AI-generated deepfake and revenge pornography, to the economy and border security.

President Donald Trump will blame on surging egg price squarely on the previous administration, according to speech excerpts released by the White House ahead of his speech.

But America’s egg crisis is largely due to a highly pathogenic bird flu that resulted in the deaths of more than 40 million egg-laying birds last year, according to the US Department of Agriculture.

“Joe Biden especially let the price of EGGS get out of control—and we are working hard to get it back down,” Trump said in the excerpts.

With fewer birds laying fewer eggs, prices have skyrocketed: Egg prices soared 15.2% in January from December, according to the Consumer Price Index, the biggest monthly increase since June 2015.

In January, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said egg prices have continued to surge because “the Biden administration and the Department of Agriculture directed the mass killing of more than 100 million chickens, which has led to a lack of chicken supply in this country, therefore lack of egg supply, which is leading to the shortage.”

At a moment when President Donald Trump and the Supreme Court appear to be on a collision course, four justices have made their way across the street to the Capitol to attend the president’s address.

Chief Justice John Roberts along with Justices Elena Kagan, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett are taking their seats in the first row of the House chamber. Kavanaugh and Barrett were both nominated by Trump during his first term.

The justices, eager to appear nonpolitical, are always awkward guests at the annual speech — sitting in stony-faced silence as one side of the chamber repeatedly erupts into applause. That tension may be even more pronounced this year, given the frequent flirtations by Trump and his allies about ignoring court orders they dislike.

The Supreme Court is currently reviewing a high-profile emergency appeal from the Trump administration about foreign aid after the administration froze that congressional-authorized spending earlier this year. A decision in that case is expected later this week.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, who retired during Trump’s first term, is also attending the president’s address.

Five justices are not in attendance this evening: Sonia Sotomayor, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Ketanji Brown Jackson and Clarence Thomas.

During President Donald Trump’s first speech to a joint session of Congress in his first term, he spoke for just over one hour. Follow along as CNN tracks the approximate length of his speech tonight and see how it compares to other first joint session addresses of past presidents.

Just minutes before President Donald Trump addresses a joint session of Congress, the White House released excerpts of his speech. Here is a look at some of what we’ll hear from Trump tonight:

“Six weeks ago, I stood beneath the dome of this Capitol and proclaimed the dawn of the Golden Age of America. From that moment on, it has been nothing but swift and unrelenting action to usher in the greatest and most successful era in the history of our country. We have accomplished more in 43 days than most administrations accomplish in 4 years or 8 years—and we are JUST GETTING STARTED. I return to this chamber tonight to report that America’s MOMENTUM is back. Our SPIRIT is back. Our PRIDE is back. Our CONFIDENCE is back. And the American Dream is surging—bigger and better than ever before. The American Dream is UNSTOPPABLE, and our country is on the verge of a comeback the likes of which the world has never witnessed, and perhaps will never witness again.”

On the state of the country:

“Now, for the first time in modern history, more Americans believe that our country is headed in the RIGHT direction than the WRONG direction—an astonishing record 27-point swing since Election Day alone. Likewise, small business optimism saw its single largest one-month gain ever recorded—a 41-point jump. Over the past 6 weeks, I have signed nearly 100 Executive Orders and taken more than 400 Executive Actions to restore COMMON SENSE, safety, optimism, and wealth all across our wonderful land. The People elected me to do the job, and I am doing it. In fact, it has been stated by many that the first month of our presidency is the most successful in the history of our nation.”

On the economy:

“Among my very highest priorities is to rescue our economy and get dramatic and immediate relief to working families. As you know, we inherited, from the last administration, an economic catastrophe and an inflation nightmare. Their policies drove up energy prices, pushed up the cost of groceries, and drove the necessities of life out of reach for millions of Americans. We suffered the worst inflation in 48 years, but perhaps even in the history of our country. As President, I am fighting every day to reverse this damage and Make America AFFORDABLE Again.”

On Ukraine:

“I am also working tirelessly to end the savage conflict in Ukraine. Millions of Ukrainians and Russians have been needlessly killed or wounded in this horrific and brutal conflict, with no end in sight. The United States has sent hundreds of billions of dollars to support Ukraine’s defense. Meanwhile, Europe has sadly spent more money buying Russian Oil and Gas than they have spent on defending Ukraine – by far! And Biden has authorized more money in this fight than Europe has spent.”

Democratic members plan to coordinate their outfits to make their political points in the audience at President Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress, according to Democratic sources.

Some Democrats are planning to wear blue-and-yellow scarves and other attire to match the color of the Ukrainian flag.

Democratic women have been asked to wear pink to signify “protest and power,” one Democratic source said.

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus are also urging their colleagues to all wear black.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins is this year’s designated survivor, according to a White House official, retreating from Washington to an undisclosed location during President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress Tuesday evening.

Collins will stay away from the US Capitol, fulfilling the annual task of remaining outside the House chamber during the president’s speech in case disaster strikes.

Collins became Veterans Affairs secretary on February 5.

The Veterans Affairs secretary is 17th in the presidential line of succession, which was outlined in the Presidential Succession Act of 1792 and updated during the Truman administration’s Presidential Succession Act of 1947.

For Trump’s first speech to Congress in 2017, Trump’s Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin was the designated survivor. The next year, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue had the honor. Energy Secretary Rick Perry held the role in 2019, and Interior Secretary David Bernhardt in 2020.

Most of Trump’s Cabinet picks for his new term have been confirmed by Congress to date. Trump’s selection for Labor secretary, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, has not been confirmed and therefore is not eligible to be in the line of succession.

This is the current presidential line of succession:

Vice President JD Vance is now entering the chamber for President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress.

He is walking in with other lawmakers, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune, shaking hands as he comes down the aisle.

President Donald Trump will address a joint session of the 119th Congress on Tuesday for the first time in his second term. House Speaker Mike Johnson formally invited Trump in late January to speak, asking the president to share his “America First vision for our legislative future.”

Although this speech isn’t technically a “State of the Union” address, it’s a similarly orchestrated affair full of pomp and ceremony. It’s an opportunity for Trump to outline his administration’s goals and address the nation’s most pressing issues.

When Trump takes the dais on Tuesday night, Vice President JD Vance and Johnson are expected to be seated behind him on either side.

In front of the president, Cabinet members, Supreme Court justices, Joint Chiefs of Staff, former members of Congress and members of the diplomatic corps will be seated. Seats in the rest of the chamber are not assigned, according to the Congressional Research Service. Senators and House members are seated on a first-come, first-served basis.

Presidents and first ladies also typically invite about two dozen guests to sit in the gallery, to help put a human face to a president’s message. Elon Musk will also be in the House chamber, a White House official told CNN.

One person will be absent during the speech: the designated survivor. The designated survivor is a member of the Cabinet chosen to remain in a secure location during the speech in case of catastrophe, to ensure continuity of government.

CNN’s Jeff Zeleny contributed reporting to this post.

Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey said he is attending President Donald Trump’s address to Congress Tuesday night out of respect for the presidency, but noted that he does not “have a lot of respect for what this president is doing.”

“This is a vaunted tradition. I want to be here and show my respect to the institutions that I think [President Donald Trump] in many ways is disrespecting,” Booker told CNN’s Dana Bash in the National Statuary Hall at the Capitol ahead of the address.

Some Democrats have made it clear they have no interest in attending the speech, including veteran Rep. Maxine Waters of California and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.

Booker went on to say that Trump has “a lot of explaining to do” tonight when it comes to his delivery on campaign promises like health, safety and prices in America.

“There are so many things he said that he would do, some of them he bragged about doing in his first day. Well here you’ve had more than a month and we see things moving in the opposite direction,” Booker said.

In terms of Democrats’ reactions tonight, the New Jersey senator said he wants “people to be their authentic selves.”

“This is not about performance politics. Let’s leave that to the carnival barker that he’s been in the past,” Booker said of Trump.

CNN’s Manu Raju and Sarah Ferris contributed reporting.

Alabama Republican Sen. Katie Britt praised President Donald Trump’s handling of the ongoing tit-for-tat over tariffs with Canada and Mexico ahead of the president’s address to a joint session of Congress, saying Trump is using tactics that could “bring people to the table.”

“We heard Howard Lutnik today say that he was already talking to Canada, already talking to Mexico,” Britt said on CNN Tuesday, referring to the Commerce Department secretary who said earlier today that a trade deal with those two countries could be reached as soon as tomorrow. “I think you will see more of that.”

She also suggested Trump was wielding the threat of tariffs as a “bargaining chip.”

“At the end of the day, he campaigned on making sure that America was safe and secure,” Britt said, adding Trump is going to “use all the tools at his disposal” to accomplish that.

Britt, who delivered the Republican response last year to then-President Joe Biden’s final State of the Union address, said she texted Michigan Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin to congratulate her on being chosen to deliver this year’s rebuttal against Trump.

“I mean, it is a huge honor to be selected by your party to speak on a national stage, and she’ll do a great job,” Britt said.

President Donald Trump is now departing the White House for his address to a joint session of Congress at Capitol Hill.

His address tonight will act as an extension — and explanation — of the rapid change he’s unleashed in just 44 days of his new term, his aides told CNN.

First lady Melania Trump accompanied the president in his motorcade.

Elon Musk will be sitting in the White House guest box for President Donald Trump’s address to Congress, according to a person familiar with the arrangement.

The move only highlights his standing in Trump’s orbit, as Musk has proven to be one of the most influential — and controversial — figures in the president’s second term.

The Internal Revenue Service is drafting plans to cut its workforce by as much as half through a mix of layoffs, attrition and incentivized buyouts, according to two people familiar with the situation.

The people spoke Tuesday on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to disclose the plans.

The layoffs are part of the Trump administration’s efforts to shrink the size of the federal workforce through billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency by closing agencies, laying off nearly all probationary employees who have not yet gained civil service protection and offering buyouts to almost all federal employees through a “deferred resignation program” to quickly reduce the government workforce.

A reduction in force of tens of thousands of employees would render the IRS “dysfunctional,” said John Koskinen, a former IRS commissioner.

Representatives for the White House, the Treasury Department and IRS did not respond to an Associated Press request for comment. The New York Times first reported the deliberations.

The federal tax collector employs roughly 90,000 workers total across the United States, according to the latest IRS data. People of color make up 56% of the IRS workforce, and women represent 65%.

Already, about 7,000 probationary IRS employees with roughly one year or less of service were laid off from the organization in February.

Senate Democrats planning to attend President Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress Tuesday night told CNN they expect the president to be the “spectacle” of the evening, while the Democratic Party intends to make a statement through the guests they bring.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who will bring a recently fired inspector general, predicted that Trump’s remarks would be “contentious” and “hit all the usual themes,” which he argued would not be “very appealing to the American people.”

Asked by CNN what he would say to Democrats who may be inclined to shout out responses to the president as he speaks, Blumenthal said, “Donald Trump is going to be the spectacle.”

“I think a lot of what he’s going to say is so false, so delusional that all we need to do is let him go forward and then afterward present the truth. He’s going to say that we’re giving him hell, but all we’re doing is giving him the truth and he’ll think it’s hell,” he said.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren said she’ll bring a recently fired federal employee from Massachusetts who had been working to procure scientific research money, explaining, “firing him is the opposite of efficiency. It is actually just cutting off our hands so we can’t do the work that we need to do.”

“Donald Trump needs to look at those people and answer to them,” she added.

Asked to respond to the Democrats boycotting the speech, Warren told CNN, “I can only speak for myself. I will be there with someone who Donald Trump and Elon Musk have turned his life upside down after he has made a commitment to public service, serves all of us, and helps bring more money into the United States.”

“We should say ‘thank you’ to these employees, not turn around and fire them with a chainsaw and try to insult them at every opportunity,” she said.

A teenage girl bullied with AI-generated deepfakes, the family of the firefighter killed during the Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and the mother and sister of slain student Laken Riley are among those headed to the US Capitol Tuesday evening where President Donald Trump is set to deliver an address to a joint session of Congress.

Trump’s remarks will both touch on his accomplishments of the first six weeks of his presidency and offer a preview of upcoming priorities as he has reimagined the use of executive authority, shifted the role of the US in the world and transformed the size and scope of the federal government. The theme of Tuesday’s address, according to the White House, is “the renewal of the American dream.”

And the guest list for first lady Melania Trump’s box could offer a blueprint for what to expect from the speech. Each guest has a connection to a Trump administration policy.

The first lady’s 15 guests represent key administration accomplishments — from an executive order banning transgender women from women’s sports to its efforts to bring home Marc Fogel, an American who was wrongfully imprisoned by Russia. They also represent issues the administration has vowed to tackle, including a push by the first lady to pass a bill to protect Americans from AI-generated deepfake and revenge pornography to the economy and border security.

“These men, women, and families come from all different walks of life with incredible stories about the disaster wrought by the previous administration, and the historic achievements President Trump has already enacted,” the White House said in a statement.

Here’s more on Melania Trump’s guests who are expected to attend tonight’s joint congressional address.

CNN’s Zoe Sottile, Clare Foran, and Jennifer Hansler contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump is expected to tout the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) efforts to slash government spending tonight just as his administration announced earlier today that they are considering selling off hundreds of federal buildings, including FBI and Department of Justice headquarters.

The administration says it could save hundreds of millions of dollars. This announcement comes as CNN has learned DOGE is discussing plans to put agencies in shared workspace.

President Donald Trump has spent the last several hours putting the finishing touches on his speech, fully aware that his congressional address will likely provide him one of the biggest audiences of his second term.

He is expected to run through it a final time before leaving the White House, aides say.

While the speech has been carefully crafted and the president mostly plans to stay reading from the prompter, he is prepared to go off script — and off prompter — if Democrats seriously disrupt his speech, two people familiar with the situation said. The White House has been cautioned by House Republicans in advance that some Democrats are planning to walk out or protest his remarks.

Trump is prepared to “call them out” if they do, the sources told CNN.

Tension is building in the House Democratic Caucus over President Donald Trump’s speech as Democratic leaders want their rank-and-file to show restraint — and progressive members are weighing whether to defy their leadership team and mount a protest over his actions, according to multiple lawmakers.

The anger and division over tactics bubbled up in private meetings throughout the week, including on Tuesday as House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and his top deputies counseled their colleagues to not distract from the party’s overall message about the real-world effects of Trump’s government purge.

Among the suggestions from Jeffries: No signs, no props and no attention-grabbing stunts that could be seized upon by the GOP.

That prompted some pushback in a Tuesday caucus meeting.

“I’m f**king pissed,” said Rep. Mark Pocan, a progressive Wisconsin Democrat, contending that their voters and the base would get upset if Democrats don’t make their opposition clearly known, according to multiple people in the room.

Democratic sources told CNN that Pocan and other members may still defy Democratic leadership at the speech and protest Trump — potentially with signs and props. Members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and others have discussed holding up signs that say “true/false” and “lying” — along with bringing cartons of eggs to show the high prices of eggs facing US consumers.

Yet some Democrats made clear they had no interest in attending the speech, including veteran Rep. Maxine Waters of California — an ardent foe of Trump’s — who stood up and declared she planned to boycott the address. Other progressives, like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, also plan to skip the speech.

The speech that President Donald Trump will soon deliver to a joint session of Congress will act as an extension — and explanation — of the rapid change he’s unleashed in just 44 days of his new term.

The White House announced Monday evening that “The Renewal of the American Dream” is the theme of the speech.

Here’s what to watch during Trump’s first address to Congress of his new administration:

• Will there be specifics?: After winning the popular vote, Trump now faces pressure to deliver on campaign promises, like lowering prices. He will likely address his plan to do so, although the specific contours of his speech were still coming together Monday.

• Explaining whiplash-inducing changes: Since taking office a second time, Trump has overseen a dramatic reshaping of the federal government, much of it at the hand of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and Elon Musk, who will be held up as a leading example of the administration’s swift action to change Washington.

• Rallying the GOP Congress: Trump is poised to rally Republicans behind his agenda, advisers said, as House and Senate Republicans remain in disagreement over how to enact a budget that aims to reduce spending, protect Social Security and make permanent the signature tax cuts from Trump’s first term.

• Foreign affairs: Trump will heavily focus on his domestic agenda, an official told CNN. Still, one of the main areas of interest is how the president uses the global stage to address the wars abroad, specifically between Russia and Ukraine — and how hard a line he takes against Ukraine after pausing aid.

Read the full list of things to watch for in Trump’s speech.

CNN’s Jeff Zeleny contributed to this report.

Thousands of federal workers have been laid off or issued immediate termination notifications as part of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s plan to cut spending and downsize the federal government.

CNN is tracking the chaotic and rapidly evolving situation at federal offices in Washington and across the United States, including the percentage of workers impacted at select agencies, reactions from fired workers and more context about the size of the federal workforce across all 50 states.

Here is what we know about the cuts so far, by select federal departments and agencies:

Read more about the cuts to the federal workforce here.

Some of President Donald Trump’s staunchest congressional allies warned they will take action to rebuke Democrats if any disrupt President Donald Trump’s speech to Congress tonight.

GOP lawmakers from the far-right House Freedom Caucus said on X they would censure any Democrats who “use noisemakers, make threats, throw things or otherwise disrupt” the speech.

Censure is typically a rare move by lawmakers and amounts to a significant rebuke of a member of Congress, though it does not carry an explicit penalty beyond a public admonition of a lawmaker and is not as severe as expulsion. The House can vote to censure a member.

“Our colleagues are on notice that the heckler’s veto will not be tolerated. You will be censured,” the House Freedom Caucus said in a post on X.

One of the group’s members, GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert, interrupted former President Joe Biden’s State of the Union speech in 2022.

California Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker, on Tuesday recalled tearing up a copy of President Donald Trump’s speech in 2020 after his State of the Union address.

“Hopefully he won’t lie so much this time. It was a manifesto of lies, as I said at the time. So maybe he will tell the truth this time. Will see if he’s capable of that,” she told CNN.

For decades, first speeches by newly-inaugurated presidents were treated markedly different by the public than run-of-the-mill State of the Union speeches — part of the broader presidential “honeymoon” phase. In recent years, however, that pattern has frayed.

President Donald Trump never saw much of a honeymoon during his first term, and the reaction to his initial address to Congress reflected that. His message to Congress in 2017 did not yield an improvement in his overall approval rating, despite the speech being well received among those who tuned in to watch. President Joe Biden, who delayed his first address to the nation until April 2021, also saw little subsequent change to his approval rating.

A note about the audience: It is extremely important to bear in mind the highly partisan nature of the audience when interpreting poll results after State of the Union speeches. Polls conducted immediately after State of the Union addresses NEVER reflect the views of all Americans.

Trump’s first-year speech to Congress in 2017 did not yield an improvement in his overall approval rating, despite the address being well received among those who tuned in to watch (57% of speech-watchers had a “very positive” reaction in CNN’s poll).

What to remember: President’s annual speeches, whether traditional State of the Union addresses or first-year addresses to Congress, draw significant attention, and are typically well-received by the friendly audience that tends to tune in. But they rarely have major, lasting impact on a president’s standing in the eyes of the public and the effect they do have isn’t always positive.

US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in an interview with Fox News that measles vaccination “in highly unvaccinated communities like the Mennonites, it’s something we recommend, but we also understand there is a lot of mistrust of the vaccines.”

One hundred fifty-nine measles cases have been reported in the ongoing outbreak in West Texas, the Texas Department of Health Services said today. Twenty-two patients have been hospitalized. The majority of the cases are in Gaines County, which is home to a large unvaccinated Mennonite population.

“There are people who should not be vaccinated in the community because they have autoimmune problems or other immune problems. If you do get vaccinated, you are protecting those people from a possible spread,” Kennedy said in the interview which aired today.

Kennedy described delivering vitamin A – which the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends for children with severe measles – and providing ambulance assistance from Gaines County. He also mentioned “good results” from the use of the steroid budesonide, the antibiotic clarithromycin and cod liver oil.

Beyond the CDC guidelines on vitamin A, there’s no set treatment regimen for measles because cases in the US have been generally rare. Clarithromycin could be used in an attempt to prevent secondary bacterial infections like pneumonia, but evidence for that is limited. Budesonide is a steroid with a variety of uses, but it’s not clear how it might help someone with measles.

“What we’re trying to do is really to restore faith in government and to make sure that we are there to help them with their needs, and not particularly to dictate what they ought to be doing,” Kennedy said.

On Tuesday, March 4, 2025, President Donald Trump will deliver his first address to Congress since retaking office. Including his first term, this will be Trump’s fifth address to Congress. But since this is Trump’s first address of the new administration, it’s technically not a State of the Union.

Here’s why: In recent decades new presidents have not called their first speech before a Joint Session of Congress a “State of the Union.” They are often referred to as an “annual message” or a message or address on a particular topic. The first address for Biden in 2021 and Trump in 2017 were both called “Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress.”

A “joint session” of Congress is an official, working session of Congress. All State of the Union or annual message addresses are delivered before a “joint session” — not a “joint meeting.” Generally, only US Presidents address Joint Sessions of Congress.

A “Joint Meeting” of Congress is a less formal gathering and is not an official working session of Congress. Over the years, various prominent Americans and foreign leaders have addressed Joint Meetings of Congress.

History of the address and its terminology: The US Constitution requires the president to brief Congress on the state of the union. The idea originated from a ritual from the British monarchy. The king or queen gives a speech from the throne at the opening session of the British Parliament. The “State of the Union” address used to be known as “the President’s Annual Message to Congress,” until President Harry Truman started using the term “State of the Union” officially in 1947.

Robert Yoon, Adam Levy, Liz Stark and Melissa DePalo contributed to the report.

A government watchdog agency is pushing back on the Trump administration’s mass firing of federal workers, seeking the temporary reinstatement of 5,000 probationary employees who were let go from the Department of Agriculture.

Hampton Dellinger, the head of the Office of the Special Counsel who has been temporarily reinstated to his job after being fired by President Donald Trump, filed the request Friday with the Merit Systems Protection Board.

The Office of the Special Counsel, or OSC, “has reasonable grounds to believe that USDA engaged in prohibited personnel practices,” Friday’s filing said.

“In most cases, probationary employees in the competitive service may only be terminated if their performance or conduct demonstrates that they are unfit for federal employment,” the filing continued, adding that if the firings were part of “a general restructuring or downsizing” then the “reduction in force” process must be initiated and related procedures must be followed.

Dellinger’s office requested a pause of the firings of those USDA employees for 45 days and provided the names of the employees, which was asked for by the US Merit System Protection Board.

The OSC is unrelated to special counsels like Jack Smith and Robert Mueller, who investigated Trump. The office handles allegations of whistleblower retaliation made on behalf of federal employees — including some who are also losing their jobs as Trump attempts to rapidly shrink the size of the executive branch.

CNN’s Katelyn Polantz and John Fritze contributed reporting to this post.

In wake of legal pushback, the Trump administration today revised a memo about probationary federal employees, specifying that agencies choose whether to lay them off and not the Office of Personnel Management.

“Please note that, by this memorandum, OPM is not directing agencies to take any specific performance-based actions regarding probationary employees,” reads a new paragraph in the memo, which was initially released January 20. “Agencies have ultimate decision making authority over, and responsibility for, such personnel actions.”

The update comes days after a federal judge halted layoffs at some agencies, saying that OPM does not have the authority to direct other agencies to dismiss their employees and that the mass firings of the probationary staffers were likely unlawful. An independent federal board last week also temporarily reinstated six probationary workers who were let go, finding their terminations were likely unlawful.

Tens of thousands of probationary workers, who are typically in their positions for less than one or two years and have fewer job protections, have been laid off in recent weeks as the Trump administration seeks to downsize the federal workforce.

The revision of the memo “is a clear admission that [OPM] unlawfully directed federal agencies to carry out mass terminations of probationary employees,” said Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, which sued the Trump administration over the dismissals.

Michael Fallings, a federal employment law expert and managing partner at Tully Rinckey, told CNN that the update does not change the fact that the layoffs were illegal.

Hours after President Donald Trump was inaugurated, OPM issued the original memo directing agencies to draw up lists of their probationary workers and determine whether they should be retained. In mid-February, OPM instructed agencies to move forward with the layoffs.

Top Trump officials have had backchannel conversations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his team following Friday’s Oval Office dustup, two sources familiar with the discussions told CNN.

The Trump officials stressed the importance of stabilizing relations with the White House sooner rather than later and urged the Ukrainians to get talks back on track before the president’s speech to Congress Tuesday night, the sources said.

Among those who reached out to Zelensky is Trump’s Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, one of the sources said. The warning was quickly followed by Zelensky’s X post on Tuesday morning calling the Oval Office meeting “regrettable.”

As of Tuesday evening, one White House official told CNN the rare minerals deal with Ukraine had not yet been signed. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who is directly involved in the discussions over the deal, told Fox News there is currently no plans for it to be signed before Trump’s speech, which is set for around 9 p.m. ET.

However, the White House official argued that the Trump administration is confident the discussions on resurrecting the minerals deal were heading in the right direction.

The president — who plans to address the wars abroad during his speech, including the war between Ukraine and Russia — is eager to declare a win on the minerals deal, the official said.

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that President Donald Trump could announce a trade deal with Mexico and Canada as soon as tomorrow, just one day after the US imposed punishing tariffs on the two nations and sparked retaliatory levies.

“I think he’s going to work something out with them,” Lutnick said on Fox Business. “It’s not going to be a pause, none of that pause stuff, but I think he’s going to figure out, you do more, and I’ll meet you in the middle some way, and we’re going to probably be announcing that tomorrow.”

The White House imposed 25% across-the board tariffs on Mexican imports and on most Canadian imports early Tuesday. Canada responded swiftly, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announcing plans to implement a 25% tariff on C$30 billion ($20.7 billion) of US goods immediately, followed by an additional C$125 billion ($86.2 billion) in 21 days’ time. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said she would will unveil Mexico’s response on Sunday.

Lutnick said he had spoken with both Canadian and Mexican representatives about trade among the three countries.

And a Canadian government source confirmed to CNN that Canadian Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc spoke with the US Commerce secretary today.

CNN’s Elijah Shama contributed to this post, which was updated with details on conversations Lutnick had today with officials from Canada and Mexico.

President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canada and Mexico could severely impact the economies of both countries, potentially slowing down production of certain goods, raising prices on products and sparking fears of a recession, analysts warn.

The US on Tuesday imposed 25% tariffs on imports from both of its neighbors, as well as a 10% tax on Canadian energy.

Though both countries have also warned they will impose reciprocal tariffs that will affect the US economy, Canada and Mexico stand to lose far more because they depend so heavily on America for trade. The US is considered their largest export market.

Impact on Canada: Canada’s car manufacturing and energy sectors will be among the most affected, said Drew Fagan, a professor at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. According to the US Census Bureau, about $185 billion worth of goods in those sectors are imported into the United States from Canada. Canada is also considered the single largest supplier of energy to the US. In 2023, it provided approximately 60% of crude oil imports to the US, 85% of electricity imports and 99% of natural gas imports, according to the Canadian government.

Impact on Mexico: Like Canada, Mexico’s car manufacturing industry is deeply intertwined with the United States and heavily dependent on American consumers. The US imported $87 billion worth of motor vehicles and $64 billion worth of vehicle parts from Mexico last year, excluding December, according to the Department of Commerce. Tariffs would make these products more expensive for US consumers — so much so that Americans could stop buying from Mexico, and that could subsequently affect the Mexican economy, said Jason Marczak, vice president and senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center.

Read more tariff analysis here.

When he steps onto the dais in the House chamber on Tuesday night, President Donald Trump will have another major platform to relay his second-term priorities. For Democrats, the moment will present a fresh test of whether they can effectively counter Trump’s prime-time programming.

Democratic leadership chose a first-term senator elected in a battleground state Trump won in November to deliver the party’s official response. A Democratic senator whose name is often talked about for 2028 is among those skipping the address, predicting it will be a “MAGA pep rally.” And a protest movement organizing online has identified March 4 — the day of Trump’s speech — as its next day of action.

The varying tactics of Democrats in Washington and across the country will be on display as Trump delivers his address to a joint session of Congress six weeks into a second term during which he’s swiftly moved to remake the federal government and implement his foreign policy vision, at times unnerving US allies.

While Democrats have rallied against Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency cuts, lawmakers in Washington have struggled to stop the president’s early actions or settle on a cohesive approach to push back on them. It comes amid a debate within the Democratic Party about the best way to handle Trump’s second term and position Democrats for success in the 2026 midterms and 2028 presidential election — with some saying party leaders aren’t doing enough.

Heading into Tuesday’s speech, Democratic leaders — from Capitol Hill to the Democratic National Committee — are hoping to present a united front.

Read more about what Democrats are doing

Pete Marocco, the Trump appointee behind the sweeping changes in US foreign assistance and at the US Agency for International Development (USAID), is expected to brief the House Foreign Affairs Committee behind closed doors on Wednesday, a congressional source told CNN.

The source said the briefing is members-only and not classified. CNN has reached out to the State Department and the committee for comment.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is also serving as acting administrator of USAID, delegated Marocco “authority to perform the duties of the Deputy Administrator of USAID, to begin the process of engaging in a review and potential reorganization of USAID’s activities to maximize efficiency and align operations with the national interest,” he told Congress in early February.

Marocco is also serving as the director of foreign assistance at the State Department.

More context: Congressional Democrats have reacted with frustration and alarm at the major moves taken under Marocco and his team at USAID, which have had consequences for US workers. At a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing Tuesday, numerous Democratic lawmakers called for Rubio to testify.

Under Marocco’s tenure overseeing US foreign assistance and USAID, the State Department put in place a sweeping foreign aid freeze with immediate stop work orders on nearly all foreign assistance work, pending a review. Marocco is the one who drafted that directive.

The Trump administration said in a court filing last week it had finished that review and terminated nearly 10,000 foreign aid awards. Some of that funding went to programs that had received waivers to continue lifesaving work.

Marocco is a named defendant in a number of lawsuits challenging the changes, including one before the Supreme Court.

Democrats are rejecting House Republicans’ plan to pass a stopgap spending bill through the end of September, raising the s​​pecter of a government shutdown in President Donald Trump’s first 100 days and setting up a test of how far Democrats are willing to go to counter his administration.

Top Democrats in the House and Senate are sharply opposed to Speaker Mike Johnson’s strategy for a six-month funding extension, insisting it would give even more leeway to Trump and Elon Musk to slash government programs. They also fear that agreeing to the GOP’s lengthy extension could weaken some of the only leverage they have in a GOP-controlled Congress, and could potentially damage an argument in court cases challenging the White House’s spending actions.

With Republicans in control of Washington, Democrats are limited in what they can do, but Republicans will need their votes to pass a spending bill through Congress, creating an opportunity for the party locked out of power to make demands and potentially extract concessions.

But, Republican leaders still believe that Democrats will ultimately fold in the face of a possible shutdown after the March 14 deadline and deliver the votes to help a funding bill reach Trump’s desk. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries have not yet communicated a plan to their members.

Other options: If Democrats remain dug in, Johnson would need to deliver the votes for his so-called clean continuing resolution with Republican support alone. But with a small majority — and two Republicans, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Tony Gonzales of Texas, already opposed — Johnson may fall short of the votes he needs to execute on that plan, too.

Read more about what Democrats are saying about the upcoming funding deadline

“Evict Elon!” was the passionate chant of protesters outside the Office of Personnel Management in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, as dozens of terminated federal employees and their supporters gathered to call for Elon Musk and his colleagues at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to be removed from the premises.

The rally was led by the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest union of government workers in the US, representing over 800,000 people.

CNN spoke with two employees who were terminated from the OPM, both of whom said their firings came with very little warning.

Shernice Mundell, an insurance health specialist at the department, said her termination came on February 13 in the form of an email, which linked to a video call. It was pre-recorded, she said, not a live person speaking with her, and it instructed her that she had until 3 p.m. that day to get her affairs in order.

Karen Fenner, who worked at the OPM’s Office of Procurement Operations, said she first got a heads up from the director of her division about the reduction in force notice on February 21, about 15 minutes before she and her colleagues received emails saying they were on administrative leave.

She said, “It was horrible. I mean, it was like our hearts stopped. … I’ve gone through every state of emotion.”

At least three members of Congress also attended the rally, including Democratic Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin and Virginia Rep. Don Beyer.

Van Hollen told CNN, “We want to shut down this illegal operation that Elon Musk is running.” Asked what his biggest concern is for the weeks and months ahead, Van Hollen said, “There’ve been comments out of folks at the White House that they might ignore court orders. That would be just another huge breach of our checks and balances and our constitutional framework.”

Near the end of the speeches, Beyer exhorted the crowd to keep up the fight. Drawing loud applause, Beyer added, “And when we do that, we’re gonna send Elon back to South Africa.”

President Donald Trump enacted 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico while also doubling the tariff on Chinese goods to 20% today, a move that will have immediate impacts on consumers and businesses.

The Trump administration said the tariffs were necessary to stem the flow of fentanyl into the United States. But the tariffs threaten to raise the prices Americans pay for a wide array of goods that are imported from the three nations. Over 40% of the goods America imported last year came from Canada, Mexico and China.

Following Trump’s increase in tariffs, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced retaliatory tariffs on some American goods on Tuesday. China also immediately retaliated with tariffs on US goods, threatening to ignite a damaging trade war. Mexico said it would announce retaliatory measures on Sunday.

US stocks whipsawed Tuesday after Trump’s tariffs went into effect. After dropping by around 800 points in the morning, the Dow recouped its losses before plunging at the end of trading to close lower by around 670 points, or 1.55%, at 42,521. The broader S&P 500 fell 1.22% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.35%, paring some of its losses after dipping into correction territory earlier.

American retailers and farmers have already raised concerns about how the increase in tariffs will adversely impact them and consumers.

Here’s what industry experts are saying:

After visiting Brantley County, known as the Trumpiest county in Georgia, in the fall, CNN’s Elle Reeve returned to gauge sentiment one month into President Donald Trump’s second term in office.

She also discussed with residents their opinion of Elon Musk, tapped by Trump to run the Department of Government Efficiency.

More than 91% of the population of Brantley voted for Trump in November.
CNN’s Elle Reeve returns to Brantley County, Georgia, where she talks to residents about how they feel about Donald Trump’s first month in office, and his relationship with Elon Musk. #news #cnn
President Donald Trump is mindful of the skepticism and criticism he is facing from many Republican lawmakers over an emerging trade war with Canada, Mexico and China, which threatens to close trading markets and raise prices.

White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and other top advisers have been fielding calls “all day long,” one senior administration official tells CNN, with some of the loudest concerns coming from members of Congress representing the agriculture and manufacturing sectors. Trump’s comment telling “the great farmers of the United States” to “have fun” next month was among the complaints lodged.

However, the president, basking in a popular vote victory and a sweep of battleground states in the election four months ago, is unfazed by the criticism, aides say.

But to deflect from the furious critiques over tariffs, Trump plans to shine a light in his speech tonight on a series of executive orders he has signed on cultural issues that are widely popular with the Trump base.

“Watch, our Republicans will be clapping all night long,” the senior administration official tells CNN.

Democratic senators are confident in Sen. Elissa Slotkin to deliver the party’s response speech to President Donald Trump’s congressional address tonight, and they shared messaging they hope the Michigan senator prioritizes.

“I hope she’ll just look right in the camera and say, ‘President Trump, stop firing veterans.’ He’s fired more veterans in six weeks than any president in the history of the United States, and he’s not done, and it’s time for him to stop firing veterans,” said Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine.

New York Sen. Richard Blumenthal said he hopes Slotkin talks about the state of “chaos and confusion” the country is in, highlighting high gas and grocery prices, rising “corruption” from Iran and Russia, and the federal layoffs and firings initiated by Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

“I am excited that she’s the person doing the response,” said New Jersey Sen. Andy Kim. “She’s the right person for the Democrats’ platform.”

Fellow Michigan senator Gary Peters said he hopes Slotkin brings a “good Michigan sensibility” and is “confident she is going to do a good job.”

Blumenthal, Kim and Kaine confirmed they will be attending Trump’s address. Peters said he was “still considering” sitting out the event.

Some context: The speech will give a high-profile platform to Slotkin, a former CIA analyst who in November held off an experienced Republican challenger in a state that voted for Trump. Congressional Democratic leaders views her as up-and-coming in the party and believe her ability to win a Senate seat in a state Trump won is evidence of her broad appeal to voters.

President Donald Trump campaigned on a promise to deport millions of undocumented immigrants residing in the United States, but so far, the pace of deportations has held steady compared to last year, according to a CNN analysis of deportation flight data.

The data, provided by Thomas Cartwright of the advocacy group Witness at the Border, which tracks publicly available information on ICE flights, reveals that the number of deportation flights so far are similar to those under the Biden administration.

While there are slight changes in the countries receiving flights, the pace is relatively stable between 2024 and 2025. The majority of flights also continue to go to Latin America.

How this breaks down: Since Trump took office, the United States has struck new agreements with multiple countries to accept third-country migrants — and in the case of Venezuela, restarted deportation flights.

According to the data, there are 14 countries that are new for this time period in 2025, compared with the same time last year, including Brazil, Panama, and India.

The top three destinations for repatriation flights were Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador — in line with previous administrations.

A group of House conservatives are planning to meet with President Donald Trump tomorrow as Republicans work to determine whether they have the GOP votes to fund the government, according to two sources familiar with the meeting.

Part of the discussion, according to one of the sources, will be about how the Trump administration will continue to make cuts to the federal government, which won’t be reflected in the package that would extend funding at current levels.

“It’s a meeting to get clarity from the president and his team on what they’re going to do to continue to constrain spending, through (the Department of Government Efficiency) DOGE, through (the Office of Management and Budget) OMB, through potential impoundments and like, what things will look like if we go ahead and fund things at the current level,” that source said.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said his Canadian province is responding to US tariffs by banning American companies from local procurement deals and “ripping up” an agreement with SpaceX’s Starlink to provide high-speed internet.

“We’re ripping up Ontario’s contract with Starlink. It’s done. It’s gone,” Ford said in a press briefing Tuesday.

Elon Musk’s company SpaceX had been set to offer its Starlink satellite internet service to some 15,000 homes and businesses in the province, according to an Ontario press release in November 2024.

Ford also threatened to apply a 25% surcharge on the electricity Ontario supplies to the US if the tariffs persist. “We will not hesitate to shut off their power as well,” Ford warned.

“We need to make sure America feels the pain,” he said, adding that the measures would primarily hurt states that support US President Donald Trump, whom he criticized for launching a trade war with Canada.

The Liquor Control Board of Ontario, considered the largest alcohol buyer in the world, is also removing US products from its store shelves, Ford said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he wants a “respectful dialogue” with the US, reiterating his desire to end the war with Russia.

In a video message on Tuesday, Zelensky said, “many people have one question: what will happen next with the aid from America?”

“People should not have to guess. Ukraine and America deserve a respectful dialogue, a clear position of each other. Especially when it comes to protecting lives during a full-scale war,” he said.

“What happened in the White House instead of our talks is regrettable,” Zelensky said, repeating an earlier tweet in which he referenced his disastrous meeting with US President Donald Trump last week and put forward terms of a potential ceasefire.

The Ukrainian president expressed the need to “find the strength to move on, to respect each other, as we have always respected America, Europe, and all our partners, and to do everything together to bring peace closer.”

Zelensky added that “the Russians have not changed their positions and demands” and that their asks are intended to weaken Ukraine.

“They will demand a reduction of our army, they will want a legal abandonment of our territories, and they will want a significant political deformation of Ukraine with a weakening of the Ukrainian Constitution,” Zelensky said.

He concluded his message by saying, “As long as we all in Ukraine stand together and firmly, as long as we are here, no one will succeed — the peace will be worthy.”

It will be smiles and handshakes when President Donald Trump bumps into several members of the Supreme Court on the House floor Tuesday evening before he delivers his first address to Congress of his second term.

But there have been subtle signs that the justices, in private, have been wringing their hands.

Dozens of lawsuits challenging Trump’s deluge of executive actions have put considerable scrutiny on federal courts in recent weeks — including the Supreme Court, which is considering two appeals tied to the new president’s flurry of executive orders.

Trump and his aides have repeatedly toyed with ignoring federal courts, a scenario that would give rise to a constitutional crisis. Trump appeared to channel Napoleon in a recent social media post by claiming that “he who saves his country does not violate any law.” More recently, two top Justice Department nominees were cagey when senators asked if the administration will adhere to all court orders.

On Tuesday, the gap between Trump’s teleprompter and the court’s front row seats may feel wider than ever — particularly if the president discusses the slew of adverse court rulings.

The court’s history with Trump: The Supreme Court, undeniably conservative, has already handed Trump high-profile victories, most notably last year’s decision that shielding presidents from criminal prosecution for official actions once they leave office. Not only did that decision go Trump’s way, critics complain the court’s timing essentially scuttled special counsel Jack Smith’s criminal charges.

And yet court has also ruled against Trump in other major cases since the election: In January, five justices voted to allow Trump to be sentenced in his New York hush money case. The court also upheld a ban on TikTok that same month that Trump urged the justices to pause. The court late last month allowed the head of an independent watchdog agency to stay on the job temporarily over the president’s objections.

Read more about the collision looming between Trump and the Supreme Court.

The chair of a critical agency that reviews federal employee firings can stay on the job, a judge ruled Tuesday, formally reversing President Donald Trump’s “unlawful” decision to fire her.

District Judge Rudolph Contreras handed a major victory to Cathy Harris, chair of the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), an independent agency that has the power to review and reverse federal employee firings. The little-known board has taken on new importance as Trump initiates mass government layoffs, leading to thousands of firings, and more on the way.

The judge ruled that Harris can remain on the board for the rest of her term, which expires in 2028, unless she is fired for cause, as specified by the statute that established the MSPB. Trump administration officials didn’t cite any cause when they attempted to fire her in early February.

“The President thus lacks the power to remove Harris from office at will. Because the President did not indicate that he sought to remove Harris for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office, his attempt to terminate her was unlawful and exceeded the scope of his authority,” Contreras wrote Tuesday in the ruling.

Why this matters: The ruling tees up a likely appeal from the Justice Department. The next stop would be the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, and then after that, the Supreme Court. This is one of a few ongoing cases where the Trump administration is fighting in court for the right to fire agency heads.

Harris is a Democrat who was appointed by President Joe Biden and confirmed by the Senate. She has said she wants to remain at the MSPB to help deal with the avalanche of claims, which have flooded in this past month, as Trump lays off thousands of federal workers.

The decision to keep Harris at her post is a boost to the agency. Without her, the MSPB would lose a quorum, hampering its ability to process new cases and issue final rulings on cases. One member of the three-person board retired Friday when his statutory term expired.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday responded to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, threatening to “immediately” increase reciprocal tariffs on the neighboring country.

“Please explain to Governor Trudeau, of Canada, that when he puts on a Retaliatory Tariff on the U.S., our Reciprocal Tariff will immediately increase by a like amount,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.

The US’ reciprocal tariffs, which could match other countries’ tariffs dollar for dollar, are set to go into effect April 2.

Trump’s response comes after Trudeau announced Canada will be implementing 25% tariffs against 155 billion Canadian dollar worth of American goods.

The Canadian prime minister said the US “launched a trade war against Canada” and that there was “absolutely no justification or need whatsoever” for the tariffs imposed by the US on Canada, which went into effect Tuesday.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham wrote on X that “better days are ahead” for Ukraine with a thumbs-up emoji, in response to a post from President Volodymyr Zelensky reiterating his country’s commitment to peace.

Graham had called President Donald Trump’s Oval Office meeting with Zelensky last week an “absolute, utter disaster” and criticized the Ukrainian president, despite having before been a staunch supporter of Ukraine in its war with Russia.

“Zelensky is either going to have to fundamentally change or go. I can’t believe most Americans, after what they saw today, would want to be partners with Zelensky. Ukraine is an important ally that fought like tigers. I don’t want Putin to win, I want to help you train, but it’s hard to help people who seem unable to realize the moment they’re in,” Graham said on Friday.

More on Zelensky’s statement: Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, sporting a Ukraine pin on his suit, told reporters Tuesday that he was “glad to hear” about Zelensky’s X post earlier that day about the rare minerals deal.

“I’m looking forward to a good discussion that gets to a mutually beneficial outcome for us, but I think with it has to be, at the very least, a push and a loss for Vladimir Putin. This cannot be a scenario where Putin wins, period,” Tillis said.

The senator also said Zelensky should be given some “leeway” when it comes to the tense Oval Office exchange with Trump on Friday.

“I’ve tried to figure out what it would feel like to have been the head of state for a country that has experienced systematic murder, rape, kidnapping and torture of tens of thousands of people, and I actually think that somebody under that pressure should be given a little bit of leeway when it comes to expressing frustration,” Tillis said.

This post has been updated with additional remarks from North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune reacted to the imposition of tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China by saying “nothing happens in a vacuum” and he expects there will be “reactions” to President Donald Trump’s move.

“I’m hoping they’re a means to an end and not the end itself. I think they’re hopefully temporary,” he said. “I think there’s a place for tariffs to be used selectively in a targeted way, and in this case, I think they’re directed at trying to get, you know, fentanyl off the streets in this country.”

The South Dakotan Republican added: “I’m, you know, coming from an agricultural state, I see the tariff issue through a different lens. And, you know, nothing happens in a vacuum. There are always reactions to actions that are taken.”

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso refused to answer on whether he thought the tariffs would hurt American consumers. He said people should not be surprised by Trump’s decisions because he ran on them.

“People are clearly aware that President Trump talked about tariffs all the way through the election, so they shouldn’t be surprised by this,” he said. “I was in Wyoming this past weekend talking to a number of cattle producers, beef producers. People are aware of what’s happening with tariffs the there’s a lot of faith in President Trump’s ability to make sure the focus remains on the economy and on prices.”

Asked if the people he had spoken to in Wyoming had taken preemptive steps to soften the impact of the tariffs on their bottom lines, Barrasso said, “No.”

Elon Musk will brief House Republicans on the “ongoing work” of the Department of Government Efficiency during a closed-door meeting at the US Capitol on Wednesday, according to a person who received an invitation.

The meeting will take place at 7 p.m. ET.

Here is what we know about the cuts so far, by select federal departments and agencies:

Canada will be implementing 25% tariffs against 155 billion Canadian dollars worth of American goods, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a press conference Tuesday.

Speaking from Ottawa, Trudeau said there was “absolutely no justification or need whatsoever” for the tariffs imposed by the US on Canada, which went into effect today.

“The United States launched a trade war against Canada, its closest partner and ally, their closest friend. At the same time they’re talking about working positively with Russia, appeasing Vladimir Putin: a lying, murderous dictator. Make that make sense,” the prime minister said.

The prime minister explained that 30 billion Canadian dollars worth of US goods would see tariffs immediately, while the remaining 125 billion Canadian dollars worth of goods would see tariffs in 21 days.

“Canadians are reasonable, and we are polite. But we will not back down from a fight. Not when our country — and the wellbeing of everyone in it — is at stake,” he said.

Trudeau added that Canada will file claims at the World Trade Organization, but in the meantime, “our tariffs will remain in place until the US tariffs are withdrawn and not a moment sooner.”

The prime minister also again hit back against US assertions about Canada being unwilling to help in the fight against illegal fentanyl.

He said the legal pretext Trump presented for the justification of the tariffs —“that Canada is apparently unwilling to help in the fight against illegal fentanyl” — is “totally false.”

“Our border is already safe and secure far less than 1% of fentanyl flows and less than 1% of illegal crossings into the United States comes from Canada,” he said.

Correction: An earlier version of this post misstated the currency of the goods that will see the tariffs. It is Canadian dollars.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a statement Tuesday that his Oval Office meeting last week with US President Donald Trump “did not go the way it was supposed to,” describing it as regrettable and noting that Ukraine is ready to negotiate.

“I would like to reiterate Ukraine’s commitment to peace,” Zelensky said on X. “None of us wants an endless war. Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer. Nobody wants peace more than Ukrainians. My team and I stand ready to work under President Trump’s strong leadership to get a peace that lasts.”

“Our meeting in Washington, at the White House on Friday, did not go the way it was supposed to be. It is regrettable that it happened this way. It is time to make things right. We would like future cooperation and communication to be constructive,” Zelensky said.

The Ukrainian leader also said Ukraine is ready to sign a deal on Ukraine’s minerals, which was meant to be signed on Friday until the disastrous Oval Office meeting led to Zelensky being told to leave the White House.

The framework that Zelensky laid out for a peace agreement is similar to the plan proposed by French President Emmanuel Macron after Sunday’s summit of Western leaders.

“We do really value how much America has done to help Ukraine maintain its sovereignty and independence. And we remember the moment when things changed when President Trump provided Ukraine with Javelins. We are grateful for this.”

A number of Democratic lawmakers have decided to not attend Donald Trump’s address to Congress tonight, the latest sign of party pushback against the president.

Democratic Rep. Becca Balint is hosting her own event along with Democratic Sens. Chris Murphy, Brian Schatz, Ed Markey and Angela Alsobrooks.

The event will include “real time fact-checking, a Democratic pre-buttal and live reactions,” according to a news release from Balint’s office.

“I watched as the President swore an oath to uphold and protect the constitution. I won’t sit and watch him lie to the American people again,” Balint, who attended Trump’s inauguration, said in a statement. “My conversation tonight will be the best way I can use my voice for Vermonters. They are sick of the lies and Trump’s complete and utter disregard for our constitution.”

Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters also said on Tuesday that she will not attend the president’s speech, adding that Trump should be “tried for treason” over being “aligned” with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin.

Democratic Reps. Gerry Connolly, Dwight Evans and Kweisi Mfume also announced on X they will not be attending Trump’s address.

Connolly, who has represented Virginia since 2009, said, “These are not normal times. The challenges my constituents face demand more than sitting in a chamber I revere, listening as if the person addressing our country is not unleashing chaos and cruelty on their lives. I cannot give audience to that.”

Evans said Trump hasn’t “earned the honor of my presence to listen to his speech in person tonight.”

“Donald Trump and Elon Musk are destroying the state of the union. I don’t need to be there to watch him claim otherwise,” Mfume said.

This post has been updated with additional lawmakers.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is set to speak shortly from Ottawa after the Trump administration imposed 25% tariffs on the country overnight.

As world leaders continue to react to President Donald Trump’s move to suspend US military aid to Ukraine, the European Union has unveiled a plan to allow member states to borrow €150 billion (or about $158 billion) to boost their defence spending and “massively step up” their military support for Kyiv.

In a statement Tuesday, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen announced a five-point proposal to boost European defense spending ahead of a high-stakes meeting of EU leaders in Brussels Thursday.

Trump’s sharp realignment of US foreign policy, including shifting away from aiding Ukraine and inching toward Russian President Vladimir Putin, has forced the bloc to urgently address its approach to defense.

“We are living in the most momentous and dangerous of times,” von der Leyen said, stressing the bloc must “live up” to the current “moment.”

Under the “ReArm Europe” plan, EU member states would be able to borrow to buy military equipment such as air and missile defenses, artillery systems, missiles, ammunition drones and anti-drone systems, von der Leyen said. The new loan instrument would help member states “massively step up their support to Ukraine” and provide Kyiv with “immediate military equipment,” von der Leyen added.

The EU would also be able to use its own budget “in the short term to direct more funds towards defense-related investments,” she said. National governments could be given the option to redirect money earmarked for projects focused on equalizing living standards between member states to defense instead.

Strict fiscal rules could also be loosened to allow member states to increase defense spending.

If member states were to increase their defense spending by 1.5% of gross domestic product on average, this could create “fiscal space” of nearly €650 billion (about $685 billion) over a four-year period, von der Leyen said.

This five-point plan could see the bloc mobilize up to €800 billion (or about $844 billion) overall for defense spending, according to von der Leyen.

Vice President JD Vance told reporters in an extended gaggle on Capitol Hill that Ukraine must “come to the table and start negotiating” in order for aid to be restored and that President Donald Trump is still committed to a rare minerals deal.

“We want the Ukrainians to have a sovereign and independent country. We think the Ukrainian troops have fought very bravely, but we’re at a point here where neither Europe nor the United States nor the Ukrainians can continue this war indefinitely,” Vance said.

“So it’s important that everybody come to the table. And the President is trying to send a very explicit message, the Ukrainians have got to come to the table and start negotiating with President Trump for the mineral deal.”

Pressed on whether he believes the rare mineral deal is still possible, Vance said, “I certainly do. And I think the President is still committed to the mineral deal. I think we’ve heard some positive things, but not yet, of course, a signature from our friends in Ukraine.”

Vance also accused the Ukrainians of having not been willing to “negotiate in good faith” and argued that the US hasn’t been treated fairly when it comes to Ukraine aid. “It’s really ridiculous, and frankly, an insult to the American people, that the Europeans are getting a better deal than the American people,” he said.

Some context: According to the Kiel Institute’s data, Europe – the European Union plus individual European countries – had collectively committed far more total wartime military, financial and humanitarian aid to Ukraine through December (about $258 billion) than the US committed (about $124 billion). Europe had also allocated more military, financial and humanitarian aid (about $138 billion) than the US allocated (about $119 billion).

The US did have a slim lead in one particular category, military aid allocated, providing about $67 billion to about $65 billion for Europe.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries urged party members to not to bring props to President Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress tonight, according to a source in a closed-door caucus meeting Tuesday.

The ultimate message from Democratic leaders is for their members to voice their opposition but not create a spectacle that could be seized on by the GOP.

President Donald Trump threatened to revoke federal funding from any college, school or university that permits “illegal protests” and stated “agitators” will either be imprisoned or deported.

In a Truth Social post on Tuesday, Trump wrote:

“All Federal Funding will STOP for any College, School, or University that allows illegal protests. Agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came. American students will be permanently expelled or depending on the crime, arrested. NO MASKS! Thank you for your attention to this matter.”

The president also implied a prohibition on face coverings during protests, which some states already have imposed.

However, Trump’s ability to enforce these threats — such as imprisonment, deportation and a ban on masks — is limited, as most of these actions fall outside the scope of federal law.

What this is about: Trump’s post comes days after a group of pro-Palestinian student protesters took a Barnard College building in New York City. Videos online showed the protesters, wearing masks and dressed in keffiyeh scarves, staging a sit-in outside the office of the school’s dean.

The Trump administration also said on Monday it will review Columbia University’s federal contracts and grants over allegations of antisemitism, which it says the educational institution has shown inaction in tackling, as reported by CNN.

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Tuesday morning that she would announce retaliatory tariffs on American imports into Mexico, as well as non-tariff measures, on Sunday.

Sheinbaum said she would probably have a call with US President Donald Trump on Thursday.

“The unilateral decision made by the United States affects national and foreign companies operating in our country, as well as our people,” she said at a news conference in Mexico City.

The Mexican president also slammed a White House statement on the tariffs as “offensive and defamatory.”

“Last night, the White House published an offensive and defamatory statement without substance about the Mexican government that we categorically deny and condemn,” Sheinbaum said.

Some background: Trump on Monday said that 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada will go forward as planned on Tuesday, saying the two major US trading partners had “no room” left to negotiate to avoid the levies.

Trump said he was using tariffs to “punish” countries that, as he put it, were taking from the US economy without giving enough in return.

This post has been updated with additional reporting on Mexico’s pending retaliatory tariffs.

People across Ukraine have awoken today to the news that US President Donald Trump has decided to withhold military aid. While some are questioning how the move will impact their livelihoods, others are skeptical about how much it might change the course of the war.

According to several officials, Trump and his senior aides are seeking an acknowledgement from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky before moving ahead with a deal on Ukraine’s rare earth minerals, or a discussion on continuing foreign aid.

Here’s how some Ukrainians, who decided not to reveal their full names due to security concerns, are responding:

Max, a 22-year-old math teacher said he felt “astonished” by the decision.

“We are fighting for democracy. And this country, the USA, was created as the idea of democracy. And right now they are telling us that, “well, we will not give you weapons because, you’re doing not what we wanted you to do.” Like, excuse me, we are doing exactly what you wanted from us. We are fighting for democracy,” he told CNN.

Olena, a 32-year-old businesswoman who was walking with her husband and young son said she thought Trump’s decision was “very much expected,” adding that “America has not been entirely friendly over the past 30 years.”

“We will hold on. We stayed here three years ago, and we are staying here now. We’ll see,” she said.

One man, Maksym, who serves in the Ukrainian military and was walking with his daughter said he felt “disappointed in our partners.” “They promise to help us but then find new reasons not to.”

The last time President Donald Trump climbed the rostrum in the House chamber to deliver an address to Congress, he arrived freshly impeached, a mysterious new virus was beginning to spread and Democrats had just begun the process of nominating his challenger.

Five years later, the political landscape has shifted dramatically.

Since taking office a second time, Trump has overseen a dramatic reshaping of the federal government, much of it at the hand of his top adviser Elon Musk, and Republicans are in full control of Congress. He has upended the geopolitical order and shaken US alliances as he pursues a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine — a topic he said Monday he’d address in the speech.

But four months after becoming the first Republican in two decades to win the popular vote, Trump faces a new reality of needing to tackle some of the most stubborn challenges awaiting any new president and deliver on his campaign promises to lower prices.

Trump’s advisers are acutely aware how quickly political winds can shift in Washington and have made speed their priority in pushing his agenda. Trump himself has taken a lesson from his first term not to wait for the right moment to execute on his promises. Instead, he signs executive orders almost every day, sometimes deciding only in the minutes beforehand which to put his signature on.

His speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night will act as an extension — and explanation — of the whiplash-inducing 43 days of his new term. He will also face his biggest audience yet to spell out demands for Republicans to turn his agenda into law, the outcome of which will ultimately shape the success of his presidency.

Here’s more of what to expect from Trump’s speech.

Donald Trump just took the biggest gamble of his young second presidency.

His hammer-blow 25% tariffs against Canada and Mexico that hit at midnight dealt a fresh shock to an economy showing alarming signs of slowing growth and rising inflation – a perilous mix for any president.

Trump also doubled an additional tariff on all Chinese imports to 20%, in a trio of decisions that sent stocks – a cherished metric of his own performance – tumbling. The timing was inauspicious, before Trump makes a joint address to Congress Tuesday evening that will be watched by a nation nervous about stubbornly high housing and grocery prices. But to the narrower audience of his most faithful supporters, who show no sign of peeling away, Trump is likely to bill his new trade wars as proof of resolve and commitment to his populist promises.

Trump’s decision to press the button, after previously delaying the duties on US neighbors a month ago, reflects a duel between his political heart and his head.

The often-volatile president has seen tariffs as an almost supernatural economic tool since his deals as a real estate mogul in the rip-roaring 1980s. Alongside immigration, the conceit that foreign nations are constantly ripping America off forms the foundation of his political career.

“It’s going to be very costly for people to take advantage of this country. They can’t come in and steal our money and steal our jobs and take our factories and take our businesses and expect not to be punished,” Trump said Monday. “And they’re being punished by tariffs. It’s a very powerful weapon that politicians haven’t used because they were either dishonest, stupid, or paid off in some other form.”

Read more about the impact tariffs could have on everyday Americans here.

Jason Miller, senior adviser to President Donald Trump, said the president plans to “lean into” tariffs during his speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night.

”I would say that he’s going to lean into it, and he’s going to talk about how increasing tariffs can actually go and close the trade deficits, which January, we saw a record trade deficit, particularly when it comes to countries such as Canada, Mexico, China,” Miller said when asked by CNN’s Audie Cornish if Trump would have to acknowledge his blanket 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada that took effect on Tuesday.

Trump’s senior adviser said the president also plans to “level set” with Americans about the state of the country.

“Typically, this would be done after the first year a president is in office. But since President Trump has already served as president before. He’s going to come in, he’s going to level set with the American people about where exactly we are as a country, what’s happened over these past four years, what he’s been able to accomplish over the last four or five weeks. Then what we still have yet to go and accomplish,” Miller said.

More on the presidential address: Trump will also discuss what will happen next in his agenda, Miller said.

”We have to go and get this tax bill done. I think you’ll hear the president this evening talk about the one big beautiful bill so we can keep taxes low and take it even lower for Americans. Also need to make sure to make these border fixes permanent,” Miller said.

He continued, “And then also, as we look ahead, really, we got to look to the future and make sure we’re winning things such as the AI war against China, having a Marshall Plan for energy. So, it’s a bit of where we are, what we’ve accomplished and what we’re going to do, both in the short and in the longer term.”

On the pause in aid to Ukraine, Miller said Trump is being aggressive in his attempts to get Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to agree to a deal that would stop the war.

“President Trump is the only person, the only person talking about stopping the killing, and sometimes leaders can use the carrot, sometimes they can use the stick,” Miller said. “And in this case, I think President Trump is using the 2 by 4 to go and get his point across to President Zelensky, and that is that President Trump wants to stop the killing. Zelensky has got to get back to the table. He has to take this seriously.”

President Donald Trump’s order to pause shipments of US military aid to Ukraine will encourage Russian President Vladimir Putin “to ask for more,” according to an analyst at the UK-based Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think tank.

“This decision is not about economics. It is driven fundamentally by Trump’s view that Russia is willing to do a peace deal, and only Ukraine is the obstacle. But there is no evidence that Russia would be prepared to accept a deal, and what that would be,” said Malcolm Chalmers, RUSI’s deputy director general.

“Indeed this decision will encourage Putin to ask for more – including Ukrainian demilitarisation and neutrality,” Chalmers said in a statement.

“The nightmare scenario is that the US and Russia announce a deal soon, and then tell Ukraine and Europe to ‘take it or leave it,’” he added. “The European offer of ‘boots on the ground’ after a deal has helped reassure Ukraine. But the debate has now moved on. And what will count most of all is how far the UK and Europe are prepared to help Ukraine in defiance of the US.”

The RUSI analyst said that recent estimates show only about 20% of Ukraine’s total military hardware is supplied by the United States, with 55% produced domestically and 25% from Europe and the rest of the world. (In January, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gave a different figure, saying about 33% of Ukrainian weapons were produced at home, with more coming from the US.)

“But the 20% is the most lethal and important. Ukraine will not collapse – they already experienced an aid cutoff last year, but the effect will be cumulative,” Chalmers said.

The United States continues to share intelligence information with Ukraine as of Tuesday morning, a source familiar with the situation told CNN.

It comes after US President Donald Trump on Monday ordered a pause on shipments of US military aid to Kyiv after his heated Oval Office argument with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last week.

The Kremlin said Tuesday that the suspension of US military aid to Ukraine could push Kyiv “toward the peace process,” although its spokesperson declined to say whether Russia itself is ready for a ceasefire.

Reacting to the Trump administration’s order to pause shipments of military aid to Ukraine, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: “We have yet to find out the details. But if this is true, then this is a decision that could really push the Kyiv regime towards a peace process.”

Asked on a regular briefing call with journalists if Russia was ready to stop fighting if the United States suspends arms supplies to Ukraine, Peskov replied: “We see that some European countries are declaring that they will continue to provide comprehensive assistance, etc. That is, they will probably try to compensate for the decreasing volume of ammunition. But of course, the main volume has so far come from the US and through US channels. Therefore, we’ll see.”

“If the US suspends these supplies, it will probably be the best contribution to peace,” he added.

Ukraine targeted overnight: Russia attacked Ukraine with nearly a hundred drones overnight, injuring at least four people and damaging energy infrastructure and residential buildings in the southern city of Odesa, Ukrainian authorities said on Tuesday.

US President Donald Trump announced he was pausing military shipments to Ukraine this week after his heated Oval Office argument with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last week.

After he said that, Russia launched hundreds of drones at the country on Monday night.

Here’s how some officials are reacting:

Ukrainian MP tells Zelensky to apologize: Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Goncharenko voiced dismay at Trump’s decision and urged Kyiv to apologize and repair the relationship. “If they want us to apologize, we should apologize. What difference does it make if our task is not to lose the war and not to lose people?” he wrote on Telegram.

Ukrainian military: Ukrainian officers expressed hopes that European allies will step up in the United States’ absence. “American support is critical for defending the sky, and financial assistance affects the economy and morale of society, which is also important for the frontline,” said Serhii Filimonov, commander of the 108th Separate Mechanized Battalion, which has been fighting for months near the city of Pokrovsk, in eastern Ukraine.

“In the future, much will depend on our European allies. They will have to leave the comfort zone of social media support. We cannot stand alone,” Ukraine’s 46th Separate Airmobile Brigade said.

Volodymyr Dehtyarov, a public affairs officer for the Khartiia Brigade of Ukraine’s National Guard, echoed the sentiment that frontline units are relying primarily on drones, rather than the US-supplied weapons and layered air defenses that are protecting Ukrainian cities.

Russia attacked Ukraine with nearly a hundred drones overnight, injuring at least four people and damaging energy infrastructure and residential buildings in the southern city of Odesa, Ukrainian authorities said on Tuesday.

The latest Russian aerial assault came as Ukraine woke to the news that President Donald Trump had ordered a pause on shipments of US military aid to Kyiv following his heated Oval Office argument with counterpart President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Ukraine shot down 65 of 99 drones launched by Russia across the country overnight, the Ukrainian air force said on Tuesday.

Another 32 drones did not reach their targets, likely due to electronic warfare countermeasures, the air force added. It did not specify what happened to the remaining two drones.

Officials in the northern region of Sumy said a children’s medical center was damaged in the Russian drone attacks.

Meanwhile, in the eastern Donetsk region, Russian attacks killed one person and injured another over the past day, local officials said.

Another five people were injured in Russian attacks in the southern Kherson region, officials said.

There were a ton of developments both domestically and internationally Monday in relation to President Donald Trump’s presidency.

As we prepare for Trump’s address to Congress tonight, here’s a recap of Monday:

President Donald Trump is planning to highlight accomplishments so far but also look ahead to next steps during his address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, an ally of the president, Jason Miller, said.

“What comes next is so critical,” Miller said during a Sunday appearance on Fox News. He pointed to efforts to tackle inflation by cutting federal spending, the proposed tax bill, and funding for the border, as well as “making sure that we continue to bring peace and stability around the world, but we have to do it with respect and strength.”

Trump is also expected to look ahead, Miller said, to “making sure we get to Mars, winning the AI race against China, … (and) making sure we have a Marshall Plan for the next generation.”

The president will connect those topics, he said, “with people in their everyday lives.”

“President Trump has this unique ability to speak directly to the American people and let them know in a transparent and accountable way how he is helping them,” Miller said.

The American public’s view of Donald Trump’s presidency and the direction he’s leading the country is more negative than positive just ahead of his first formal address to Congress since returning to office, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS.

The survey finds that across three basic measures of Trump’s performance on the job – his approval rating, whether he has the right priorities and whether his policies are taking the country in the right direction – the negative side outpaces the positive.

Overall, 52% disapprove of Trump’s performance in office, with 48% approving, about the same as in a CNN poll in mid-February. The poll was completed before Friday’s angry exchange in the Oval Office between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and does not reflect public opinion on that event.

Trump continues to be broadly popular with Republicans (90% of whom approve of his handling of the job) and unpopular among Democrats (90% disapprove), while disapproval among independents is approaching 6 in 10: 41% approve and 59% disapprove. Earlier in February, a similar 43% of independents approved and 56% disapproved.

Trump’s 48% approval rating ahead of his initial address to Congress is higher than it was in 2017 before that year’s speech at the Capitol. Trump’s appearances before Congress during his first term did little to move the needle on his approval rating: None of his four speeches resulted in a change to his approval rating of more than 3 percentage points. Trump will be addressing a country that is largely greeting his policy proposals with skepticism. More Americans see Trump’s policy proposals as taking the country in the wrong direction (45%) than the right one (39%), with 15% expressing no opinion on the question. In early March of 2017, just after that first-term initial address to Congress, Americans split about evenly over whether Trump’s policies would lead the right way or the wrong one, but by the following January, they said by a 12-point margin that his policies were pointing the nation in the wrong direction.

Read more about the poll here.
© 2025 Cable News Network. A Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All Rights Reserved. CNN Sans ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-congress-address-03-04-25/index.html