usa, usa! >> tonight the president's address. that indelible moment. >> more women serving in congress than at any time before. >> president trump making his case to a house divided and that sea of white. >> tonight i ask you to choose greatness. >> the president not shying away from the immigration fight and the wall he wants. >> walls work, and walls save lives. >> addressing prescription drugs, abortion, and the aids crisis. >> together we will defeat aids in america and beyond. >> tonight our powerhouse round table breaking down the state of our union and what's next for america. >> the state of our union is

strong. >> this special edition of "nightline," the state of the union, will be right back.

that leave therea lasting impression. like the feeling of movement as a new journey begins, or the sight of soft fur, warmed by the morning sun. you might remember new flavours, the sound of an old friend's laugh, or a view that defies all expectations. these are the memories that stay with you, long after the moments have passed. this special edition of "nightline," "the state of the union" continues. here now dan harris. >> good evening, and we begin here tonight with the state of the union. president trump addressing a divided congress and a divided

nation, kicking off a speech that almost didn't happen with the words "not as two parties, but as one nation." encouraging the country to choose greatness over gridlock, but going on the offensive on a host of issues from what he calls partisan investigation to immigration. here is abc's david wright. >> no one has benefitted more from our thriving economy than women, who have filled 58% of the newly created jobs last year. >> reporter: tonight in the house chamber, an unscripted moment of unity. clearly catching the president offguard. >> you weren't supposed to do that. thank you very much. >> reporter: this new congress includes a record number of women, more than 100 of them, a huge bloc in the democrats' new majority. democratic congresswomen wore all white. their ranks and their determination enhanced. >> don't sit yet. get it like this. >> reporter: the president

congratulated them. >> and exactly one century after congress passed the constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote, we also have more women serving in congress than at any time before. >> reporter: the state of the union is usually a display of national unity through gritted teeth. the atmosphere this year especially tough, even though on the surface it was all smiles. >> millions of our fellow citizens are watching us now gathered in this great chamber. hoping that we will govern not as two parties, but as one nation. >> reporter: the president insisted the state of the union is sound, but he also acknowledged deep divisions. >> an economic miracle is taking place in the united states, and the only thing that can stop it

are foolish wars, politics, or ridiculous partisan investigations. >> reporter: speaker nancy pelosi single-handedly delayed this speech for a week over the white house's objections. as the trump presidency enters its third year, she could be a major thorn in his side, but instead of throwing down the gauntlet, tonight the president called for unity. >> there is a new opportunity in american politics, if only we have the courage together to seize it. >> reporter: tonight justice kavanaugh was there in the chamber. his presence on the supreme court one of president trump's proudest trophies. the democrats haven't forgotten his bitter confirmation fight. tonight representative alexandria ocasio-cortez brought along one of the activists who famously cornered senator jeff flake in an elevator. >> i'm willing to take responsibility for his own

actions. >> reporter: prompting him to second guess his support for kavanaugh. her plus one sending a point message. another plus one statement from new jersey representative bonnie watson coleman. she brought an undocumented immigrant as her guest. >> victorina morales is really the face of what i believe is the majority of immigrants and unmented in this country. she is hardworking, she is honest, she contributes to the community. >> reporter: victorina morales was also gainfully employed until recently as a housekeeper at donald trump's golf course in bedminster, new jersey. [ speaking spanish ] >> reporter: her story first reported in "the new york times." >> she is also the face of trump's hypocrisy. >> reporter: president trump insists illegal immigration isn't just a problem but a threat. >> this is a moral issue. the lawless state of our southern border is a threat to

the safety, security, and financial well-being of all america. >> reporter: he still wants his border wall. >> walls work, and walls save lives. >> reporter: as my colleague matt gutman has shown on "nightline" in recent months, the situation along the border is tricky, even in places like yuma, arizona, where there already is a wall. how high is this wall? >> this is a 16-foot wall. this is the area on monday where we had a group of 376 individuals enter the united states illegally, but most of them came under the wall. in my 30 years in the border patrol, i have not been a part of arresting a group of 376 people. that's really unheard of. >> reporter: the number of people crossing the southern border illegally has declined dramatically since 2006, with a slight uptick in the last year, but the type of people crossing has changed. families up by 280% from a year

ago, many of them seeking to escape violence and poverty in central america. tonight president trump stopped short of declaring a state of emergency in an effort to circumvent the need for congressional approval for his wall. >> tonight i am asking you to defend our very dangerous southern border out of love and devotion to our fellow citizens and to our country. >> reporter: among the successes for which the president claimed credit, a booming economy, historically low unemployment, and criminal justice reform. >> and just weeks ago, both parties united for groundbreaking criminal justice reform. they said it couldn't be done. >> reporter: among the white house guests, alice johnson, a mother of five who was sentenced to life in

nonviolent drug offense. president trump commuted her sentence after an oval office plea from kim kardashian. >> tomorrow will be eight months that i've been a free woman. this time last year i was sitting inside of a prison cell. so i'm happy to be here. >> reporter: this legislation reformed sentencing laws that have wrongly and disproportionately harmed the african american community. >> reporter: trump also held out hope for a major long-term goal, finally ending the scourge of hiv/aids in america. >> my budget will ask democrats and republicans to make the needed commitment to eliminate the hiv epidemic in the united states. within ten years. >> reporter: the president spent part of tonight's speech on foreign policy, declaring progress in the fight against isis and islamic extremists. >> great nations do not fight

endless wars. >> reporter: having overruled some of his generals and having ordered u.s. troops to withdraw from syria, trump now seems determined to end america's longest war in afghanistan. abc's david muir was in kabul over the weekend where u.s.e to taliban, even as political leaders negotiate with the taliban, hoping to end the war. >> the political talks i do think are positive. i talked about this fight multiple times, and it is a fight. and neither side will win it militarily. so if neither side is going to win it militarily, you have to move towards a political settlement here. >> do you think those political talks with the taliban are the part of the end game here? >> absolutely. >> reporter: two years and the president has lost some room to maneuver. >> you have you the vote you. should pass it now. >> reporter: a divided government, plus a growing number of investigations threatens to hamstring him. >> i donald john trump --

>> reporter: a new front, subpoenaing documents from president trump's inaugural committee. the trump inaugural now joins the trump campaign, the trump foundation, the trump transition, and the trump white house in the long list of entities facing criminal investigations. democrats in congress will help to determine what becomes of these investigations. tonight the audience included several men and women hoping to replace trump. doubtful they'll be in a mood to cut trump much slack. tonight the democratic response came for the first time from an african american woman. stacey abrams, the former majority leader from the georgia state legislature. >> i'm stacey abrams and i'm running for governor, because where you come from shouldn't determine how far you can go. >> reporter: that's a campaign ad from her recent unsuccessful bid for the georgia governor's office. "nightline" spent time with her during the campaign as her opponent fended off allegations he was trying to suppress the

black vote. >> mr. kemp has created an atmosphere of fear around the right to vote in the state of georgia. >> tonight abrams raised the issue of voting rights again. >> this is the next battle for our democracy. when we're all eligible citizens can have their say about the vision we want for our country. >> reporter: she also sought to pin the blame for the recent government shutdown entirely on the white house. >> the shutdown was a stunt, engineered by the president of the united states, one that defied every tenet of fairness and abandoned not just our people but our values. >> reporter: we may not have heard the last of the shutdown. the government due to run out of money again later this month. president trump clearly doesn't want that to happen. >> i am asking you to choose greatness. >> reporter: but as he's already discovered this year, the art of the deal in this environment is very different from what he's accustomed to. tonight one of his biggest

applause lines was his suggestion that it's time for a new approach. >> we must reject the politics of revenge, resistance, and retribution and embrace the boundless potential of cooperation, compromise, and the common good. >> reporter: even speaker pelosi leapt to her feet to endorse that idea. whether it's anything more than wishful thinking will depend on her and him. i'm david right for "nightline" in new york. >> our thanks to david wright. and up next, getting deeper into political nitty-gritty with the state of the union round table. of once-weekly ozempic®. in a study with ozempic®, a majority of adults lowered their blood sugar and reached an a1c of less than seven and maintained it. oh! under seven? and you may lose weight. in the same one-year study, adults lost on average up to 12 pounds. oh! up to 12 pounds?

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the women in white, newly elected democratic women on the floor of the house of representatives this evening, and one of, if not the most indelible moments of the state of the union speech cheering "usa, usa." we're back now with a deep dive on tonight's state of the union speech. joining me from washington, abc's political contributors cokie roberts, matthew dowd and donna brazile. and former governor chris christie is at rutgers university tonight. welcome, everybody. cokie robert, let me start with you. let's go back to that moment of the women in white, those democratic members of the house of representatives, many of them newly elected, cheering and chanting on the floor of the house of representatives during the president's speech tonight. what do you make of that moment? >> it was like nothing we've ever seen before. but the whole picture was like nothing we've ever seen before. we've never seen that many women in the congress, and for them to

get together and wear the suffrages color of white was a statement, obviously. but also, it provided such a visual image of all of them together in the sea of white. and on the other side, all these guys in blue, and not looking all that exciting. and they chose a way to respond to trump with a really clever and totally spontaneous response, which was when he congratulated women in congress, they stood up and clapped, but they didn't clap for him, they clapped for each other. they high-fived, they shouted "usa." they turned into it their own little rally. but it was not really disrespectful. it was just fun. >> donna brazile, let me bring you in, because there was another woman in the chamber tonight also wearing white who was looming literally and figuratively above the president

tonight a lot of us were watching her facial expressions very carefully. did you watch along with us? and what did you make of those facial expressions? >> well, speaker pelosi is no stranger to that seat. she's been in that chair before. and what i enjoyed about her performance tonight is she kept looking at her caucus, as if to say on cue, yeah, that's good, i don't know. i loved the entire experience. the women in white stole the show. the president understood that he needed to recognize this large historic group of women up there. but there is no question that tonight the president reached across the aisle on, say, border security. he didn't make it. but he did make it on infrastructure. he said i want to end hiv epidemic. there are ways that he can work with democrats, but he cannot just do it with simple words. so call on nancy pelosi more often.

>> let my bring in chris christie for a second. governor, you are an ally of the president. he did something quite bold this evening, which is he called out the quote/unquote ridiculous investigations by him. it didn't say robert mueller's name, but certainly he was another figure looming large this evening. do you think it was wise for him to call these investigations ridiculous? >> listen, i don't think that's what he was talking about. i think he was drawing the line for congress and investigations that haven't even started yet. he is saying listen, if you decide that you want to hold investigations that he believes are other the line or ridiculous, but that's the most bipartisanship. but i have to tell you the truth. this guy gave a bipartisan speech tonight. he gave a speech where he talked about lowering prescription drug costs, where he talked about -- he signaled very clearly he is ready to make a deal on the border. if you didn't hear that, you haven't been in politics long enough. he gave the kind of people wanted him to, up to and

acknowledging the new women of congress. i think donald trump did what he wanted to do tonight, what he needed to do tonight. actions are going to speak louder than words. he did a good job tonight. the president gets an a from me tonight because he did what he had to do, and in some respects it was against character. >> matthew dowd, let me bring you in. the president made his case yet again for a wall tonight. was he likely to carry the day? was he per sways i? >> he is not going to carry the day because the house of representatives and representatives are totally again against it. he may carry the day in security that he decides to call in this. i would like to see the president -- whoever wrote the first few pages of his speech and the last few pages talk to the person who wrote the middle pages because i disagree with the governor on this. i think the immigration issue, the way the president defined it didn't allow the democrats a lot of breathing room in this. but i think when you walk away from this speech, i thought it was supposed to be filled with a lot of comedy and

bipartisanship. he had mentions of it. but kime he talked about immigration, which is a red button for democrats. he talked about infrastructure for five where he could receive real bipartisan support. so you know where the president's energy is on this. >> matthew dowd, chris christie, donna brazile, cokie roberts, we thank you all very much for your insight and analysis on this historic evening. up next here on "nightline," the emotional moment inside that chamber many will not soon forget. why the president zeroed in on grace. -3 medicines with trelegy. the only fda-approved 3-in-1 copd treatment. ♪ trelegy. the power of 1-2-3 ♪ trelegy 1-2-3 trelegy with trelegy and the power of 1-2-3, i'm breathing better. trelegy works 3 ways to... ...open airways,... ...keep them open... ...and reduce inflammation... ...for 24 hours of better breathing. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems.

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and finally here tonight, a moment to remember with one of the youngest guests at the state of the union. 10-year-old grace elon, president trump honoring her for raising thousands of dollars for saint jude's children's research hospital in the fight against cancer. and completing her own treatment for brain cancer. >> you are a great inspiration to everyone in this room. thank you very much. [ applause ] >> the president saying he will ask for $500 million over the next decade to fund this medical research. we want to thank you for watching "nightline" tonight.

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