Donald Trump says ‘prepare for fireworks’ ahead of his big speech to Congress: Live updates

Team Trump sent out a text urging Americans to tune-in for the president’s joint session with Congress on Tuesday.

The address will begin at 9:00 p.m. EST.

The text message previewed that there will be ‘fireworks’ on Capitol Hill during the speech.

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

Donald Trump’s motorcade departed the White House at 8:342 p.m. EST to take the president and first lady Melania over to Capitol Hill.

The first couple are making the short drive across town for the president’s first joint address to Congress of his second term.

His remarks are set to start around 9:00 p.m. EST.

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

The first Cabinet members began arriving on Capitol Hill Tuesday evening for Donald Trump’s joint session speech.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and his wife, donning an all-pink getup, were spotted entering the chamber.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were also seen at the Capitol.

This means none of those three Cabinet Secretaries were selected as the designated survivor for Trump’s first joint session address of his second term.

Fired Veterans Affairs IG Michael Missal defended the role of independent agency auditors as he prepares to attend President Trump’s speech to Congress.

Missal was one of 17 IGs that Trump fired in a purge days after he took office. He’s a guest of Trump critic Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.).

‘IGs make government better and save taxpayers literally billions and billions of dollars,’ he said in a video posted on Blumenthal’s X account.

‘What President Trump has done by firing the independent, non-partisan IGs has really hurt oversight, and when you hurt oversight, you’re ultimately going to hurt the operations of government,’ he said.

Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) announced he brought Dr. Eithan Haim to Trump’s address to the joint session of Congress.

The Justice Department recently dropped charges against the surgeon who pleaded not guilty last year of four counts of wrongfully obtaining individually identifiable health information.

Prosecutors had said the 34-year-old took the information for those who were not under his care and shared with a conservative activist.

Hawley praised him as a whistleblower who shed light on illegal transgender surgeries of minors.

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

The White House communications team is gathered to watch some ‘must see TV’ when President Donald Trump addresses a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night.

White House Deputy Communications Director Kaelan Dorr posted to X an image of the teams haul of McDonald’s french fries, chicken nuggets and burgers.

‘White House Comms is pre-gaming the Joint Session the MAGA way,’ Dorr wrote in the post.

Rep. Andy Biggs signaled on social media that Democrats could stage a walk out of President Donald Trump’s speech to Congress.

‘Rep. Eli Crane and I are ready for some better seats if the sore loser Democrats walk out of the President’s speech,’ Biggs wrote posting a video on X, warning of some ‘antics planned’ by the Democrats.

‘It’s just noise baby,’ Crane said in the video. ‘I’ll take results.’

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

Donald Trump is leaving the White House and heading over to the Capitol at 8:30 p.m. EST with First Lady Melania Trump.

The president’s remarks are set to kick off at 9:00 p.m. EST, although the official White House schedule says he will deliver the speech just a few minutes later at 9:10 p.m. EST.

It’s unclear how long the speech will go, though Trump’s previous joint session speeches in his first term spanned from an hour to nearly an hour-and-a-half.

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

A few dozen Democratic women in Congress are planning to wear pink to President Donald Trump’s joint address on Tuesday night.

Democratic Women’s Caucus Chair Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.) said Monday that the pink garb is to ‘signal our protest of Trump’s policies which are negatively impacting women and families.’

But Republicans say ‘it’s all an act.’

‘When you see Democrats wearing pink for the TV cameras tonight, remember that 45 of them voted for men to invade women’s sports just yesterday,’ Utah Sen. Mike Lee posted in reference to the GOP effort to ban biological men from joining women’s athletics.

Fox News host Harris Faulkner wrote on X: ‘You mean Dems wearing pink for all the women they truly don’t support…’

Democrats have invited a slew of federal workers and veterans directly impacted by DOGE’s recent firings to Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress tonight.

Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has celebrated its cost cutting efforts, including firing federal workers.

Here are some of those impacted:

Kyle Rahn, a disabled Army veteran who was fired via email from his role at the Department of Homeland Security, was invited to attend by Sen. Ruben Gallego.

Marine veteran Andrew Lennox, who was let go from the Veterans’ Affairs, was invited by Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich.

Meanwhile, Sen. Mark Warner has invited a former National Park ranger named Ashley Ranalli.

The invitations are an effort to humanize the impacts made by DOGE and Trump.

‘We think one of the best ways to let the American people know how horrible Donald Trump’s first 30 days have been is to bring those who have been affected,’ Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said earlier today.

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

Iowa Rep. Ashley Hinson (R) brought as her state’s head of DOGE efforts as a guest to President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night.

Some states have adopted their own Departments of Government Efficiency modeled after Elon Musk’s group to slash what they view as government waste and irresponsible spending of taxpayer dollars.

Both Hinson and Iowa DOGE Chairwoman Emily Schmitt wore matching lapel pins in the shape of scissors to symbolize the incoming cuts.

Sarah Ewall-Wice, Senior U.S. Political Reporter:

House Speaker Mike Johnson shared who he is bringing as guests to President Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress tonight.

Among them is Olivia Hayes, whose husband Wesley was killed in a drunk driving accident with an illegal immigrant behind the wheel.

Another guest of the speaker will be Trump’s Border Czar Tom Homan.

Also in attendance will be Noa Argamani, who was taken hostage by Hamas in the October 7 attack and held for nearly 250 days.

Ben Dell, Chairman of Commonwealth Liquified Natural Gas (LNG), will also be in attendance thanks to an invite from the speaker as part of his effort to highlight the end of President Biden’s energy policy.

Conservative podcasters Ben Shapiro and Matt Walsh were also invited by the speaker to attend the address.

‘They have been instrumental in confronting the failed ideologies of the Left and advancing our commonsense, conservative principles,’ Johnson wrote in a post.

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) was selected as Democrats’ designated survivor for the lower chamber during President Donald Trump’s remarks to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night.

His selection comes even though several Democratic Party members, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), already are skipping the big speech.

Each party selects designated survivors to represent both the House and the Senate – in addition to the president choosing a member of his Cabinet.

Thompson, who has served in Congress since 1999, will, like the other designated survivors, watch the speech from an undisclosed, secure location outside the Capitol campus.

He said that House Minoirty Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) selected him.

By Emily Goodin, senior White House correspondent

Most of Donald Trump’s children will be in the House chamber on Tuesday night to see their father address the nation.

By Emily Goodin, senior White House correspondent

President Donald Trump plans to take a victory lap in front of the American people on Tuesday night when he addresses a joint session of Congress.

He’ll brag about the list of accomplishments his administration has completed in the last six weeks – illegal crossings down at the border, tariffs on foreign allies, and massive cuts to the government – while also outlining his plan to boost the economy and end the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.

‘It’s an opportunity for President Trump, as only he can, to lay out the last month of record-setting, record-breaking, unprecedented achievements and accomplishments,’ adviser Stephen Miller told Fox News on Tuesday.

But his speech comes as America stands at a crossroads: inflation and the cost of living remain high, Canada and China are retaliating for tariffs Trump imposed sparking fears of an economic war, and polls show Americans are worried about the direction the country is headed.

Plus, the government faces a shutdown on March 14 if lawmakers cannot pass a budget.

Feelings are expected to run high in the House chamber.

By Geoff Earle, Deputy U.S. Political Editor

With President Trump’s tariffs on Mexico and Canada driving market drops and political pushback, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is showing signs of flexibility.

‘Both the Mexicans and the Canadians were on the phone with me all day today trying to show that they’ll do better, and the president’s listening, because you know he’s very, very fair and very reasonable,’ Lutnick told Fox Business.

‘So I think he’s going to work something out with them — it’s not going to be a pause, none of that pause stuff,’ he said. But he predicted Trump would ‘figure out – you do more and I’ll meet you in the middle some way and we’re going to probably announcing that tomorrow.’

His conciliatory language comes after the Wall Street Journal editorial page called the new tariffs ‘dumb’ – a phrase echoed by Canadian PM Justin Trudeau.

Republican Senator Joni Ernst’s office is slamming reports she had inappropriate romantic relationships with two top military officials who lobbied her Senate committee.

According to a report from ProPublica, Major General Christopher Finerty had a relationship with the Iowa senator, which her office has denied as ‘slander.’

Finerty has been embroiled in scandal after a recent report from the Air Force inspector general found he had multiple inappropriate and ‘sexual’ relationships with women who worked on Capitol Hill.

The names of the women were redacted in the report and it is not clear if Ernst was named.

President Donald Trump’s administration and Ukraine plan to sign the much-debated minerals deal following his disastrous Oval Office meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky.

It comes after Trump turned the screws on the U.S. ally by pausing U.S. military aid to Ukraine.

Trump has told his advisers that he wants to announce the agreement in his address to Congress Tuesday evening, according to three sources.

They cautioned that the deal had yet to be signed and the situation could change.

President Donald Trump‘s administration and Ukraine plan to sign the much-debated minerals deal following his disastrous Oval Office meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky.

It comes after Trump turned the screws on the U.S. ally by pausing U.S. military aid to Ukraine.

Trump has told his advisers that he wants to announce the agreement in his address to Congress Tuesday evening, according to three sources.

They cautioned that the deal had yet to be signed and the situation could change.

Walking off the House Floor following votes Tuesday afternoon, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told DailyMail.com she is not attending President Donald Trump’s speech before Congress tonight.

Instead, she plans on watching the event remotely.

‘I will be live posting and chatting with you all here instead,’ the progressive posted.

‘Then going on IG Live after,’ indicating she will be hosting a live reaction session on Instagram following the speech.

The ‘Squad’ leader told DailyMail.com that she was not familiar with any planned protests this evening that are planned for Trump’s remarks.

However, other Democrats have reportedly been planning on ways to protest Trump.

Bringing eggs to symbolize inflation and noisemakers to disrupt the proceedings were weighed by Democrats.

Already some have been spotted through the halls of Congress wearing matching outfits—another form of protest.

Donald Trump’s Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt warned Democrats planning to distract and provoke the president during his joint address to Congress this evening to think again.

Axios first reported that some Democratic lawmakers hatched plans to bring eggs, noisemakers and other knick-knacks to the Republican’s nationally televised speech.

Democrats also mentioned that they could leave the House chamber if they find Trump’s remarks particularly repugnant.

Liberal lawmakers have also considered bringing signs similar to ones Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., held up during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech last year, which read ‘war criminal.’

Addressing the planned protests, and the report on Fox News Tuesday morning, Leavitt suggested Democrats take a different approach.

His remarks before all of the nation’s people and politicos will be a seminal moment in the Republican’s still young second term.

It will also be an opportunity to address his congressional Democratic detractors, who have protested his DOGE initiative, his kicking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky out of the White House and his foreign aid freeze, directly.

Within his first month, the president has deputized Elon Musk and DOGE to the top echelons of federal power, where they currently are working to dismantle what they deem as waste, fraud and abuse within the government.

Already over 100 legal cases are challenging many of the Trump-Musk government reforms, according to AP.

President Donald Trump reacted to Justin Trudeau’s emotional press conference on Tuesday, where the Canadian prime minister threatened to retaliate with tariffs of their own.

Trudeau described Trump’s decision to level tariffs as ‘dumb’ and vowed to strike back.

Counselor to the president Alina Habba tore into fired federal employees amid DOGE layoffs – accusing them without evidence of working multiple jobs and saying she doesn’t ‘feel sorry’ for Democrats.

She made her blistering comments to Fox News after her interviewer played a clip of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries accused the Trump administration of an ‘assault on hardworking families.

That drove Habba, who last year represented Trump in his Stormy Daniels and E. Jean Carroll cases, to tee off on Democrats for bringing fired federal workers to President Trump’s speech to Congress tonight.

‘We’ve heard that they’re going to bring people that have lost their jobs,’ she snapped after shaking her head.

Democratic lawmakers sounded the alarms on Tuesday as Trump’s tariffs on Canada and Mexico went into effect. But some GOP lawmakers also raised concerns on what the move would mean for costs in the U.S.

A clearly emotional Justin Trudeau held a press conference on Tuesday to outline retaliatory tariffs after President Donald Trump’s decision to level a 25 percent tariff on Canadian imports went into effect.

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

President Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan held an impromptu Q&A with members of the press outside the White House on Tuesday morning where he slammed sanctuary cities for blocking officials from rounding up illegal immigrants from jails.

Homan insisted that immigration officials need more money to be able to house more migrants and deport them as the rate of arrest and detainment continues to surge.

‘We need Congress to step up and give us the money we need so President Trump can keep his promise to the American people,’ he demanded.

The border czar also claimed that while Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the entire Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are ‘hitting on all cylinders,’ there is only so much they can do with limited funds.

Homan lauded that border numbers are ‘down 90 percent in three weeks’ when referencing the number of crossings since Trump got back into office.

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

First Lady Melania Trump is bringing 15 people to her husband’s address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday evening.

The guests range from families of victims of illegal immigrant crime to a former hostage in Russia and other ‘everyday Americans’ plagued by plights President Donald Trump has vowed to fix over the next four years in Washington.

Notably, the widow and two daughters of Corey Comperatore will sit in the first lady’s guest box at the Capitol after they lost their patriarch when he was shot and killed at Trump’s Butler, Pennsylvania rally.

Elliston Berry, 15, from Aledo, Texas, who was the victim of deepfake AI image bullying, will also join Melania Trump as guest.

The family of Laken Riley, the 22-year-old who was murdered by an illegal immigrant while on a run last year, was invited to the joint session address.

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

Counselor to the President Alina Habba warned Democrats against refusing to ‘clap for America’ at President Donald Trump’s address Tuesday night.

Habba said the administration is expecting Democratic lawmakers to bring as their guests federal workers who lost their jobs and to heckle and ‘make a mockery’ of the joint session remarks.

‘To the hecklers and to the people that refuse to stand up and clap for America – not just Trump – shame on you. We know you’re coming,’ Habba told Fox News on Tuesday morning.

She also said that Trump’s team has no sympathy for federal employees who lost their jobs because they were not performing or showing up to work.

You get fired when you don’t show up to work. You get fired when you’re taking taxpayer dollars and you’re not working for the federal government and you’re double-dipping.

‘They can cry wolf all day long, I really don’t feel sorry for them,’ the lawyer and senior Trump adviser added. ‘They should get back to work for the American people like President Trump and this administration.’

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

Vice President J.D. Vance said it was wrong to assume that he was snubbing European allies during his interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity on Monday.

Vance defended his stance that if the U.S. were to completely stop supporting Ukraine financially and militarily in its war with Russia , then other European nations would fail to step up to the plate to fill the large void.

He also insisted that some of these nations are not prepared to send in thousands of troops after not facing real war for decades.

A U.K. correspondent for an Italian newspaper posted to X claiming that Vance’s comments on Monday evening are ‘bad news’ for the leaders of Britain and France .

But Vance asserted in the sit-down with Hannity that if Europe wants ‘security guarantees’ for Ukraine they need to help ensure the U.S. has ‘economic upsides’ and ‘long term interest’ in the future of the country.

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

Two key House committee chairmen are bringing IRS whistleblowers to President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress.

Oversight Chair James Comer of Ketucky and Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan of Ohio announced Tuesday morning that IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler will join them for the speech later in the evening.

Comer and Jordan released a joint statement on their guests:

Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler embody the highest standards of the federal workforce. They are honorable public servants who risked their careers and livelihoods to expose misconduct and politicization in the federal criminal investigation of Hunter Biden.

Shapley and Ziegler say they are working with President Donald Trump’s administration to deliver ‘justice for whistleblowers like us and accountability for the retaliators.’

IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley (left) and Joseph Ziegler (right) testified before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee on July 19, 2023

President Donald Trump will address a joint session of Congress on Tuesday.

The theme of his speech will be ‘The Renewal of the American Dream’.

Senior adviser Stephen Miller said:

It’s an opportunity for President Trump, as only he can, to lay out the last month of record-setting, record-breaking, unprecedented achievements and accomplishments.

Democrats, many of whom stayed away from Trump’s inauguration in January, were largely brushing aside calls for boycotts as they struggle to come up with an effective counter to the president.