In his first speech to the new Congress, Donald Trump declared his administration is "just getting started" before a Democratic congressman was evicted from the chamber.
Follow all the updates in our live blog.
Key Events
-
Trump says he's got a letter from Zelenskyy
-
Trump says Abbey Gate Bombing terrorist caught
-
'We're going to get' Greenland, Trump says
Clash with Zelenskyy 'summed up Trump's whole approach to the world'
Slotkin says the president and vice-president's clash with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week "wasn't just a bad episode of reality TV".
"It summed up Trump's whole approach to the world.
"He believes in cosying up to dictators like Vladimir Putin and kicking our friends like the Canadians in the teeth.
"He sees American leadership as merely a series of real estate transactions.
"As a Cold War kid, I'm thankful it was Reagan and not Trump in office in the 1980s. Trump would have lost us the Cold War."
'Change doesn't need to be chaotic,' Slotkin says in dig at DOGE
(Reuters: Paul Sancya/Pool)
Slotkin suggests that Trump could be walking the US into a recession, and warns he could "very well" come for Americans' social security benefits and retirees' health insurance.
"The president claims he won't, but Elon Musk just called Social Security 'the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time'," Slotkin says, referring to a comment Musk made on Joe Rogan's podcast last week.
"While we're on the subject of Elon Musk, is there anyone in America who is comfortable with him and his gang of 20-year-olds using their own computer servers to poke through your tax returns, your health information and your bank accounts?
"No oversight, no protections against cyber attack, no guardrails on what they do with your private data.
"We need a more efficient government. You want to cut waste, I'll help you do it. But change doesn't need to be chaotic or make us less safe.
"The mindless firing of people who work to protect our nuclear weapons, keep our planes from crashing and conduct the research that finds the cure for cancer, only to rehire them two days later, no CEO in America could do that without being summarily fired."
Trump 'talked a big game' but he's in it for his billionaire friends, Slotkin says
In her response, Slotkin says Trump "talked a big game on the economy", but it's "important to read the fine print".
"Do his plans actually help Americans get ahead? Not even close.
"President Trump is trying to deliver an unprecedented giveaway to his billionaire friends.
"He's on the hunt to find trillions of dollars to pass along to the wealthiest in America, and to do that, he's going to make you pay in every part of your life.
"And prices are going up, not down."
Democratic senator delivers response
(Reuters: Paul Sancya/Pool)
Elissa Slotkin, a senator from Michigan, is giving the Democratic Party's response to Donald Trump's address.
"We just went through another fraught election season," she says.
"Americans made it clear that prices are too high and that the government needs to be more responsive to their needs.
"America wants change, but there's a responsible way to make change and a reckless way, and we can make that change without forgetting who we are as a country and as a democracy."
Trump signposts negotiations with Ukraine likely to resume
President Donald Trump has raised the possibility of renewed discussions with Ukraine regarding how to end the war.
Trump says he's ready to discuss again with Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskyy possibilities for ending Ukraine’s war with Russia.
His comments came during the address to Congress.
After an acrimonious meeting in the White House last week, Trump stopped military aid to Ukraine but he says the Ukrainian leader has reached out to him and he’s prepared to resume discussions.
The White House made it clear after the meeting that it believed Zelenskyy had been ungrateful for US aid since Russia's invasion three years ago and expected an apology.
In the hours leading up to President Trump's speech to Congress, Zelenskyy said he "regretted" how the White House meeting had gone.
'Get ready for an incredible future'
Trump closes his speech where he began, with the promise of a new "golden age" for America.
"Americans are today a proud, free, sovereign and independent nation that will always be free, and we will fight for it till death.
"We will never let anything happen to our beloved country, because we are a country of doers, dreamers, fighters and survivors.
"…My fellow Americans, get ready for an incredible future, because the golden age of America has only just begun. It will be like nothing that has ever been seen before."
(Reuters: Win McNamee/Pool)
Trump says he's got a letter from Zelenskyy
(AP: Win McNamee/Pool)
Trump says he received an "important letter" from Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy earlier today, following their public falling out in the Oval Office last week.
"The letter reads, 'Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer. Nobody wants peace more than the Ukrainians.'"
Zelenskyy says he stands ready to work with Trump for a lasting peace, according to Trump's citing of the letter.
And, as he's also posted on social media, Zelenskyy said Ukraine was ready to sign a critical minerals deal with the US.
"I appreciate that he sent this letter," Trump says.
"Just got it a little while ago. Simultaneously, we've had serious discussions and have received strong signals that they are ready for peace. Wouldn't that be beautiful? Wouldn't that be beautiful?"
Trump says Abbey Gate Bombing terrorist caught
(Reuters: Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Trump says the US has "apprehended the top terrorist" behind the 2021 Kabul airport bombing that killed 13 American service members and about 170 Afghan civilians.
The attack, known as the Abbey Gate Bombing, happened during America's withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Muhammed Sharifullah, described as a senior member of a branch of Islamic State, has been arrested over the attack.
He was turned over to Pakistani authorities for extradition to the US, the Journal reports.
Thinning ranks on Democratic side
(AP: Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
It appears that roughly 10 per cent of Democrats have now left the chamber. It's probably meant to illustrate their distaste for what’s being said, but it’s also a particularly long address.
A number of those left protested when President Donald Trump spoke about Ukraine. Clapping when he spoke about the support provided by the Biden Administration (even though he intended it to be derisive).
'We're going to get' Greenland, Trump says
Trump restates his intention to reclaim the Panama Canal. "We've already started doing it," he says.
He goes on to deliver "a message tonight for the incredible people of Greenland".
"We strongly support your right to determine your own future, and if you choose, we welcome you into the United States of America.
"We need Greenland for national security and even international security, and we're working with everybody involved to try and get it, but we need it really for international world security."
"And I think we're going to get it one way or the other. We're going to get it.
"We will keep you safe. We will make you rich. And together, we will take Greenland to heights like you have never thought possible before."
(AP: Alex Brandon)
A plan for shipbuilding
(AP: Win McNamee/Pool )
Trump says he plans to "resurrect the American shipbuilding industry, including commercial shipbuilding and military shipbuilding".
"I am announcing tonight that we will create a new office of shipbuilding in the White House and offer special tax incentives to bring this industry home to America where it belongs.
"We used to make so many ships. We don't make them anymore very much."
American shipyards have been struggling to build submarines quickly enough to meet naval targets.
That's raised concerns about the AUKUS agreement, under which American nuclear-powered submarines are to be provided to Australia. The US can pull out of the deal if it's unable to produce enough submarines for its own needs.
Trump tells transgender children 'you are perfect exactly the way God made you'
In attacking "toxic ideologies" in schools, Trump cites the case of January Littlejohn, a Florida mother who claimed her child's school secretly allowed her 13-year-old to adopt they/them pronouns.
January Littlejohn in the chamber. (AP: Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Littlejohn is a guest of Melania Trump, and her story has been cited by Republicans many times before.
But CNN reported in 2022 on an email that suggested Littlejohn actually notified a teacher that her child wanted to change pronouns.
"Shortly after taking office, I signed an executive order banning public schools from indoctrinating our children with transgender ideology.
"I also signed an order to cut off all taxpayer funding to any institution that engages in the sexual mutilation of our youth.
"And now I want Congress to pass a bill permanently banning and criminalising sex changes on children and forever ending the lie that any child is trapped in the wrong body.
"This is a big lie, and our message to every child in America is that you are perfect exactly the way God made you."
Democrats intent on reminding Trump of the horrors of January 6, 2021
There’s been repeated heckles of "January 6th" from Democrats.
It was just over four years ago that a mob of Trump supporters broke into the Capitol and this very chamber to stop the certification of the 2020 election.
He was then impeached by this Chamber (back when there was a Democratic majority) and a bipartisan House committee asserted Trump criminally engaged in a "multi-part conspiracy" in order to overturn the result of an election he lost.
Yet, here he is. Back in the House of Representatives as the duly elected President of the United States.
Immigration gets the biggest cheer so far
(AP: Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
There seemed to be genuine enthusiasm from the Republican side when Trump claimed credit for restoring order at the southern border.
Trump campaigned hard on the issue of illegal migration and there has been a remarkable fall in the number of people trying to cross into the US without permission since he was restored to office.
It's hard to know exactly what's caused the change – he's sent more troops to the border, ordered more round-ups of migrants within American and pressured Mexico to do more to stop people from accessing the border on their side.
Critics say his hardline positions are causing distress among migrant communities and cutting off an avenue of escape for people who need it but it's clearly a winner among the Republican base.
Tariffs may take an 'adjustment period', Trump says
Speaking about tariffs on agricultural products, also set to take effect on April 2, Trump says: "It may be a little bit of an adjustment period."
But he says the they will be "great for the American farmer".
"I love the farmer, who will now be selling into our home market, the USA, because nobody is going to be able to compete with you.
"Because those goods that come in from other countries and companies, they're really, really in a bad position in so many different ways. They may be very dirty and disgusting."
Trump's also talked up the 25 per cent tariffs on imported aluminium and steel, which are causing concern in Australia.
"If we don't have, as an example, steel and lots of other things, we don't have a military and, frankly, we just won't have a country very long."
Trump defends his controversial tariffs
(Reuters: Kevin Lamarque)
Trump is talking up his planned "reciprocal tariffs" for countries that impose tariffs on US goods. They're set to take effect on April 2.
"Other countries have used tariffs against us for decades, and now it's our turn to start using them against those other countries.
"The European Union, China, Brazil, India, Mexico and Canada — have you heard of them? — and countless other nations charge us tremendously higher tariffs than we charge them. It's very unfair."
Regarding the contentious 25 per cent tariffs on Mexican and Candian imports, which took effect today in the US, Trump says:
"Much has been said over the last three months about Mexico and Canada, but we have very large deficits with both of them.
"But even more importantly, they've allowed fentanyl to come into our country at levels never seen before, killing hundreds of thousands of our citizens and many very young, beautiful people, destroying families. Nobody has ever seen anything like it."
Evicted congressman was heckling Trump over feared Medicaid cuts
(Reuters: Nathan Howard)
According to a pool reporter at the White House, congressman Al Green spoke to some of the White House press after being evicted from the chamber.
He said he had been yelling at Trump that he had "no mandate" to cut Medicaid before he was booted out.
"It's worth it to let people know that there are some people who are going to stand up" to Trump, Green said.
Trump has said he will not cut Medicaid, which is a health insurance program for low-income adults.
Trump touts his $5 million path to citizenship
Trump is spruiking his "gold card" idea — his plan to sell US citizenship for $US5 million. He says it "goes on sale very, very soon".
"It's like the green card, but better and more sophisticated, and these people will have to pay tax in our country.
"…So while we take out the criminals, killers, traffickers and child predators who are allowed to enter our country under the open border policy of these people, the Democrats, the Biden administration … we will now bring in brilliant, hard-working, job-creating people.
"They're going to pay a lot of money, and we're going to reduce our debt with that money."
(Reuters: Win McNamee/Pool)
A shout-out for DOGE
Trump praises Elon Musk and the work of his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
"He's working very hard. He didn't need this," Trump says of Musk.
"Everybody here, even this [Democratic] side, appreciates it, I believe. They just don't want to admit that."
(Reuters: Kevin Lamarque)
Trump steps through some of the purported cost cuts by DOGE.
His list includes $US22 million for "free housing and cars for illegal aliens", $US45 million for diversity, equity and inclusion scholarships in Myanmar, and $US8 million to "promote LGBTQI+ in the African nation of Lesotho, which nobody has ever heard of".
"This is real," Trump insists.
We can't fact-check this in real-time. But no doubt there will be scrutiny of this list, especially as many of DOGE's previous claims about cost-cuts have been challenged and debunked, prompting amendments to its "wall of receipts".
'No King lives here': More Democrats leave the chamber
The protests continue. A handful of Democrat members removed outer clothing to reveal protest messages printed on clothing hidden below including "Resist" and "No King Lives Here".
They then left the chamber. Politics is played hard here but the anger feels palpable.
Some of the signs seen in the chamber. (Reuters: Win McNamee/Pool)
It's worth noting that back in 2009 when President Barack Obama addressed a joint session and was heckled with a cry of "You lie!", there was outrage about falling standards.
Today's display shows how much it's devolved.