Full video of the speech as published by theWhite House | |
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| Date | March 4, 2025 (2025-03-04) |
|---|---|
| Time | 9:19 p.m.EST |
| Duration | 1 hour, 39 minutes |
| Venue | House Chamber,U.S. Capitol |
| Location | Washington, D.C. |
| Coordinates | 38°53′19.8″N77°00′32.8″W / 38.888833°N 77.009111°W /38.888833; -77.009111 |
| Type | UnofficialState of the Union Address |
| Participants | |
| Footage | C-SPAN |
| Previous | 2024 State of the Union Address |
| Next | 2026 State of the Union Address |
Donald Trump, the 47thpresident of the United States, addressed ajoint session of the United States Congress on Tuesday, March 4, 2025. It was his first public address before a joint session during hissecond term.[a] Like aState of the Union Address, it was delivered before the119th United States Congress in the Chamber of theHouse of Representatives in theUnited States Capitol. Presiding over this joint session was theHouse speaker,Mike Johnson, accompanied byJD Vance, thevice president in his capacity as thepresident of the Senate.
TheArticle Two of the United States Constitution requires the president to occasionally "give to the Congress information of the state of the union." Beginning withRonald Reagan in 1981, presidents have delivered an address in the months after they are sworn in.[1]Secretary of Veterans AffairsDoug Collins was named thedesignated survivor.[2][3]
Trump began his speech at 9:19 p.m.EST from theUnited States Congress. He discussed the price of eggs, energy prices, supporting police officers and firefighters, a peace agreement for ending theRusso-Ukrainian War, andtariffs.[4] His speech ended at 10:59 p.m. EST. The speech lasted 1 hour and 39 minutes, making it the longest address to a joint session of Congress in at least 61 years.[4]
While Trump talked about his election victory and mandate, SpeakerMike Johnson directed theHouse Sergeant at ArmsWilliam McFarland to remove Democratic RepresentativeAl Green, who repeatedly shouted that Trump had not received a mandate.[5][6] Green was latercensured by the House for this behavior.[7] A majority of Democratic women in the chamber wore either white or pink outfits to call attention to women's rights as well as how Trump's administration could negatively impact women and their families.[8] During the speech, some Democrats protested silently: some dressed in symbolic colors, five walked out during the speech, and more than twenty held up signs with the phrases "Save Medicaid", "False", and "Musk steals".[9]
During the speech, Trump commended the actions by Elon Musk andDOGE which he touted as being headed by Musk. This is contrary to what had been reported by the White House in a recent court filling and Press SecretaryKaroline Leavitt who have namedAmy Gleason as the acting head of DOGE.[10]
Towards the end of the speech, Trump sent a message to Ukrainian presidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy thatThe New York Times described as "conciliatory."[11] Trump mentioned negotiations on themineral resources deal between the two countries, saying that Zelenskyy was ready to sign the agreement.[11] Trump also questioned continued U.S. funding for Ukraine, rhetorically asking, "Do you want to keep it going for another five years?" He then added, "Yeah, yeah, you would say, 'Pocahontas says yes.'" This remark was widely interpreted as a reference to Senator Elizabeth Warren, whomTrump has previously nicknamed "Pocahontas" due to her past claims of Native American ancestry.[12]
Trump announced an executive order that would rename the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge to theJocelyn Nungaray National Wildlife Refuge in the memory of the girl, who wassexually assaulted and murdered by Venezuelan illegal immigrants. Trump also mentioned her love for nature when renaming the refuge.[13][14]
Multiple independent andfact-checking organizations noted multiplefalse or misleading statements on topics such as Social Security,[15] the economy,[16] immigration,[16] and foreign policy. In one instance, Trump stated that "21 million people poured into the United States" during the Biden administration.PBS, theAssociated Press, andNBC reported that the statement was exaggerated and that the number of illegal migrants apprehended at the border during the Biden administration was 10.4,[17] 10.8,[16] or 14 million[18] respectively. In September 2024, Congressional Republicans estimated that at least 2 million illegal migrants during this period were not apprehended.[17]
At another point Trump claimed to have inherited a disastrous economy that was raked byinflation; however, fact checkers later reported that inflation had reduced significantly since theCOVID-19 pandemic, and unemployment was well below historic norms.[16]
When discussing government spending, Trump alleged that the Biden administration had spent "$8 million for making micetransgender". Several fact-checking organizations said federal money had been spent to improvegender-affirming care using mice experiments.[19][20][21]
Trump also alleged a disparity betweenhumanitarian aid offered from the United States to Ukraine versus the offered aid from Europe, claiming that the US had sent about $350 billion compared to Europe's about $100 billion. However, Congressional records show that the US aid sent to Ukraine since 2022 was around $175 billion. According to figures from theKiel Institute for the World Economy, the US had allocated $121 billion with an additional $5 billion committed. European countries had contributed around $140 billion with an additional $122 billion in committed funds.[22]
There were many guests at the speech, including family members ofLaken Riley andJocelyn Nungaray, two individuals who were murdered by individuals who had entered the country illegally.[23] Another guest, 13-year-old DJ Daniel, had been diagnosed with brain cancer in 2018, and had previously been sworn in as an honorary law enforcement officer. During the speech, Trump asked for Secret Service DirectorSean M. Curran to make Daniel an honorary agent.[24]
Marc Fogel, who was recently released from Russia, and his family; the family of Corey Comperatore, who was killed during theTrump assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania; the widow of a police officer killed at a traffic stop; and a steel plant worker were also invited. Payton McNabb, who raised claims that she was injured by a transgender athlete's spike in a collegiate volleyball game, and January Littlejohn, who sued a school district in Florida after raising claims that they had allowed her child tosocially transition without her knowledge were also present.[23]
Two guests were invited by First LadyMelania Trump, including a 15-year-old victim ofdeepfake images as Melania as part of her campaign against deepfakes andrevenge porn and a college student who benefited by a championed cause for supporting foster children.[23]
Four Supreme Court justices attended:Chief Justice Roberts, and Associate JusticesElena Kagan,Brett Kavanaugh, andAmy Coney Barrett.[23] The event was also the last public appearance of first-term CongressmanSylvester Turner before his death in the early hours of March 5, 2025.[25]
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DemocraticSenatorElissa Slotkin of Michigan gave the official Democratic response[26] while RepresentativeAdriano Espaillat of New York delivered a response in Spanish.[27] RepresentativeAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez responded onInstagram Live after the address to Congress.[28]
Democratic RepresentativeLateefah Simon of California delivered theWorking Families Party response.[29][30]
Independent SenatorBernie Sanders of Vermont also delivered a response after the address to Congress.[31]
After the speech, a video was shared online that showed a majority of Democratic members of Congress remaining seated and not clapping at the mention of DJ Daniel, in contrast to Republican members of Congress.Snopes affirmed the video's authenticity but reported that many Democrats stood or clapped for Daniel at other points during the speech.[32] Snopes also noted that Supreme Court justices andJoint Chiefs of Staff sat on the Democrats' side of the room.[32] In an interview withFox News on March 6, SenatorJohn Fetterman said, "I don't know why we can't fully celebrate [...] I think that's something we could all celebrate."[33]
A CNN/SSRS poll found that viewership of the speech was 14 points more Republican than the general public. Before the speech, 60% of those who watched the speech approved of Trump's presidency, compared to 48% of the general population. The speech modestly improved watchers' opinion of Trump. The poll found that approximately 70% of watchers approved of the speech, and 44% strongly approved. After watching, a majority of at least 65% was confident in his leadership. Among those polled, the approval rate of Trump's proposed policies regarding immigration was 76%, higher than 63% for his policies regarding the function of government and his policies towards Ukraine, 62% for his economic policies, 61% for his foreign policy, 58% for his policies towards Russia, and 56% for his tariff policy.[34]
CBS/YouGov polling also found that viewership was heavily Republican, with 51% of speech watchers describing themselves as Republican, 27% as independents, and 20% as Democrats. The heavy Republican viewership was described as normal and in line with historical trends of the president's party drawing more viewership from partisans. Polling done after the speech on viewers found that 76% approved of Trump's speech, and that responses of approval were largely along partisan lines. It also found that 80% of those who watched disapproved of Green's disruption.[35]
On United States television the speech drew an estimated 36.6 million viewers, higher than Joe Biden's2021 speech to a joint session of Congress which drew an estimated 26.9 million viewers, though lower than Trump's2017 speech to a joint session of Congress which drew an estimated 47.7 million viewers. Nielsen also reported 70.7% of television viewers of the speech were 55 years or older, 20.5% were 35–54, and 5.7% were 18–34.[36]
Lesotho: Foreign MinisterLejone Mpotjoane criticized Trump's remark referring to Lesotho as a nation "which nobody has ever heard of," describing it as "quite insulting" and expressing shock that his country could be referred to in such a manner by the U.S. head of state.[37]
Media related toDonald Trump speech to joint session of Congress, March 2025 at Wikimedia Commons| Preceded by | State of the Union addresses 2025 joint session speech | Succeeded by |
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