or scan the code on your screen. every contribution matters and . >> tonight, c-span brings you live coverage of esident trump's address to congress. we'll bring you live coverage of th president's peach next. itomes less than two months since he took cutoffs. the president's remarks to the joint session are schedul to get underway in an hour. after that we'll hearhe democratic response and after that we'll take your calls and leapt yo weigh in on the speech and the president eats remarks. c-span, bringing you democracy unfiltered. ♪ >> and good evening and welcome to c-span's coverage of the

joint address to congress. that's an evening view of the capitol here in washington. the site of president trump's address to a joint session of congress in about an hour. this is his fifth overall and the first of his second term, about 43 days in. his address comes as lawmakers are working to custody government spending, come up with a federal bunk and deliver on president frump's goals of $2 trillion in saving and it comes after uncertainty on the ukraine policy and the beginning of a potential tray war and here's a live look at the white house where the trumps will be departing shortly to the 16-block drive down pennsylvania av. caroline lev et woke about the president's speech. now back on capitol hill,

arrivals for tonight's address underway as the more than 500 elected lawmakers and guests make their way to the chamber. we'll see the areel of cabinet secretaries, supreme court justices and many other dignitaries and right outside the house is statuary hall where doesens of journalists are stationed to cover the evening. c-span, effect, has live coverage throughout the evening on all of our networks and platforms. joining us from capital capitol hill is dave clark with bunch pole news. all day long today there were a lot press conferences with some pre-speech positioning by both parties, yes? >> there certainly were. obviously the white house previews its message that the president is going to deliver and democrats have given a taste of how they're going to counter

the event. the president's message is twofold. one, he's going to try to insane what herself done during the first six weeks of his administration, which has been a bit of a whirlwind. he's going to try to story about all the executive orders and then look forward to see of say what else he wants to do. probably pushing for more border funding from congress. likely talking about his trade wars on some of our alleys and adversaries and i think he's going to try to make sense of all these executive orders he's done. he's going to talk about his effort to shrink government through doing and elon musk and talk about some of the culture war issues. whether that's orders put out on transgender people or ending d.e.i. programs in the government. meanwhile, democrats are going to talk about some of the same things but obviously with a

different tack. they will be highlighting all of the services people might not be getting. they'll be focusing on some of the possible budget cuts to programs like medicaid that presentation will are considering. there will definitely be a lot of talk tonight, jousting over what the agenda should be. >> how would up describe the move up there? >> for republicans, it's pretty jubilant. they control both chambers of congress. they have the president in the house so they're riding pretty high. there's a little nervousness on some of the moves. some of the defense hawks are not very happy about the way things going in ukraine but overall republicans feel in a very good spot despite a little nerves here and there and i think in this his speech tonight he's going to be talking to those reporters but more

importantly his base of voters. he's going to be trying to rile them up and sell a message to them. i think he's going to be speak to the the fateful. >> march 14 is just around the corner, the end of government funding. can you give us a status update on bunts talks? dave: running up again to a government funding deadline and warnings about a shutdown. republicans are talking about passing what's known as a clean, continuing resolution, extending just extending current funding through the end of this fiscal year, which is at the end of september but that could be a difficult task because they have a very tight majority in the house and democrats are in no mood to help republicans out here so. one question is can republicans pass that continuing resolution with just their own votes, and that's going to be very tough and if not, can they stay any

democrats to get their vote and if so, what do they have to do to sway them to get their vote. >> where are you going to be during the speech? >> up inspect gallery. >> have you gotten a transcript of it yet? >> no, i haven't and as of my coming over here we haven't seen the excerpts yet. >> thanks for joining us from capitol. here if our studio, jasmine wry is a reporter with news of the quiet, jason dick is the ed tour and chief of roll call. what are you looking for tonight? >> really interested in the approach that trump takes from the get-go. i mean, as dave alluded to, the expectation from a lot of people is that he's going to be speak to his base. he feels he has a man date or at least this is what he is his aleys tell and at this point there is no advantage looking

like they need to reach out to the democrats or even to wavering republicans. sometimes these speeches can be conciliatory or they can be, let's talk about how great things are. i think trump is going to step on the gals and he's going to come out aggressive. >> mass mini wright, same question. >> i'm looking at his tone, his tone, his tone. i was talking to a source familiar with the speech preparation and they said it's not going to be flowery language will you impassioned. something he's been deeply involved in, and he's been ed iting up until the last moment and reflect, i think the shift you've seen after that zelensky meeting, really feud, yelling match in the oval office and his administration doubling down on this idea that they are prompting american strength so i'm looking to see if the tone

reflects what we've seen from him over the last four days, which is kind of a doubling down of this projection that they're making. >> we'll be back with jasmine and jason in a minute but as always, our co-host this evening, greta. hi, greta. greta: the president questions to invite guests in the house chamber. topping a list is a name that many people have heard repetedly over the first 40 drays of the administration, elon musk. on x today, that speaker mike johnson wanted musk to be on the hues floor tonight and made injuries about his access as a non-official government officer or employee but the speaker saying that musk will be seated in the gap rip above the floor with the first lady. now, in the box with the first lady will be around 11 guests and you'll hear the president

introduce each of them in his speech tonight. here's an idea of the people and the themes that they reflect and why they were invited to sit with the first lady tonight. as we said, elon musk, the president expected to highlight the work of the department of government efficiency, doge. allison and lauren phillips. this is the mother and sister of laken riley, the 22-year-old augusta university nursing student who was murdered by undoubted immigrants. alexis nungaray, also the other of a 1-year-old kid by undocumented immigrants and payton mcnabb, a volleyball player who allegedly happened a concussion while playing against a transdepend gender competitor and then january littlejoon, a

transgender rights activist. this is abc's headline -- some democrats are planning to skip the joint address to congress tv list seems to be growing as the day goes on. representative alexandra ocasio cortez, patry murphy, martin hinrich and others all planning to skip tonight's joint address and then there was this reporting from abc owes earlier today. the democrats are also split on how to respond. those democrats that are going to be in the chamber. some members may walk out of the chamber when they hear something that i they don't agree with. you may see props like signs or noisemakers that democrats are have in the chamber with them tonight. someone talked about a pocket constitution that they may wave. you'll also see members wearing

ties and scarves with the colors of ukraine's flag. female members of the congressional black caucus have talked about wearing black to mark a somber mood and then the democratic women's caucus, they're planning to wear pink in defiance. what does that look like? look at this from x earlier today. representative norma torres putting out a picture of her and other members of the women's democratic caucus wearing pink and that's what they'll be wearing in the chamber. she said it's because we're powerful, passionate and p.o.'d. it's a symbol of protest, women's power and persistence. the fact is women can't afford trump. and this from the hill. the house freedom caucus has sent a warning statement threatening any democrats who

disrupt the address. gerry connolly sent a response with this warning. this is marjorie taylor greene yelling at president biden during his state of the union address last year. peter? peter: you've been covering these types of speeches and state of the unions for a lopping time. have they always been a bit unruly or has there be been a marked change? jason: i think there's been a marked change since trump's first term that has carried over into the biden years. i think we can expect something that will at least be kind of dramatic. there was a joint address that president barack obama delivered when he was talking about health care and joe wilson, south carolina renyeled out "you lie." that was a moment that sort of

lives in history but new hampshire kind of the exception to a lot of the rules that we've seen. it's been afford up a little in the last 10 years. >> i would argue that some of the best moments of these joint addresses that sometimes people feel can run far too long. obviously they start on the east coast a little bit late and some people they are too mono tone. some have been through these interruptions with a president like joe biden last year going back and forth with the republicans when he was talking about various things. i think those moments livan up that at times can steel a bit stale once it gets to 90 or 100 minutes. steve pete: that speech from joe biden was just two years ago and it was a highly lauded speech that he gave. >> what was interesting about

that moment is there were some discussions about his age. we already had dean phillips saying that somebody needs to much this conversation that joe biden should no longer be president. there was some question about whether or not he could do it in an election year. joe biden is not known to be the best orator out of all of the presidents. he got rave reviews because of the way he was able to take the incoming from republicans, because of the way he was able to go back and have this levity of banter, basically saying i'm telling you truth, guys. i'm curious to see how trump does today. he's not one to shy away from banter. i think he likes kind open the back and forth. not necessarily confrontation but certainly the give and take of arguing with someone who

doesn't have his viewpoints or slapping somebody down so i'm curious to see how he goes to the text vs. those settings. pete: jasmine wright has the lead story. trump's joint address of term two won't be anything like the last time. is what of that what you meant by tone, tone, tone? jazz mean: yeah, i went back and looked at hit 2017 joint address to congress. of course, that was his first time in congress. and they were really inintent on it being trump's reintroduction tonight american public. they knew him as the apenalty tries -- apprentice donald trump and the campaigner donald trump but note as the president. it was more unifier, trying to

show people that he could be presidential and trying to say to both republicans and democrats, let's put away the trivial arguments and get to the agenda. his first term really only what he got done was tax cuts. he wants that to be much different this time and also, you'll see a donald trump who is not going to take a lot of crap from people. he is the president of a country where his country has the house, the senate. you could argue he has a more favorable supreme court so he's really going to come in, i believe and put the marker down and say this is my parties, this is my -- party, this is my country. give me what i want and if-up do not, you will get left. jason: this congress, the majority of them have been elected since trump was elected so this is what they know.

this is the tone, the way they see to do things. some of the folks who programs wanted a more sedate boring, approach to the city and things like that, they're gone, retired or they lost elections. in a way he's shamed not just the republican party but also the democratic party because democrats have been the opposition, the minority and the majority but it's always in regular to trump. -- relation to trump. even when he wasout of office, he dominated the conversation, even through joe biden's four year. pete: do you agree that the tone could be a little bit different from trump's first address? jason: absolutely. you saw that in his first four aaddress. i'm going to run the country, all the country. i'm going to get a lot of stuff

done, do all the taxes. in his last state of the union, nancy pelosi tore up the speech behind him and he didn't shake her hand. i think we'll see more like that last speech. pete: and this address to the joint session should win if in a little bit under an hour. coming up in the next 10, 15 minutes or sow, you'll tee see the trumps garment the white house, the lights coming up in the house chamber and the members milling about. we'll go to that as it becomes available. you'll see the diplomatic chiefs, the backcourt and the president's cabinet all coming into the chamber. that's all going to be live on c-span and on c-span 2 and you can watch it there as well as our online platform. this is called a joint session.

is it different that a state of the union? technically different or just? tone? jasmine: i think that's essentially different. i think you'll see it amped up when he gets to the state of the union next year but certainly the effect suspect same. it is a president who's first month or so, first five weeks in cutoffs laying out what they've done and what they want to do and we know that trump has come into cutoffs, after four years of basically being in d.c. exile in west palm. obviously the people that make up his cabinet, his white house, spent four years in some of these right-aligned think tanks figuring out what trump's platform should be should he, once he gets back into cutoffs so i think they're kind of moving on that but i think what you saw in the first five weeks

of his administration is his executive power. him issuing over 75 executive orders. him pushing what i think a lot of people believe are the limits of those executive orders and now you'll see trumpet try to turn on that legislative power, making it clear what he wants congress to do while in cutoffs. that's what we expect from a joint address to congress. laying out how he wants it to go but all the years after that. pete: that address president biden made, that did make a difference in last year's speech. do they generally make a difference? jason: they certainly can. with biden and i think in 2017 trump set the takable for what he would eventually get with the tax cuts that first year. so the -- depending on what he wants to emphasize, i mean, it's

obvious just by the guests, they do want to emphasize issues that are important to their bails. that can be something that will signal to their base, we've got you are, we're keeping our words. even independents and democrats will say well, he did say he was going to do this, whether it's tariffs or whatever you and i think reaffirming that in the eyes of the white house could be good because they really don't have that much time for legislation. the times when the party controls the white house and both chambers of congress are pretty athleting. they have a few months to do it and then they're in the mid terms and then usual they lose one of the chambers so they know they're on the clock and they want to hit the ground running. pete: let's check back in with greta. greta: dick mentioned the former

speaker ripping up the speech of president trump during his last address, the state of the union. nancy pelosi recalled tearing up president trump's speech and she told him "hopefully we won't lie so much this time. it was a manifesto of lies, as i said at the time. there's a spoke from the former speaker ahead of tonight's speech by president trump, his first of his second term. you were talking about do these speech make a difference. where will they impact poll numbers? let's look at the polls right now for the preside. his favorable numbers, tracked by ugov and the enomist since the beginning of this second administration. athe end of january, he was above water, plus two.

the first week of february, he's even and then his favorit faith: unflavorful numbers start to dro mid february and the last week of february. 47% to 50% for his favorab. and look at the average of president trump's approval rating. 48% appro. 47% disapprove. his unfavorables according to the average. at 48.2% and his favorab at 46.5%. now, when yobreak this down by agenda items, the white house is keen to point you do harvard/harris poll that was done recently and this is what they found -- support among voters for deporting immigrants with a criminal history. 81% according to this pol

supporting that. 76% at the time that this poll was taken. 76aithat they would approve the dogeost-cutting efforts. 76%, closing the u.s.-mexico border. 69% saying that they support banning trans athletes from girls' sports and only about 39% in support of renaming the gulf of mexico toot gulf of arica and then rece:ers had a recent poll we want to share with you. when they asked about the wrong take, they said 44% said we're going on the wrong track for employment and jobs. 53% said for the national economy on the wrong track and 64% on the cost of living. peter? peter: the senate is getting ready to come over to the

house. a live picture of the u.s. senate. lind say graham talking with rand paul and a couple of other minutes. this is the democratic side of the aisle. rand paul on the far right. it looks like peter welch, the gray haired gentleman with the glass talking and a couple of members. josh hawley up on the far left corner. republican of no. jasmine wright, jason dick, how much time do y'all spend up on capitol or with these members? john thune, the majority leader up at the top with tom cotton. jasmine: a rile alley of president trump who was responsible of getting a lot of cabinet members. i actually don't spend much time

at the white house. but i go from day-to-day, it's a quick way to get quotes. to your point, how much of the makeup of both the senate and the house has changed over the last eight years and how much it is donald trump's party? you can look at that group -- obviously elizabeth warren is not included in this comment or this section about how many people are real advocates of president trump's in the way the senate wasn't trump's first term in a lot of ways. it was not just democrats who were objecting to what trump wanted to do in cutoffs but it was his own party. they found him a little bit unserious, they didn't like him very much. this is completely different. these are people who like trump, who know what he's doing and who ultimately know that the american public who voted for

trump is with trump and not necessarily with them. peter: not sure they're going to walk over this time. they very well may but it's 53-47 and as jasmine was saying, they support president trump, the republican. he's had a good run on his presidential cabinet. he's gotten everybody through. only one position still to be filled and that's labor. but beside the matt gates thing, he's gaetz thing, he's had a really good love. jason: the cliche that democrats have to fall in love and republicans have to fall in line and republicans have fallen in line. he's a marichal artist and likes to be known as a tough guy and he's been one of the big enforcers for the trump administration in a way where

he's actually still working with his colleagues. you actually don't hear a lot of negative things about mullen. he has earned a lot of respect in a very short period of time in the senate. this is definitely -- we're looking at the senate floor right now and joanie ernest. she questioned whether pete hegseth was right person to run the defense department and got overwhelmed by reaction from trump's alleys and quickly got in line. peter: and outside white house, there is some activity. looks like the trumps will be coming out to the limb sheen shortly and obviously we'll bring you that. if the president speaks to the press while he's there, we'll certainly listen in on that. one third location we want to

show you. this is live from statuary hall of fame. where everyone will gather as they get into house chamber. we expect the house lights to come on very shortly and for speaker mike johnson to call the house to order. jason dick, have you ever spent time in statuary hall during a state of the union or joint address? jason: yes, both on the floor and there's a little cat walk that's above statuary hall. it's a cat walk with a bird's eye view. sorry to mix metaphors there but it's a great spot. a lot of camaraderie in the press. peter: there's the view. jason: it's a lot of fun. i've been in the gallery both on the gallery side and peer rod cals. i think being in statuary hall

in that little cat walk is among my favorite spots. peter: jasmine, do you have access and a booth this at the white house? jasmine: we don't have a booth by we were a part of waca. white house correspondents association and i spend a lot of time at the white house. i was justout there at the south lawn on friday when trump left for mar-a-lago, his west palm beach hotel location club right after that employee-up with zelensky. so it's quite a privilege to beh zelenskyy. it is such a privilege to be able to walk the white house grounds, particularly at a time like this. peter: how often does the president stop and talk with y'all? jasmine: it's only been a

couple of weeks, but almost every weekend. he is savvy, he likes to talk. i find it actually to be sort of hopeful that he's talking so often, because one difference between the biden administration , his administration, you have to talk to a lot of people around biden to get biden's point of view, where with trunk, he will give it to you right away. it is typically a straightaway version of what he's thinking in the moment. there he goes. peter: let's listen for a minute. jasmine: there he is in the beast come about to drive away.

what i've heard from folks around him is he's taking this serious and has been involved with the planning of it. when he's talked to reporters yesterday, he did not want to get into the details, when he talked about ukraine, he said, i will get to that in my speech. so he does not really want to talk about what he's going to say. i think he really wanted to be a surprise, and that has followed from his staff. he is looking at the press through the window. i think that has really followed through his staff, too. they said there would be surprises in this speech. peter: and the press pool has not been given just yet. back into the senate, there is tim scott, the senators are lining up. it will take them all of 2.5 minutes to get from that

location over to statuary hall, which is just outside, and we will see them come right through here. we will see the president's cabinet is welcome of the supreme court, the joint chiefs of staff, and we expect the lights to go on in the house very shortly. we will see the members and go live to that. i'm not sure how to ask this question. how would you describe the relationships between mike johnson and president trump and mike johnson and the 218 republican members? jason: it's a good question. at a simple level, mike johnson is there to help implement the president's agenda. he makes no bones about that. how he gets there with his members, he's had to navigate, you know, a very low majority.

he has two vacancies, matt gaetz and michael welch, he will not get those replaced until april. he has his lieutenants, like a lot of speakers do. but the republican party in the democratic party, for that matter, are more homogenous than almost any part. very are very much a vote together. peter: is that easier to do in the opposition? jason: it is certainly easier to do in the opposition, and it is easier when you have a margin like trump does right now. when pete hegseth was confirmed, we lost three republicans. nobody wanted to be the fourth republican. so there was a lot of pressure when margins are very close. peter:peter: you can see vice president vance is joining

the senate, to walk over. jason: it becomes very stark. you mentioned when speaking earlier that, you know, they have a funding deadline in a few days, in a little over a week, and, you know, if the democrats don't play ball in the house, than that puts a lot of pressure on the republicans. they want to be -- they don't want to be the person settled with come of blame for a government shutdown. the budget resolution process where the tax cuts will be in a different process, and we will get to that in a few months. it seems like eons. if you never want to be the one person who gets singled out, and the minority can just say, we

are not the majority. you have to do it on your own. peter: there is one senator who is not present in the senate chamber, and that is senator slotkin, democrat of michigan. she is giving the response tonight. what can you say about senator slotkin? jasmine: it's a big spotlight. she posted a photo today, black and white, but i think that, should this go well, she's in a good position to, you know, be at least one of the people who are leading the democratic party at a time when the democratic party is lacking a real, singular leader. one of the reasons or a couple of reasons they chose senator slotkin is because she won a state in which kamala harris did not during the same timeframe, by several points.

it is because she's from the midwest, and people believe that she appeals to american voters in a way that they think that democratic message was lacking this election. she is someone who comes from an american security background. she can talk about that from a first-hand point of view. the other interesting thing about senator slotkin is she was among the democrats very early to question the vitality of joe biden and question whether or not he should be the party leader, whether or not he should be on the ticket in a way that other folks did not. so i think she has a big platform today, and, you know, time will only tell whether or not she delivers, whether or not people like her message, but certainly, you know, this is an area for democrats in which they don't have a real leader. peter: we just saw the senate

leave the chamber. they are out of session now. this is live in statuary hall. as you can see, it did not take long for the senate to make its way over to stat hall. jd vance leaving the charge of senators. jason: i want to pick up a little bit on what jasmine was saying about senator slotkin. in 2018, she was part of this national security democratic moms group, with people like sam berger, who left congress, also a former cia operative. and all democrats come all women, all national security backgrounds, all moms. they are green candidates, and they were part of that big wave. remember, democrats claimed the

majority in 2018. i think what democratic operatives are looking for is more of the same, that they can top into that imagery. peter: well, it looks like angus king, the gentle man with the mustache, right behind him is rand paul, walking in with the senator from washington state, then maggie hassan from new hampshire. so it looks like they are doing what they have done in the past here, the d and the r thing. jason: i would love to see some of these dynamics, when you get down to the last bit, you know, it's almost like being picked last for a basketball game. [laughter] some people are naturally very compatible, and then sometimes you get stuck with somebody and then someone you cannot imagine

taking a photo with. jasmine: yeah. please don't feel me for it just all senator katie britt go past. that was frankly not a good moment for her. people did not receive it well. it felt a little bit odd, her speaking, the way she was speaking. peter: if you can hold that thought, jasmine, let's listen to speaker johnson. [laughter]

you can see the two senate leaders, john thune and chuck schumer just snuck by, amy klobuchar of minnesota, democrat, jd vance, the vice president, is in that mix. shaking hands on the side. john barrasso. republicans, dick durbin, the gentleman with the gray hair in the back in the blue shirt. he was just reelected in 2020. he will be up in 2026 if he runs again. there's jd vance. jason dick, you have been covering the people on the aisle.

the late sheila jackson lee, democrat from texas, famous for always being on the aisle, regardless of presidents. i love to see that collection of photos. how long does it take to get on the aisle here, degree the president and everybody else? jason: sometimes they get there very early, sometimes four or five hours early. it is a first-come, first-served situation. it's a little nerve-racking to do that, but they want to position themselves, whether they are democrats or republicans, they like those -- peter: there's nancy mace in the white dress, republican of south carolina, talking to jd vance. jason: yeah. sometimes it was a little lonely. some of the other people who come to mind get there early, engle, mckinney, a democrat from georgia, and you hear from small little bits of bonding,

sometimes people who did not necessarily spend a lot of time together, particularly, you know, democrats and republicans. it is one of those quirky kind of rituals that makes covering congress kind of fun, to know, you know, these are the things, some old photos in the archive, in newspapers, just reading them all day long, waiting for the president. peter: you can see the joint chiefs have come in. running for governor of florida as a republican, big president trump supporter on the campaign. there's chip, republican from texas, has been -- jason: a little bit of an

iconoclast. for a for ted cruz. peter: you mentioned katie britt. she was chosen because she was a potential rising star and potential vp pick. jasmine: yes, she was seen as a rising star, someone who had a great future ahead of her. i would argue she is still in the mix, one of the white house hosing most used senators, most talk to senators. if these go poorly, sometimes it's bad pr, but it is not clearly derail your career. after hers, there were questions about whether or not she would be a good person. peter: do you see a lot of members? by the way, we've been simulcasting on c-span and c-span2. we will say goodbye to our c-span2 viewers, and that will be completely sights and sounds. if you want sights and sounds, stay with c-span2.

if you want to continue listening to our program, we would love to have you. stay with us. jasmine wright of notus, jason dick of roll call, will be here with the greta brawner, of course. i did not mean to interrupt you. jasmine: people questioning whether she would be a good person to be trump's number two, but she has a very big role in the senate and is well utilized by the white house. peter: in the chamber come up in the gallery, i should say, there's elon musk, who has just arrived. we should be seeing osha vance, second lady, and melania trump, first lady, arriving as well. jasmine: we will see a lot of elon must throughout this speech, as he sits next to m elania, and next to the second lady in the valerie. peter: is that tom homan?

jasmine: yes. peter: you see him at the white house from time to time. jasmine: you see him at the beach, with the cameras, you see him when they are doing things, protocol, he will do tv has with various different networks, sometimes he will talk to the press. he's very press friendly and very open to talking about the latest numbers that they've been able to accumulate on deportations. the fact that they would like more money from the congress to continue to do those widescale deportations, something we know trump is going to ask congress for again today. tried to not just get money for deportations but get money. peter: john boseman, newt gingrich, former speaker, in the

gallery as well. and you can see that we have extra cameras on the floor of the house, when we have shots like this. usually the house of representatives controls the cameras, but on special occasions, they give the restful, the c-spans,s the cnns, etc. there are several extra cameras. and, of course, there's nancy pelosi, ukraine flag in her hand, steny hoyer with a ukraine colors tide, the former leaders of the house for democrats. john boseman is in the center of your screen. former governor of virginia, right behind him, elizabeth warren. the senate has still not gotten

seeded. we been watching them come down the aisle for quite a while. hakeem jeffries and debbie dingle. debbie's husband, the late john dingell, was in the house for years and years. jasmine, do you see a lot of men members coming through the white house? jasmine: yes, through the years, an unannounced meeting with the president, because they said, you know, i have not been here in four years but i was not invited the entire time joe biden was in office. they are excited to be in there, to be back in the oval office, really, frankly, to be back in power. the president has been really adamant about having these members of congress come over to the white house.

it's one of the biggest tools that the president can use, not just the power of the president but really bremen lawmakers on air force one, bringing them into the oval, allowing them into the grandness of the white house, so in turn they can give you this legislative freedom to do what you will and to make your agenda become a reality. that is what trump is using pure we saw the house freedom caucus a few moments ago. they will be going to the white house as trump tries to pull them along. lindsey graham, who we see on the screen right now, he was at the white house on friday. he came out to talk to reporters , after zelenskyy, kind of started, at least publicly, rolling the tires over whether or not there should be a regime change in ukraine. obviously, that language has often in the last three hours.

-- has softened in the last three hours. lisa murkowski on your screen. peter: is that senator smith? jason: yes, smith and senator cortez masto, who was with senator ben ray luján. peter: these are mccaskill was -- lisa murkowski was. jasmine: yes. peter: fbi director kash patel, he is in the gallery. was that ivanka? ok. and there is mrs. vance, and you see the vice president and speaker waiting for everything to happen. looking at the schedule we were given ahead of time, it looks like they are running just a few minutes late. there's tiffany, tiffany trump right behind her. yeah. the whole family is out there. let's check in with greta brawner. hi, greta. greta: peter, you have pointed

out a couple members of the president was cabinet tonight -- the president's cabinet tonight it when you will not see his doug collins, the designated survivor tonight. per the white house report. the designated survivor get out of these joint addresses, state of the union'in case of a catastrophic event. tonight, it is the v.a. secretary doug collins who will not be in the chamber. billy house of bloomberg noting the great center i'll see clamors of the -- aisle seat claimers of the past, angled, sheila jackson lee, they were getting in place along the center aisle at 4:00 p.m. eastern time, and included representative anna paulina

, marjorie taylor greene of georgia and congresswoman miller-meeks all lining up on the republican side on the center aisle hours before the speech in hopes they get to shake the president's hand when he comes down the aisle. peter: jason dick, has this become more of a blow up event that it used to be? jason: there's always been a lot of razzmatazz. it depends on how far back you want to go. a lyndon johnson movie from the mid afternoon to the evening, in order to catch a better audience. that was 1966. president john f. kennedy got elected. he wanted lyndon johnson. >> escort the president of the united states into the chamber, the following, the gentleman

from minnesota, mr. mr, the gentlewoman from michigan, the gentleman from north carolina, mr. hudson, the gentleman from utah, mr. moore, the gentlewoman from indiana,, the gentleman from oklahoma, mr. hearne, the duma from new york, mr. jeffries, the gentlewoman from massachusetts, ms. clark, the gentlewoman from california, mr. lu, the gentleman from colorado, the gentlewoman from washington, the gentleman from michigan, mrs. dingell. fmr. pres. biden: the president of the senate, as direction of the body -- vp vance: the president of the senate, at the direction of the body, escorts the president of the united states into the house chamber. the senator from south dakota, mr. thune, the senator from wyoming, mr. barrasso, the senator from arkansas, mr. cotton, the senator from

oklahoma, mr. lankford, the senator from west virginia, mrs. capito, the senator from south carolina, mr. scott, the senator from new york, mr. schumer, the senator from illinois, mr. durbin, the senator from minnesota, ms. klobuchar, the senator from new jersey, mr. booker, the senator from wisconsin. speaker johnson: the members of the escort committee will exit the chamber through the lobby doors.

>> mr. speaker, the dean of the diplomatic corps.

[indistinct conversations] peter: we are about 5, 10 minutes away from the president entering the chamber and beginning his speech. jasmine wright, jason dick, we've been watching this, chatting amongst ourselves. is there anything we can share that we were talking about? jasmine: one thing i'm noticing is the difference between the way that former vice president harris and speaker mike johnson were talking last year versus now. it is so much more jovial with vice president vance and speaker johnson that it was. it is so much more sort of homeboy these people know each other, they are on the same side. it is interesting to watch the differences of just a year. peter: would you call harris and

justice formal? >> the justices of the united states supreme court. [laughter] [applause]

[indistinct conversations] peter: jason dick, we were just watching the supreme court come in. we saw justice roberts, kavanaugh, kagan, and we did not see justices brown, sotomayor, alito. does that tell you anything? that just four out of the nine? peter: justice alito -- jason: justice alito has been skipping this for a number of years, after a couple of his motions and mouthing's kind of caught the cameras after one of his addresses. thomas has also skipped quite a few lately. and, you know, it's not surprising to me, because i do think some people are feeling like that they don't have to be

there. [laughter] they've done this before. a lot of them have done this before, even for people who, you know, are relatively new. peter: but you don't necessarily see this as a protest by the democratic justices, brown-jackson and sotomayor? jason: it could be. the supreme court is a very tight group. they are very close. it's been a long time with one another pit whether or not it is a protest or whether it is just, i think i want to, you know, catch up on netflix, it could be that, too. jasmine: i had a reservation at the local eatery. [laughter] jason: it is mardi gras. peter: jasmine wright, you were talking about jd vance and mike johnson, and i asked the question before we got interrupted, which was come up would you consider the

harris-johnson relationship formal? jasmine: yeah. it was these moments in which they interface a lot more after johnson became speaker. obviously the vice president was on the fourth year of being the vice president. i believe johnson was asked later on in an interview what they talked about and he said, we didn't talk about politics, we talked about things that you humans talk about. i am not sure that that is the case for jd vance and johnson. i think they are talking brief. jd vance was that the capital earlier today for one of the people joining the fbi, one of his long-time friends. i think they continuously have conversations in the way johnson was having with the administration. peter: we have about a minute

and a half before the house sergeant at arms is scheduled to announce mr. speaker, mr. president the united states, etc. what are you listening for in tonight's speech? jason: mainly about the border. i think there will be a lot of discussion on the border. trump has always felt this was a big issue for him. jazmine: the economy, this tariff move that happened into tonight. there's some thinking that maybe they would pull back the tariffs or bring it back to a lesser percentage but people are worried about the economy. it's ironic how he not just blames the biden administration but how he talks about it. peter: later tonight, howard left nick, the newcomer secretary made a statement. what should we be listening for? jasmine: he said they had been on the phone with both the

mexican and canadian counterparts trying to make a deal, and that president trump may have announce, if not here, maybe tomorrow, that they are pulling back some of the tariffs. not completely letting them go, but pulling them back as long as the country's say and become more forceful on issues that the reason why these tariffs are put in place. i think the reality is, trump saw the stock markets. he is somebody who follows the stock markets. he follows them quite religiously and they were going back and forth, really freaking out negatively about these tariffs. so i don't think that the white house will be able to say quite credibly that that wasn't the reason or that wasn't a reason as to why they are saying we are going to pull these back. but only time will tell what percentage that is, how much that is and whether or not they will do reciprocal tariffs. peter: the democrat of new york

talking with nancy pelosi. both long-term members. apologize for not recognizing them. there are 62 new members of congress. nearly 20% of the congress is new. so that's a lot of new members. not quite sure who that one was. jasmine: i think more than that. peter: melania trump, who was on capitol hill yesterday as well. was that a surprise to you down at the white house that she came down. here comes mr. trump. greta gave us her guests earlier. it included some revenge born victims and the family whose

father was killed in butler, pennsylvania. she is sitting with her guest there. jasmine: laken riley's family is there. to answer your question, i wasn't surprised to see here. the first public remarks since donald trump took office. there were some questions about how much she would be in washington, how frequently she would be around. but i think there is a real shift in energy. not just from the president, but also from her office, trying to do things much differently this time around. >> mr. speaker, the president's cabinet. [applause]

peter: and now the cabinet is coming in. secretary of state rubio, secretary of treasury scott bessent. we saw there as well attorney general pam bondi, pete hegseth, who's there. mr. lett nick, the commerce secretary, who we talked about a little bit earlier. rfk junior, of course. there scott turner. there is seth duffy -- i'm so sorry, sean duffy. transportation. there senator adam schiff sitting with senator from --

yup, the new senator from delaware, lisa rochester. we had carol from illinois. we have angela alsobrooks, maryland. jasmine: kamala harris was the second. peter: kamala harris, of course. jasmine: interchangeably. peter: there is kristi noem, who is talking there with the congressman from new jersey. jason: that's tim burchett from tennessee. peter: there we go. is that brooke rawlins, the ag secretary. jason: it is sort of odd to have something like this when we so much pay attention to the

fashion because of the protests and so forth having just on the oscars two nights ago. jasmine: not quite the same. jason: but there is a lot more power. peter: nobody in the world cares what you or i are wearing. [laughter] last year, joe biden took at least a half-hour to get out of the chamber. it was a moment for him, politically, that boosted him, that got rid of some of the rumors of mental decline, etc. he worked that room for a half an hour. it's one of the most, in a sense, the most iconic things i've seen in politics. we expect president trump to do the same? he likes to chat. jasmine: i don't know if president trump will be there as

long. in that span joe biden had two hot mike moments that went viral. he was therefore forever. i don't know if he expects trail -- president trump to be there for that long. but as i talk to people close to him, he is enjoying this moment. he is happy to be back in the white house, he is happy to have a party that responds to him, that respects them, and he's happy back to being the center of everything. i think you are going to see him show that happiness shaking hands with his friends, shaking hands, potentially with people who don't like him very much, democrats. kind of pushing them to say something potentially. he is kind of reveling in this moment that he has now that he's back in the white house. i think he will be there for a long time. whether or not he's there as long as joe biden, time will tie -- time will tell. i remember covering joe biden last year and being like, can you leave, i'm trying to go home. [laughter]

jason: an end of the night at your high school reunion type vibe. jasmine: wrap it up, joe. we will see what donald trump does. jason: i would guess some of that is, a little bit of wistfulness. biden was running for reelection, but who knows what kind of doubts he may have had about his own path. this is like a beginning. even if it seems like we've been in this loop for a wild. peter: you can see that the cabinet is still not completely seated. they are not going to bring him in while there still people in the aisles. but he is nearby. he's in the holding room next to the chamber and should be coming in shortly. i just want to remind our viewers. obviously we will shut up as soon as the president comes in. we will listen to everything that happens. without us. there's tulsi gabbard talking with chip roy.

that's right, former senator from georgia. rfk. i haven't seen rfk junior talked to a lot of people. i don't know if that saying anything? jason: i saw him talk to jeff van drew. i wonder if it was a conversation about fluoride. peter: he's been reelected. i did not know that. jasmine: when rfk is having quite the moment right now with this news outbreak going back and forth for whether or not he should be promoting vaccines, whether or not he should be promoting more homeopathic remedies that aren't necessarily shown to have much weight against a measles outbreak. i would be interested to see if donald trump brings that up. i would be a little shocked. peter: again, the entire speech, of course. and, the democratic response. senator elissa slotkin, freshman

democrat from michigan. will be speaking from michigan and we will bring that to you live as always after all that we will get your reaction. we will get your reaction, greta will be here getting reaction from members in the play out from the speech. and before the president comes in, let's check in one more time. greta: quick excerpt from the president's speech tonight on tariffs. you guys were talking about that and the impact of it on the economy. this is from jake sherman, whatever we tariff them, we tariff them, whatever they tax us, we tax them. if they do nonmonetary tariffs to keep them out of their markets, then we do nonmonetary barriers to keep them out of our market. you could expect to hear some tough talk from the president tonight on that. that is ahead of the markets closing tonight. cnbc with this headline, dow tumbles again, loses more than 1300 points in two days as trump ignites trade war. peter: you and i were talking

exactly about that. jasmine: it is going to be incumbent upon the president to head the american people understand why he is putting in place these tariffs. that, in a lot of ways, have a negative connotation, even amongst people within his own party. they are not necessarily one of those "conservative values." even if republicans say they are ok with giving trump the latitude on tariffs, privately they are concerned. they don't like them. i think he's going to have to explain why. of course he says tariffs are his fourth favorite word in the dictionary. his first, i would be surprised if he doesn't repeat that again in an ad live, but i think that tariffs are going to be a large part of this. peter: for viewers who are seeing the state of union or joining the session for the first time, on the screen, the republicans will be on the left and the democrats will be on the

right. you can always tell what the applause lines are by which side stands up. jason: another thing that i am looking for in addition to some of the policy notes that we are looking at is just what -- how the democrats are going to approach things that they feel are a winner for them. whether it's something -- if trump does talk about tariffs and talk about how great they are, as jasmine said, the market does not like them, the world's editorial base does not like them. this is across the board and the economy, over and over again came up with the number one issue people are worried about. but he's also going to go for base issues, like transgender issues. how is that going to be? peter: here we go. >> mr. speaker, the president of the united states. [applause]