WASHINGTON — Facing a divided Congress for the first time, President Donald Trump on Tuesday called on Washington to reject "the politics of revenge, resistance and retribution." He warned emboldened Democrats that "ridiculous partisan investigations" into his administration and businesses could hamper a surging American economy.

Trump's appeals for bipartisanship in his State of the Union address clashed with the rancorous atmosphere he has helped cultivate in the nation's capital — as well as the desire of most Democrats to block his agenda during his next two years in office. Their opposition was on vivid display as Democratic congresswomen in the audience formed a sea of white in a nod to early 20th-century suffragettes.

Trump spoke at a critical moment in his presidency, staring down a two-year stretch that will determine whether he is re-elected or leaves office in defeat. His speech sought to shore up Republican support that had eroded slightly during the recent government shutdown and previewed a fresh defense against Democrats as they ready a round of investigations into every aspect of his administration.

"If there is going to be peace and legislation, there cannot be war and investigation," he declared. Lawmakers in the cavernous House chamber sat largely silent.

Looming over the president's address was a fast-approaching Feb. 15 deadline to fund the government and avoid another shutdown. Democrats have refused to acquiesce to his demands for a border wall, and Republicans are increasingly unwilling to shut down the government to help him fulfill his signature campaign pledge. Nor does the GOP support the president's plan to declare a national emergency if Congress won't fund the wall.

Wary of publicly highlighting those intraparty divisions, Trump made no mention of an emergency declaration in his remarks, though he did offer a lengthy defense of his call for a border wall. But he delivered no ultimatums about what it would take for him to sign legislation to keep the government open.

"I am asking you to defend our very dangerous southern border out of love and devotion to our fellow citizens and to our country," he said.

Trump devoted much of his speech to foreign policy, another area where Republicans have increasingly distanced themselves from the White House. He announced details of a second meeting with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, outlining a summit on Feb. 27 and 28 in Vietnam. The two met last summer in Singapore, though that meeting only led to a vaguely worded commitment by the North to denuclearize.

As he stood before lawmakers, the president was surrounded by symbols of his emboldened political opposition. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was praised by Democrats for her hard-line negotiating during the shutdown, sat behind Trump as he spoke. And several senators running for president were also in the audience, including Sens. Kamala Harris of California and Cory Booker of New Jersey.

Another Democratic star, Stacey Abrams, will deliver the party's response to Trump. Abrams narrowly lost her bid in November to become America's first black female governor, and party leaders are aggressively recruiting her to run for U.S. Senate from Georgia.

In excerpts released ahead of Abrams' remarks, she calls the shutdown a political stunt that "defied every tenet of fairness and abandoned not just our people, but our values."

Trump's address amounted to an opening argument for his re-election campaign. Polls show he has work to do, with his approval rating falling to just 34 percent after the shutdown, according to a recent survey conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

One bright spot for the president has been the economy, which has added jobs for 100 straight months. He said the U.S. has "the hottest economy anywhere in the world."

He said, "The only thing that can stop it are foolish wars, politics or ridiculous partisan investigations" an apparent swipe at the special counsel investigation into ties between Russia and Trump's 2016 campaign, as well as the upcoming congressional investigations.

The diverse Democratic caucus, which includes a bevy of women, sat silently for much of Trump's speech. But they leapt to their feet when he noted there are "more women in the workforce than ever before."

The increase is due to population growth — and not something Trump can credit to any of his policies.

Turning to foreign policy, another area where Republicans have increasingly been willing to distance themselves from the president, Trump defended his decisions to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria and Afghanistan.

"Great nations do not fight endless wars," he said, adding that the U.S. is working with allies to "destroy the remnants" of the Islamic State group and that he has "accelerated" efforts to reach a settlement in Afghanistan.

IS militants have lost territory since Trump's surprise announcement in December that he was pulling U.S. forces out, but military officials warn the fighters could regroup within six months to a year of the Americans leaving. Several leading GOP lawmakers have sharply criticized his plans to withdraw from Syria, as well as from Afghanistan.

Trump's guests for the speech include Anna Marie Johnson, a woman whose life sentence for drug offenses was commuted by the president, and Joshua Trump, a sixth-grade student from Wilmington, Delaware, who has been bullied over his last name. They sat with first lady Melania Trump during the address.</s>Win McNamee/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump is delivering his second State of the Union address to Congress and the country after a record-setting, 35-day partial government shutdown.

This will be his first time addressing the divided Congress, which now features a Democratic-controlled House and the Republican-controlled Senate.

Our team of journalists from ABC News is investigating some of his statements, looking for additional context, detail and information.

Here is ABC News’ fact check of the address:

Fact check No. 1 — The U.S. is the number one producer of oil and natural gas

President Donald Trump: “We have unleashed a revolution in American Energy — the United States is now the number one producer of oil and natural gas in the world. And now, for the first time in 65 years, we are a net exporter of energy.”



Rating: LACKING CONTEXT

Context: The United States is the world’s biggest producer of crude oil, producing close to 12 million barrels of crude oil per day (11.9 to be exact), according to the Energy Information Administration. Russia produced roughly 11.2 million barrels per day in December according to their Ministry of Energy, while Saudi Arabia produces 10.5 million barrels per day.

Patrick DeHaan, Head of Petroleum Analysis at GasBuddy points out that the process of sending in rigs and drilling test wells is a process that is measured in years. For several years now, new drilling techniques including shale production have been boosting production. A move under President Obama also provided a boost to production when in late 2015 Congress lifted the ban on exporting crude oil. That incentivized more production in the United States for sale overseas.

The EIA projects that, for the first time since the 1950s, the United States will export more energy than it imports by 2020, as increases in crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas plant liquids production outpace growth in U.S. energy consumption.

Trump: “We passed a massive tax cut for working families and doubled the child tax credit.”

Context: The GOP tax plan reduces taxes on average for all income groups initially, including middle-class Americans.

The average household will see a tax cut of $1,610 in 2019 according to the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan think tank. Overall, most Americans — eight in 10, according to the center — will pay lower taxes this year.

But multiple independent analyses concluded that wealthier Americans and corporations will receive the largest benefit over the long term.

“In general, higher-income households receive larger average tax cuts as a percentage of after-tax income,” the center found. “On average, in 2027 taxes would change little for lower- and middle-income groups and decrease for higher-income groups.” Most of the individual income tax provisions will expire after 2025, unless Congress acts. The corporate tax rate cuts are permanent.

Trump: “Americans pay vastly more than people in other countries for the exact same drugs, often made in the exact same place.”

Context: Last fall, the government released a study that found Medicare — the federally run health care program for seniors — paid more than other industrialized countries for physician-administered drugs. While the precise amount varied by product, the study found that prices charged by those manufacturers are 1.8 times higher in the U.S. than in other countries.

Trump has proposed that Medicare only agree to pay costs based on cheaper prices paid by other nations. It’s one of several proposals he’s made in recent months in a bid to drive down costs, although that proposal wouldn’t take place for another year or so.

The drug industry had criticized the approach, contending that the money paid goes toward ground breaking research that benefits Americans first. According to one industry group, Americans have access to cancer medicines on average two years earlier than in countries like the United Kingdom, Germany and France. Industry executives also say it’s not fair to compare what the U.S. pays for drugs compared to people in countries with socialized health care systems.

Fact check No. 4 — Americans are murdered by “illegal aliens”

Trump: “Year after year, countless Americans are murdered by criminal illegal aliens.”

Context: According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement data, over the past two years, there were nearly 4,000 arrests made for people both convicted of — and simply charged with — homicide among immigrants released into ICE custody for deportation — but the homicides could’ve been committed over any number of years.

More generally, the president’s speech referenced 266,000 arrests of undocumented immigrants with criminal records over the past two years, a number that mainly includes immigrants who were convicted of crimes in the past, and perhaps served jail time before they were released into ICE custody.

Trump: “As a result of my administration’s efforts, in 2018 drug prices experienced their single largest decline in 46 years.”

Context: According to the Consumer Price Index, that dip is .62 percent, looking at data collected on Dec. 2017 to data from Dec. 2018. Last fall, an Associated Press analysis examined the list prices for some 26,000 brand-name drugs and found 96 price hikes for every one price cut.

What Trump can point to in favor of consumers is an aggressive push by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration during his administration to approve generic drugs. White House advisers in an Oct. 2018 report estimated that the recent approval of generic drugs has resulted in $26 billion in savings for consumers that would have otherwise had to choose brand name drugs. Among those approved under Trump was the first generic version of EpiPen, the lifesaving auto injector used to treat emergency reactions. EpiPen injectors went from costing $100 in 2009 to $600 in 2016.

And while out-of-pocket spending for prescription drugs remained mostly flat in 2017 — Trump’s first year in office — out-of-pocket physician and hospital costs increased.

Many of Trump’s ideas to drive down drug costs haven’t taken effect yet and are still winding their way through the rulemaking process. One proposal would upend the usual system of drug rebates when people buy prescription drugs through Medicare or Medicaid. The plan would prohibit drug makers from offering discounts or rebates to “pharmacy benefit managers” that administer drug plans. Instead, the manufacturers would be encouraged to provide rebates directly to consumers. Democrats pushed back, insisting they think the plan will raise costs for consumers.

Another proposal, announced last fall, is to limit what it pays for certain drugs for Medicare recipients by tying the price for some drugs to prices paid overseas. The measure, which would be phased in over several years, would only apply to certain types of drugs via Medicare that are administered by a physician. The drug industry fought back and said the administration was discouraging innovation.

Trump: “I want people to come into our country in the largest numbers ever, but they have to come in legally.”

Context: Last fall Trump set the lowest cap in the history of the refugee admission program — permitting just 30,000 a year. In former President Barack Obama’s last year in office he proposed a cap of 110,000 amid the height of the crisis in Syria. In fiscal year 2017, the Trump administration allowed the second fewest refugees ever.

Trump also won a battle in the Supreme Court to restrict all forms of travel and immigration from seven countries, five of which have Muslim majority populations. Just last week, the administration began selectively enforcing a new policy at the southern border that requires migrants seeking asylum to wait in Mexico while their applications are processed. He has also called for the elimination of the diversity visa program, which typically awards up to 50,000 immigration visas each year.

Fact check No. 7 — New jobs and manufacturing

Trump: “We have created 5.3 million new jobs and importantly added 600,000 new manufacturing jobs.”

Context: Nearly 4.9 million jobs have been created since Feb. 2017, including 454,000 manufacturing jobs. The unemployment rate at 4 percent is at levels last seen in late 1999 and 2000. The uptick in the unemployment rate in the most recent jobs report was likely because of the government shutdown. The unemployment rate in Nov. 2018 was 3.7 percent which was a level last seen in 1969, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

African American unemployment is at historic lows at 6.8 percent — but it has ticked up in recent months after hitting an all-time low of 6 percent toward the end of last year. Similarly, the Hispanic unemployment rate at 4.9 percent has ticked up from recent lows of 4.4 percent toward the end of last year.

Trump: “Our hostages have come home, nuclear testing has stopped, and there has not been a missile launch in 15 months. If I had not been elected president of the United States, we would right now, in my opinion, be in a major war with North Korea. Much work remains to be done, but my relationship with Kim Jong Un is a good one.”

Context: It is debatable whether Trump’s election has helped avoid a U.S.-North Korea war. No other president has aggressively pursued diplomacy with North Korea’s leader, but then again, since the end of the Korean War, no other president has so openly threatened the regime.

The president is right that North Korea returned three hostages in May 2018 and swiftly expelled an American who illegally crossed the border into the country in November. The regime has also not conducted a nuclear test since Sept. 2017 and has not test-fired a ballistic missile since Nov. 2017, reducing the threat to U.S. troops and allies in the region.

But North Korea did conduct a weapons test in Nov. 2018, according to the country’s state media, although it did not involve firing a missile. The regime has also said its nuclear capability is complete and no longer requires testing. And satellite images have shown that North Korea has upgraded or expanded some ballistic missile facilities.

Even more importantly, the country has not taken any concrete steps to dismantle its nuclear weapons program, something several other Trump administration officials have admitted, including Vice President Mike Pence and Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun. While the North Koreans say they have dismantled nuclear and missile engine test sites, they have not allowed outside inspectors in to verify those claims.

The U.S. intelligence community continues to assess that the regime still sees nuclear weapons as essential for their survival and does not plan to eliminate them, with Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats saying last week, “North Korea will seek to retain its WMD capabilities and is unlikely to completely give up its nuclear weapons and production capability because its leaders ultimately view nuclear weapons as critical to regime survival.”

While he praised his relationship with Kim Tuesday night, Trump was more ambivalent in a tweet last week, writing, “Decent chance of Denuclearization… Time will tell what will happen with North Korea.” Administration officials say either way, what Trump has achieved is historic in that North Korea’s leader himself has agreed to “denuclearization.”

But what that term means, how it is achieved and when remain a mystery that the U.S. hopes to begin solving at the second Trump-Kim summit, which Trump announced will be Feb. 27-28 in Vietnam.

Trump: “Our brave troops have now been fighting in the Middle East for almost 19 years. In Afghanistan and Iraq, nearly 7,000 American heroes have given their lives. More than 52,000 Americans have been badly wounded. We have spent more than $7 trillion dollars in the Middle East. As a candidate for president, I pledged a new approach. Great nations do not fight endless wars.”

Context: A Boston University study released in Nov. 2018 estimated the U.S. has so far spent $5.9 trillion on wars and military action in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and Syria since 9/11, including war-related spending by the State Department, past and obligated spending for veterans’ care, interests on the debt incurred to pay for the wars and costs by the Department of Homeland Security to prevent and respond to terrorism.

Another study, published in 2016, calculated that the U.S. had already spent or obligated $4.6 trillion on the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Syria, on Homeland Security, and for veterans’ care through 2053. That study, by Boston University, calculated an additional $3 trillion in interest to reach $7.9 trillion, but that money has not yet been spent, as Trump claimed.

The most recent Congressional Budget Office study estimated in 2014 that the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan cost $1.6 trillion from 2001 to 2014. But several studies say the largest parts of the U.S. bill have yet to be paid, including for veterans care, replacing military hardware and interest on the debts incurred.

Trump: “Tens of thousands of innocent Americans are killed by lethal drugs that cross our border and flood into our cities — including meth, heroin, cocaine and fentanyl.”

Context: Law enforcement officials say this number is expected to increase. As a general matter, the Mexican cartels control almost all the heroin trafficking in the United States. Mexican drug trafficking organizations dominate the market for distribution and production.

According to the 2018 Drug Enforcement Administration National Drug Threat Assessment, “The majority of the flow [of heroin] is through POVs (privately owned vehicles) entering the United States at legal ports of entry, followed by tractor-trailers, where the heroin is co-mingled with legal goods.”

Other ways of getting drugs in the country from Mexico are by water, by air and through other borders, but those methods account for only a small percentage of the heroin seized by the U.S.

The rapid increase in the number of drug deaths in recent years is largely attributable to fentanyl. But the fentanyl is mostly coming through the points of entry at the southwest border and it’s not just coming into the country there — China is a significant source of fentanyl as well.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.</s>President Donald Trump delivered his second State of the Union speech Tuesday night, and the thing was a rollercoaster ride.

The president emerged with his tie skewed. The first section of his speech could have been written by Nancy Pelosi herself, with calls for bipartisanship and shoutouts to prison reform. Things naturally took a turn to the macabre with an extended section on immigration as the president made the case for his border wall. He declared there would be a war with North Korea if he weren’t president. He brought freshmen Democrats — including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib — to their feet in rapturous applause after lauding the record number of women in Congress. He received a salute from Buzz Aldrin and heralded a series of other honorary guests.

It’s a SOTU that will naturally be well-received by punditry, though Van Jones was a little more measured in his assessment than last year.

Here were the top 10 moments of the speech.

1. Trump kicks things off with a snub of Nancy Pelosi

Typically, the House Speaker is supposed to introduce the president’s SOTU speech (last year, Paul Ryan introduced Trump). This year, with Democrat Nancy Pelosi the new speaker, Trump started his address without her introduction.

“It appears he blew through that custom,” a Pelosi spokesman griped to the WSJ.

As soon as Trump took the stage, there was one thing anyone on Twitter could talk about: his gigantic red tie, swinging into the side of his blazer like a Latin American president’s sash. It straightened out enough during the speech to calm everyone’s nerves, but not quickly enough to stop an onslaught of Twitter mockery. Read it here.

In a well-crafted line designed to swipe at Democrats while pressuring their applause, Trump decried the politics of “resistance.”

“We must reject the politics of revenge, resistance and retribution and embrace the boundless potential of cooperation, compromise, and the common good,” Trump said. “We must choose between greatness or gridlock, results or resistance, vision or vengeance, incredible progress or pointless destruction. Tonight, I ask you to choose greatness.”

That received a very intense round of applause from Pelosi:

“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,” Trump said, earning applause from Republicans and a hardcore eyeroll from Pelosi.

His next line was more awkward, and met with relative silence: “If there is going to be peace and legislation, there cannot be war and investigation. It just doesn’t work that way.”

5. Democrats erupt in applause, chants of “USA” after Trump lauds record number of women in Congress

Democratic congresswomen, all wearing white in a statement of solidarity with the women of the suffrage movement, mostly refused to applaud Trump throughout his speech. Except for one moment, when Trump touted the record number of women in the current Congress.

“You weren’t supposed to do that,” Trump teased the Democrats after they stood in applause.

“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,” he continued, prompting rapturous chants of “USA” from Democrats.

During a brief harangue about socialism, Trump threw down a statement that likely proved uncomfortable for a few Democrats: “Tonight, we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country,” he said. Pelosi stood and applauded.

7. Trump claims Northam said he wanted to “execute” babies

Trump claimed embattled Virginia Governor Ralph Northam said “he would execute a baby after birth.” He did not.

8. Trump ad-libs that he wants record-high immigration

A freudian slip perhaps? Trump’s prompter read the following: “I want people to come into our country, but they have to come in legally.”

In his actual speech, he added a curious improvised line (emphasis mine): “I want people to come into our country, in the largest numbers ever, but they have to come in legally.”

We can’t imagine Stephen Miller was too pleased with that one.

A heartwarming moment: Congress sung happy birthday to Judah Samet, a survivor of the Pittsburgh mass shooting and the Holocaust, who turned 81 on Tuesday.

10. Trump claims that if he weren’t elected president, there would be a “major” war with North Korea

“If I had not been elected President of the United States, we would right now, in my opinion, be in a major war with North Korea,” Trump declared, calmly.

Democrats applauded Trump on some of his remarks from the lengthy address. But for the most part, they sat on their hands, stone-faced, grimacing, eye-rolling, disgruntled.

And, of course, there was Pelosi’s eyeroll:

No one said American carnage would be pretty!

Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com</s>WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump delivered his second State of the Union speech Tuesday night, calling on Democrats and Republicans to work together and making only brief reference to the rancor that has dominated his presidency.

Five key takeaways from his remarks:

HE'S NOT BUDGING ON THE WALL

"I will get it built," he declared in his Tuesday evening speech.

Addressing a joint session of lawmakers, Trump yet again hammered his now-familiar case for building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, insisting the situation represents a crisis that demands a physical barrier. But the president outlined no plan or new strategy for convincing Congress to approve money to build the wall. He issued a broad call for all sides to "work together, compromise, and reach a deal that will truly make America safe."

Trump notably made no reference to his continued to threat to circumvent Congress by declaring a national emergency if lawmakers refuse to give him the billions of dollars he's demanding.

The White Housed decided the speech was an inappropriate venue for such an announcement, especially after Trump said he'd allow congressional negotiators to run out a three-week clock that expires on Feb. 15 before taking any action. He has all but dismissed their efforts.

THE HOUSE WAS IN ORDER

With Democrats now in charge of the House and amid a bitter border wall battle that led to the longest government shutdown in the nation's history, the White House was bracing for a less-than-friendly reception from those gathered in the House.

Instead, the 82-minute speech was punctuated by lighthearted moments, including when lawmakers from both parties sang a spontaneous rendition of "Happy Birthday" to Judah Samet, a member of the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh who survived a shooting that killed 11 people in October. Trump joked that the lawmakers wouldn't break into song for him.

The president also prompted cheers from the freshmen female House Democrats when he touted the number of new jobs created that women have filled.

The women — dressed in white in honor of early 20th-century suffragettes — stood on their feet, with one raising her hands in the air in a "raise the roof" motion.

Trump seemed taken back by the outbursts. "You weren't supposed to do that," he said before congratulating all the women who hold seats in Congress. The women jumped back up and high-fived each other, chanting "U-S-A!"

Trump made no reference to the 35-day government shutdown that rocked the nation's capital, leaving hundreds of thousands of workers without pay and freezing many government services the first month of the year.

It was a notable omission from a president who had once said that he would be proud to own the shutdown — and came just 10 days before the government is set to run out of money again.

Trump did note that Congress "has 10 days left to pass a bill that will fund our government, protect our homeland, and secure our southern border." But he didn't mention the funding deadline.

It was a different story for Stacey Abrams, the Georgia Democrat who delivered her party's response to Trump and spoke about how she'd joined volunteers to distribute meals to furloughed federal workers during the shutdown.

"Making their livelihoods a pawn for political games," she said, "is a disgrace."

AN APPEAL TO THE BASE

As he does often in his toughest political moments, Trump tried to rally the Christian conservative voters who have proven to be some of his most loyal backers. He seized upon recent controversies surrounding "late-term abortions" and warned against legislation that he claimed "would allow a baby to be ripped from the mother's womb moments before birth."

"These are living, feeling, beautiful babies who will never get the chance to share their love and dreams with the world," he said, calling on Congress to pass legislation that would limit abortion rights.

Trump also singled out embattled Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam by title, though not by name — claiming he would "execute a baby after birth." Northam in an interview last week defended, in rare occasions, the practice of third-trimester abortions. He has since been under fire for a photograph on his medical school yearbook page featuring a person in blackface standing next to a person wearing a Ku Klux Klan outfit. He denies he's in the photo and rejecting calls for his resignation.

Even as he called for a new age of bipartisanship and urged lawmakers to "govern not as two parties, but as one nation," Trump couldn't help but take few digs at Democrats, including the "resistance" movement in defiance of his presidency.

"We must reject the politics of revenge, resistance and retribution — and embrace the boundless potential of cooperation, compromise and the common good," Trump said at one point.

Later he touted an "economic miracle" taking place across the country that he said could only be stopped by "foolish wars, politics, or ridiculous partisan investigations."

As for the new wave of socialist fervor in the Democratic Party, Trump declared, "Tonight, we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country."</s>Text of President Donald Trump's State of the Union address

Text of President Donald Trump's State of the Union address, as delivered and provided by CQ:

Madam Speaker, Mr. Vice President, members of Congress, the First Lady of the United States, and my fellow Americans. We meet tonight in a moment of unlimited potential as we begin a new Congress, I stand here ready to work with you to achieve historic break-troughs for all Americans. Millions of our fellow citizens are watching us now gathered in this great chamber, hoping we will govern not as two parties, but as one nation.

The agenda I will lay out this evening is not a Republican agenda or a Democrat agenda, it's the agenda of the American people. Many of us have campaigned on the same core promises to defend American jobs and demand fair trade for American workers, to rebuild and revitalize our nation's infrastructure, to reduce the price of health care and prescription drugs, to create an immigration system that is safe, lawful, modern and secure and to pursue a foreign policy that puts America's interests first. There is a new opportunity in American politics if only we have the courage together to seize it.

Victory is not winning for our party. Victory is winning for our country.

This year, America will recognize two important anniversaries that show us the majesty of America's mission and the power of American pride. In June, we mark 75 years since the start of what General Dwight D. Eisenhower called the great crusades, the allied liberation in Europe. On D-day, June 6, 1944, 15,000 young American men jumped from the sky and 60,000 more stormed in from the sea to save our civilization from tyranny. Here with us tonight are three of those incredible heroes, Private First Class Joseph Riley, Staff Sergeant Irving Locker and Sergeant Herman Zeitchiek.

Gentlemen, we salute you. In 2019, we also celebrate 50 years since brave young pilots flew a quarter of a million miles through space to plant the American flag on the face of the moon. Half a century later, we are joined by one of the Apollo 11 astronauts who planted that flag, Buzz Aldrin.

Thank you, Buzz. American astronauts will go back to space on American rockets.

In the 20th century, America save freedom redefined the middle class and when you get down to it, there's nothing anywhere in the world that can compete with America.

Now we must step boldly and bravely into the next chapter of this next great American adventure and we must create a new standard of living for the new 21st century, amazing quality of life for all of our American citizens is within reach. We can make our communities safer, our families stronger, our culture richer, our faith deeper and our middle class bigger and more prosperous than ever before.

But we must reject the politics of revenge, resistance and retribution and embrace the boundless potential of cooperation, compromise and the common good.

Together we can break decades of political stalemate, we can bridge old divisions, heal old wounds, build new coalitions, forge new solutions and unlock the extraordinary promise of America's future. The decision is ours to make. We must choose between greatness or gridlock, results or resistance, vision or vengeance, incredible progress or pointless destruction. Tonight I ask you to choose greatness.

Over the last two years, my administration has moved with urgency and historic speed to confront problems neglected by leaders of both parties over many decades. In just over two years, since the election, we have launched an unprecedented economic boom, a boom that has rarely been seen before. There's been nothing like it.

We have created 5.3 million new jobs and, importantly, added 600,000 new manufacturing jobs, something which almost everyone said was impossible to do. But the fact is, we are just getting started.

Wages are rising at the fastest pace if decades and growing for blue collar workers who I promised to fight for, they're growing faster than anyone else thought possible. Nearly five million Americans have been lifted off food stamps.

The U.S. economy is growing almost twice as fast today as when I took office, and we are considered far and away the hottest economy anywhere in the world. Not even close.

Unemployment has reached the lowest rate in over half a century. African-American, Hispanic American and Asian American unemployment have all reached their lowest levels ever recorded. Unemployment for Americans with disabilities has also reached an all-time low. More people are working now than at any time in the history of our country. 157 million people at work.

We passed a massive tax cut for working families and doubled the child tax credit. We virtually ended the estate tax or death tax, as it is often called, on small businesses, for ranches and also for family farms.

We eliminated the very unpopular Obamacare individual mandate penalty. And to give critically ill patients access to life-saving cures, we passed very importantly right to try. My administration has cut more regulations in a short period of time than any other administration during its entire tenure.

Companies are coming back to our country in large numbers thanks to our historic reductions in taxes and regulations. And we have unleashed a revolution in American energy. The United States is now the number one producer of oil and natural gas anywhere in the world. And now for the first time in 65 years, we are a net exporter of energy.

After 24 months of rapid progress, our economy is the envy of the world. Our military is the most powerful on Earth by far — and America is again winning each and every day.

Members of Congress, the state of our union is strong. That sounds so good. Our country is vibrant and our economy is thriving like never before. When Friday it was announced that we added another 304,000 jobs last month alone, almost double the number expected.

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. If there is going to be peace and legislation, there cannot be war and investigation. It just doesn't work that way. We must be united at home to defeat our adversaries abroad. This new era of cooperation can start with finally confirming the more than 300 highly qualified nominees who are still stuck in the Senate, in some cases years and years waiting. Not right.

The Senate has failed to act on these nominations, which is unfair to the nominees and very unfair to our country. Now is the time for a bipartisan action. Believe it or not, we have already proven that that's possible. In the last Congress both parties came together to pass unprecedented legislation to confront the opioid crisis, a sweeping new farm bill, historic V.A. reforms, and after four decades of rejection, we passed V.A. Accountability so that we can finally terminate those who mistreat our wonderful veterans.

And just weeks ago both parties united for groundbreaking criminal justice reform. They said it couldn't be done.

Last year, I heard through friends the story of Alice Johnson. I was deeply moved. In 1997, Alice was sentenced to life in prison as a first-time nonviolent drug offender. Over the next 22 years she became a prison minister, inspiring others to choose a better path. She had a big impact on that prison population and far beyond. Alice's story underscores the disparities and unfairness that can exist in criminal sentencing and the need to remedy this total injustice. She served almost that 22 years and had expected to be in prison for the remainder of her life.

In June, I commuted Alice's sentence, when I saw Alice's beautiful family greet her at the prison gates hugging and kissing and crying and laughing, I knew I did something right. Alice is with us tonight and she is a terrific woman.

Terrific. Alice, please. Thank you for reminding us that we always have the power to shape our own destiny. Thank you very much, Alice. Inspired by stories like hers, my administration worked closely with members of both parties to sign the First Step Act into law.

This legislation reformed sentencing laws that have wrongly and disproportionately harmed the African-American community. The First Step Act gives nonviolent offenders re-enter society. Now states across the country are following our lead.

America is a nation that believes in redemption. We are also joined tonight by Matthew Charles from Tennessee. In 1996, at the age of 30, Matthew was sentenced to 35 years for selling drugs and related offenses. Over the next two decades, he completed more than 30 Bible studies, became a law Clerk and mentored many of his fellow inmates. Now Matthew is the very first person to be released from prison under the First Step Act. Matthew, please. Thank you, Matthew.

Welcome home. Now, Republicans and Democrats must join forces again to confront an urgent national crisis. Congress has 10 days left to pass a bill that will fund our government, protect our homeland and secure our very dangerous Southern border. Now is the time for congress to show the world that America is committed to ending illegal immigration and putting the ruthless coyotes, cartels, and human traffickers out of business. As we speak, large organized caravans are on the march to the United States.

We have just heard that Mexican cities in order to remove the illegal immigrants from their communities are getting trucks and buses to bring them up to our country in areas where there is little border protection. I have ordered another 3,750 troops to our Southern border to prepare for this tremendous onslaught.

This is a moral issue of the lawless state of our Southern border is a threat to the safety and security and financial well-being of all America. We have a moral duty to create an immigration system that protects the lives and jobs of our citizens. This includes our obligation to the millions of immigrants living here today who follow the rules and respected our laws. Legal immigrants enrich our nation in countless ways. I want people to come into our country in the largest numbers ever, but they have to come in legally.

Tonight I'm asking you to defend our very dangerous Southern border out of love and devotion to our fellow citizens and to our country. No issue better illustrates the divide between America's working class and America's political class than illegal immigration.

Wealthy politicians and donors push for open borders while living their lives behind walls, gates and guards. Meanwhile, working-class Americans are left to pay the price for mass illegal immigration, reduce jobs, lower wages, overburden schools, hospitals that are so crowded that you can't get in, increase crime and a depleted social safety net. Tolerance for illegal immigration is not compassionate. It is actually very cruel.

One in three women is sexually assaulted on the long journey north. Smugglers use migrant children as pawns to exploit our laws and gain access to our country. Human traffickers and sex traffickers take advantage of the wide open areas between our ports of entry to smuggle thousands of young girls and women into the United States and to sell them into prostitution and modern-day slavery.

Tens of thousands of innocent Americans are killed by lethal drugs that cross our border and flood into our cities, including meth, heroin, cocaine and fentanyl. The savage gang, MS-13, now operates in at least 20 different American states and they almost all come through our Southern border.

Just yesterday, an MS-13 gang member was taken into custody for a fatal shooting on a subway platform in New York City. We are removing these gang members by the thousands. But until we secure our border, they are going to keep streaming right back in. Year after year, countless Americans are murdered by criminal illegal aliens.

I have gotten to know many wonderful angel moms, dads and families. No one should have to suffer the horrible heartache that they have had to endure. Here tonight is Debra Bissell. Just three weeks ago, her parents, Gerald and Sharon were burglarized and shot to death in their Reno, Nevada home by an illegal alien.

They were in their 80's and survived by four children, 11 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren. Also here tonight are Gerald and Sharon's granddaughter Heather and great-granddaughter Madison and please stand. Few can understand your pain. Thank you. And thank you for being here.

Thank you very much. I will never forget and I will fight for the memory of Gerald and Sharon that it should never happen again. Not one more American life should be lost because our nation failed to control its very dangerous border.

In the last two years, our brave ICE officers made 266,000 arrests of criminal aliens, including those charged or convicted of nearly 100,000 assaults, 30,000 sex crimes and 4,000 killings or murders. We are joined tonight by one of those law enforcement heroes, ICE Special Agent Elvin Hernandez.

When Elvin was a boy, he and his family came to the United States from the Dominican Republic. At the age of eight, he told his dad he wanted to become a special agent. Today, he leads investigations into the scores of international sex trafficking.

Elvin says that if I couldn't make sure these young girls get their justice, I've really Done My Job. Thanks to his work and that of his incredible colleagues, more than 300 women and girls have been rescued from the horror of this terrible situation. And more than 1,500 sadistic traffickers have been put behind bars.

We will always support the brave men and women of law enforcement. And I pledge to you tonight that I will never abolish our heroes from ICE. Thank you.

My administration has sent to Congress a commonsense proposal to end the crisis on the Southern border. It includes the humanitarian assistance, more law enforcement, drug detection at our ports, closing loopholes that enable child smuggling and plans for a new physical barrier or wall to secure the vast areas between our ports of entry.

In the past, most of the people in this room voted for a wall. But the patrol wall never got built. I will get it built. This is a smart, strategic, see-through steel barrier, not just a simple concrete wall. It will be deployed in the areas identified by the border agents as having the greatest need. And these agents will tell you where walls go up, illegal crossings go way, way down.

San Diego used to have the most illegal border crossings in our country. In response, a strong security wall was put in place. This powerful barrier almost completely ended illegal crossings. The border city of El Paso, Texas, used to have extremely high rates of violent crime, one of the highest in the entire country and considered one of our nation's most dangerous cities. Now, immediately upon its building, with a powerful barrier in place, El Paso is one of the safest cities in our country. Simply put, walls work and walls save lives.

So let's work together, compromise and reach a deal that will truly make America safe. As we work to defend our people's safety, we must also ensure our economic resurgence continues at a rapid pace. No one has benefited more from our thriving economy than women who have filled 58 percent of the newly created jobs last year.

You weren't supposed to do that. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. All Americans can be proud that we have more women in the work force than ever before.

Don't sit yet. You're going to like this. 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.

That's great. And congratulations. That's great. As part of our commitment to improving opportunity for women everywhere, this Thursday we are launching the first ever government-wide initiative focused on economic empowerment for women in developing countries.

To build on our incredible economic success, one priority is paramount, reversing decades of calamitous trade policies, so bad. We are now making it clear to China that after years of targeting our industries and stealing our intellectual property, the theft of American jobs and wealth has come to an end.

Therefore we recently imposed tariffs on $250 billion of Chinese goods and now our treasury is receiving billions and billions of dollars. But I don't blame China for taking advantage of us. I blame our leaders and representatives for allowing this travesty to happen.

I have great respect for President Xi and we are now working on a new trade deal with China. But it must include real structural change to end unfair trade practices, reduce our chronic trade deficit, and protect American jobs.

Another historic trade blunder was the catastrophe known as NAFTA. I have met the men and women of Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, New Hampshire and many other states whose dreams were shattered by the signing of NAFTA. For years politicians promised them they would renegotiate for a better deal. But no one ever tried until now.

Our new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the USMCA, will replace NAFTA and deliver for American workers like they haven't had delivered to for a long time. I hope you can pass the USMCA into law so that we can bring back our manufacturing jobs in even greater numbers, expand American agriculture, protect intellectual property, and ensure that more cars are proudly stamped with our four beautiful words, made in the U.S.A.

Tonight I am also asking you to pass the United States Reciprocal Trade Act so that if another country places an unfair tariff on an American product, we can charge them the exact same tariff on the exact same product that they sell to us. Both parties should be able to unite for a great rebuilding of America's crumbling infrastructure.

I know that Congress is eager to pass an infrastructure bill. And I am eager to work with you on legislation to deliver new and important infrastructure investment, including investments in the cutting edge industries of the future. This is not an option, this is a necessity.

The next major priority for me and for all of us should be to lower the cost of health care and prescription drugs and to protect patients with pre-existing conditions. Already as a result of my administration's efforts, in 2018 drug prices experienced their single largest decline in 46 years. But we must do more. It's unacceptable that Americans pay vastly more than people in other countries for the exact same drugs, often made in the exact same place. This is wrong, this is unfair, and together we will stop it, and we'll stop it fast.

I am asking Congress to pass legislation that finally takes on the problem of global freeloading and delivers fairness and price transparency for American patients finally.

We should also require drug companies, insurance companies and hospitals to disclose real prices to foster competition and bring costs way down. No force in history has done more to advance the human condition than American freedom. In recent years we have made remarkable progress in the fight against H.I.V. and AIDS. Scientific breakthroughs have brought a once distant dream within reach.

My budget will ask Democrats and Republicans to make the needed commitment to eliminate the H.I.V. epidemic in the United States within 10 years. We have made incredible strides, incredible. Together we will defeat AIDS in America and beyond. Tonight I am also asking you to join me in another fight that all Americans can get behind, the fight against childhood cancer.

Joining Melania in the gallery this evening is a very brave 10-year-old girl, Grace Eline. Every birthday — Hi, Grace. Every birthday since she was 4, Grace asked her friends to donate to St. Jude's Children's Hospital. She did not know that one day she might be a patient herself. That's what happened. Last year, Grace was diagnosed with brain cancer. Immediately she began radiation treatment. At the same time she rallied her community and raised more than $40,000 for the fight against cancer. When Grace completed treatment last fall, her doctors and nurses cheered, I love her and still love her, with tears in her eyes and hung up a poster that read, "Last day of chemo."

Thank you very much, Grace. You are a great inspiration to everyone in this room. Thank you very much. Many childhood cancers have not seen new therapies. We will ask for $500 million to fund this critical life-saving research to help support working parents. The time has come to pass school choice for America's children.

I'm also proud to be the first president to include in my budget for a nationwide paid family leave so every new parent has the chance to bond with their newborn child.

There could be no greater contrast to the beautiful image of a mother holding her infant child than the chilling displays our nation saw in recent days. Lawmakers in New York cheered with the life upon the passage of legislation that would allow a baby to be ripped from the mother's womb moments from birth. These are living, feeling, beautiful babies, who will never share their love and dreams with the world and then we had the case of the governor of Virginia where he stated he would execute a baby after birth, to defend the dignity of every person. I am asking Congress to pass legislation to prohibit the late-term abortion of children who can feel pain in a mother's womb.

Let us work together to build a culture that cherishes innocent life. And let us reaffirm a fundamental truth, all children, born and unborn, are made in the holy image of God. The final part of my agenda is to protect American security.

Over the last two years, we have begun to fully rebuild the United States military with $700 billion last year and $716 billion this year. We are also getting other nations to pay their fair share. Finally.

For years, the United States was being treated very unfairly by friends of ours, members of NATO. But now we have secured over the last couple of years more than $100 billion of increase in defense spending from our NATO allies. They said it couldn't be done.

As part of our military buildup, the United States is developing a state of the art defense missile system and under my administration, we will never apologize for advancing America's interests. For example, decades ago, the United States entered into a treaty with Russia in which we agreed to limit and reduce our missile capability.

While we followed the agreement and the rules to the letter, Russia repeatedly violated its terms. Been going on for many years. That is why I announced that the United States is officially withdrawing from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty or INF Treaty. We really have no choice. Perhaps we can negotiate a different agreement adding China and others or perhaps we can't, in which case we will outspend and out innovate all others by far.

As part of a bold new diplomacy, we continue our historic push for peace on the Korean Peninsula. Our hostages have come home. Nuclear testing has stopped and there has not been a missile launch in more than 15 months. If I had not been elected president of the United States, we would right now, in my opinion, be in a major war with North Korea. Much work remains to be done, but my relationship with Kim Jong-un a good one. We will meet again on February 27 and 28 in Vietnam.

Two weeks ago, the United States officially recognized the legitimate government of Venezuela and its new President, Juan Guaido. We stand with the Venezuelan people and their noble quest for freedom and we condemn the brutality of their regime whose socialist policies have turned that nation from being the wealthiest in South America into a state of abject poverty and despair.

Here in the United States, we are alarmed by the new calls to adopt socialism in our country. America was founded on liberty and independence and not government coercion, domination and control. We are born free and we will stay free.

Tonight, we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country. One of the most complex set of challenges we face and have for many years is in the Middle East. Our approach is based on principle, realism, not discredited theories that have failed for decades to yield progress. For this reason, my administration recognized the true capital of Israel and proudly opened the American embassy in Jerusalem.

Our brave troops have now been fighting in the Middle East for almost 19 years in Afghanistan and Iraq. Nearly 7,000 American heroes have given their lives. More than 52,000 Americans have been badly wounded. We have spent more than $7 trillion in fighting wars in the Middle East. As a candidate for president, I loudly pledged a new approach.

Great nations do not fight endless wars. When I took office, ISIS controlled more than 20,000 square miles in Iraq and Syria just two years ago. Today, we have liberated virtually all of the territory from the grip of these blood-thirsty monsters. Now, as we work with our allies to destroy the remnants of ISIS, it is time to give our brave warriors in Syria a warm welcome home.

I have also accelerated our negotiations to reach, if possible, a political settlement in Afghanistan. The opposing side is also very happy to be negotiating. Our troops have fought with unmatched valor. And thanks to their bravery, we are now able to pursue a possible political solution to this long and bloody conflict.

In Afghanistan, my administration is holding constructive talks with a number of Afghan groups, including the Taliban. As we make progress in these negotiations, we will be able to reduce our troop's presence and focus on counter-terrorism. And we will, indeed, focus on counter-terrorism. We don't know whether we will achieve an agreement, but we do know after two decades of war, the hour has come to at least try for peace and the other side would like to do the same thing. It's time.

Above all, friend and foe alike must never doubt this nation's power and will to defend our people. Eighteen years ago, violent terrorists attacked the USS Cole and last month American forces killed one of the leaders of that attack. We are honored to be joined tonight by Tom Wibberley whose son, Navy Seaman Craig Wibberley, was one of the 17 sailors we tragically lost. Tom, we vow to always remember the heroes of the USS Cole. Thank you, Tom.

My administration has acted decisively to confront the world's leading state sponsor of terror, the radical regime in Iran. It is a radical regime. They do bad, bad things. To ensure this corrupt dictatorship never acquires nuclear weapons, I withdrew the United States from the disastrous Iran nuclear deal.

And last fall we put in place the toughest sanctions ever imposed by us on a country. We will not avert our eyes from a regime that chants death to America and threatens genocide against the Jewish people. We must never ignore the vial poison of antisemitism or those who spread its venomous creed.

With one voice we must confront this hatred anywhere and everywhere it occurs. Just months ago, 11 Jewish Americans were viciously murdered in an anti-Semitic attack on the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. Swat Officer Timothy Matson raced into the gun fire and was shot seven times chasing down the killer. And he was very successful.

Timothy has just had his 12th surgery and he's going in for many more. But he made the trip to be here with us tonight. Officer Matson, please. Thank you. We are forever grateful. Thank you very much.

Tonight we are also joined by Pittsburgh survivor, Judah Samet. He arrived at the synagogue as the massacre began. Not only did he escape death last fall, more than seven decades ago he narrowly survived the Nazi concentration camps. Today is Judah's 81st birthday. (Audience sings "Happy Birthday.") They wouldn't do that for me, Judah.

Judah says he can still remember the exact moment nearly 75 years ago after 10 months in a concentration camp when he and his family were put on a train and told they were going to another camp. Suddenly the train screeched to a very strong halt. A soldier appeared. Judah's family braced for the absolute worst. Then his father cried out with joy, "It's the Americans, It's the Americans."

Thank you. A second Holocaust survivor who is here tonight was a prisoner at Dachau. He remembers watching through a hole in the wall of a cattle car as American soldiers rolled in with tanks. For me, Joshua recalls, the American soldiers were proof that God exists and they came down from the sky, they came down from heaven.

I began this evening by honoring three soldiers who fought on D-day in the Second World War. One of them was Herman. But there is more to Herman's story. A year after he stormed the beaches of Normandy, Herman was one of the American soldiers who helped liberate Dachau. He was one of the Americans who helped rescue Joshua from that hell on Earth. Almost 75 years later, Herman and Joshua are both together in the gallery tonight, seated side by side here in the home of American freedom. Herman and Joshua, your presence this evening is very much appreciated. Thank you very much. Thank you.

When American soldiers set out beneath the dark skies over the English Channel in the early hours of D-day, 1944, they were just young men of 18 and 19, hurdling on fragile landing craft toward the most momentous battle in the history of war.

They did not know if they would survive the hour. They did not know if they would grow old. But they knew that America had to prevail. Their cause was this nation and generations yet unborn. Why did they do it? They did it for America, they did it for us. Everything that has come since, our triumph over communism, our giant leaps of science and discovery, our unrivaled progress towards equality and justice, all of it is possible thanks to the blood and tears and courage and vision of the Americans who came before.

Think of this Capitol. Think of this very chamber where lawmakers before you voted to end slavery, to build the railroads and the highways and defeat fascism, to secure civil rights, and to face down evil empires.

Here tonight we have legislators from across this magnificent republic. You have come from the rocky shores of Maine and the volcanic peaks of Hawaii, from the snowy woods of Wisconsin and the red deserts of Arizona, from the green farms of Kentucky and the golden beaches of California.

Together we represent the most extraordinary nation in all of history. What will we do with this moment? How will we be remembered? I ask the men and women of this Congress, look at the opportunities before us. Our most thrilling achievements are still ahead. Our most exciting journeys still await.

Our biggest victories are still to come. We have not yet begun to dream. We must choose whether we are defined by our differences or whether we dare to transcend them. We must choose whether we squander our great inheritance or whether we proudly declare that we are Americans. We do the incredible. We defy the impossible. We conquer the unknown.

This is the time to reignite the American imagination. This is the time to search for the tallest summit and set our sights on the brightest star. This is the time to rekindle the bonds of love and loyalty and memory that link us together as citizens, as neighbors, as patriots. this is our future, our fate, and our choice to make. I am asking you to choose greatness. No matter the trials we face, no matter the challenges to come, we must go forward together. We must keep America first in our hearts. We must keep freedom alive in our souls. And we must always keep faith in America's destiny. That one nation under God must be the hope and the promise and the light and the glory among all the nations of the world.

Thank you, God bless you. And God bless America. Thank you very much.</s>5 Takeaways from Trump's State of the Union speech

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump delivered his second State of the Union speech Tuesday night, calling on Democrats and Republicans to work together and making only brief reference to the rancor that has dominated his presidency.

Five key takeaways from his remarks:

HE'S NOT BUDGING ON THE WALL

"I will get it built," he declared in his Tuesday evening speech.

Addressing a joint session of lawmakers, Trump yet again hammered his now-familiar case for building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, insisting the situation represents a crisis that demands a physical barrier. But the president outlined no plan or new strategy for convincing Congress to approve money to build the wall. He issued a broad call for all sides to "work together, compromise, and reach a deal that will truly make America safe."

Trump notably made no reference to his continued to threat to circumvent Congress by declaring a national emergency if lawmakers refuse to give him the billions of dollars he's demanding.

The White Housed decided the speech was an inappropriate venue for such an announcement, especially after Trump said he'd allow congressional negotiators to run out a three-week clock that expires on Feb. 15 before taking any action. He has all but dismissed their efforts.

THE HOUSE WAS IN ORDER

With Democrats now in charge of the House and amid a bitter border wall battle that led to the longest government shutdown in the nation's history, the White House was bracing for a less-than-friendly reception from those gathered in the House.

Instead, the 82-minute speech was punctuated by lighthearted moments, including when lawmakers from both parties sang a spontaneous rendition of "Happy Birthday" to Judah Samet, a member of the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh who survived a shooting that killed 11 people in October. Trump joked that the lawmakers wouldn't break into song for him.

The president also prompted cheers from the freshmen female House Democrats when he touted the number of new jobs created that women have filled.

The women — dressed in white in honor of early 20th-century suffragettes — stood on their feet, with one raising her hands in the air in a "raise the roof" motion.

Trump seemed taken back by the outbursts. "You weren't supposed to do that," he said before congratulating all the women who hold seats in Congress. The women jumped back up and high-fived each other, chanting "U-S-A!"

Trump made no reference to the 35-day government shutdown that rocked the nation's capital, leaving hundreds of thousands of workers without pay and freezing many government services the first month of the year.

It was a notable omission from a president who had once said that he would be proud to own the shutdown — and came just 10 days before the government is set to run out of money again.

Trump did note that Congress "has 10 days left to pass a bill that will fund our government, protect our homeland, and secure our southern border." But he didn't mention the funding deadline.

It was a different story for Stacey Abrams, the Georgia Democrat who delivered her party's response to Trump and spoke about how she'd joined volunteers to distribute meals to furloughed federal workers during the shutdown.

"Making their livelihoods a pawn for political games," she said, "is a disgrace."

AN APPEAL TO THE BASE

As he does often in his toughest political moments, Trump tried to rally the Christian conservative voters who have proven to be some of his most loyal backers. He seized upon recent controversies surrounding "late-term abortions" and warned against legislation that he claimed "would allow a baby to be ripped from the mother's womb moments before birth."

"These are living, feeling, beautiful babies who will never get the chance to share their love and dreams with the world," he said, calling on Congress to pass legislation that would limit abortion rights.

Trump also singled out embattled Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam by title, though not by name — claiming he would "execute a baby after birth." Northam in an interview last week defended, in rare occasions, the practice of third-trimester abortions. He has since been under fire for a photograph on his medical school yearbook page featuring a person in blackface standing next to a person wearing a Ku Klux Klan outfit. He denies he's in the photo and rejecting calls for his resignation.

Even as he called for a new age of bipartisanship and urged lawmakers to "govern not as two parties, but as one nation," Trump couldn't help but take few digs at Democrats, including the "resistance" movement in defiance of his presidency.

"We must reject the politics of revenge, resistance and retribution — and embrace the boundless potential of cooperation, compromise and the common good," Trump said at one point.

Later he touted an "economic miracle" taking place across the country that he said could only be stopped by "foolish wars, politics, or ridiculous partisan investigations."

As for the new wave of socialist fervor in the Democratic Party, Trump declared, "Tonight, we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country."</s>WASHINGTON — Facing a divided Congress for the first time, President Donald Trump on Tuesday called on Washington to reject “the politics of revenge, resistance and retribution.” He warned emboldened Democrats that “ridiculous partisan investigations” into his administration and businesses could hamper a surging American economy.

Trump’s appeals for bipartisanship in his State of the Union address clashed with the rancorous atmosphere he has helped cultivate in the nation’s capital — as well as the desire of most Democrats to block his agenda during his next two years in office. Their opposition was on vivid display as Democratic congresswomen in the audience formed a sea of white in a nod to early 20th-century suffragettes.

Trump spoke at a critical moment in his presidency, staring down a two-year stretch that will determine whether he is re-elected or leaves office in defeat. His speech sought to shore up Republican support that had eroded slightly during the recent government shutdown and previewed a fresh defence against Democrats as they ready a round of investigations into every aspect of his administration.

“If there is going to be peace and legislation, there cannot be war and investigation,” he declared. Lawmakers in the cavernous House chamber sat largely silent.
• Transcript: Full text of President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address
• Separating fact vs fiction in Trump’s State of the Union

Looming over the president’s address was a fast-approaching Feb. 15 deadline to fund the government and avoid another shutdown. Democrats have refused to acquiesce to his demands for a border wall, and Republicans are increasingly unwilling to shut down the government to help him fulfil his signature campaign pledge. Nor does the GOP support the president’s plan to declare a national emergency if Congress won’t fund the wall.

Wary of publicly highlighting those intraparty divisions, Trump made no mention of an emergency declaration in his remarks, though he did offer a lengthy defence of his call for a border wall. But he delivered no ultimatums about what it would take for him to sign legislation to keep the government open.

“I am asking you to defend our very dangerous southern border out of love and devotion to our fellow citizens and to our country,” he said.

Trump devoted much of his speech to foreign policy, another area where Republicans have increasingly distanced themselves from the White House. He announced details of a second meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, outlining a summit on Feb. 27 and 28 in Vietnam. The two met last summer in Singapore, though that meeting only led to a vaguely worded commitment by the North to denuclearize.

As he stood before lawmakers, the president was surrounded by symbols of his emboldened political opposition. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was praised by Democrats for her hard-line negotiating during the shutdown, sat behind Trump as he spoke. And several senators running for president were also in the audience, including Sens. Kamala Harris of California and Cory Booker of New Jersey.

Another Democratic star, Stacey Abrams, will deliver the party’s response to Trump. Abrams narrowly lost her bid in November to become America’s first black female governor, and party leaders are aggressively recruiting her to run for U.S. Senate from Georgia.

In excerpts released ahead of Abrams’ remarks, she calls the shutdown a political stunt that “defied every tenet of fairness and abandoned not just our people, but our values.”

Trump’s address amounted to an opening argument for his re-election campaign. Polls show he has work to do, with his approval rating falling to just 34 per cent after the shutdown, according to a recent survey conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

One bright spot for the president has been the economy, which has added jobs for 100 straight months. He said the U.S. has “the hottest economy anywhere in the world.”

He said, “The only thing that can stop it are foolish wars, politics or ridiculous partisan investigations” an apparent swipe at the special counsel investigation into ties between Russia and Trump’s 2016 campaign, as well as the upcoming congressional investigations.

The diverse Democratic caucus, which includes a bevy of women, sat silently for much of Trump’s speech. But they leapt to their feet when he noted there are “more women in the workforce than ever before.”

The increase is due to population growth — and not something Trump can credit to any of his policies.

Turning to foreign policy, another area where Republicans have increasingly been willing to distance themselves from the president, Trump defended his decisions to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria and Afghanistan.

“Great nations do not fight endless wars,” he said, adding that the U.S. is working with allies to “destroy the remnants” of the Islamic State group and that he has “accelerated” efforts to reach a settlement in Afghanistan.

IS militants have lost territory since Trump’s surprise announcement in December that he was pulling U.S. forces out, but military officials warn the fighters could regroup within six months to a year of the Americans leaving.Several leading GOP lawmakers have sharply criticized his plans to withdraw from Syria, as well as from Afghanistan.

Trump’s guests for the speech include Anna Marie Johnson, a woman whose life sentence for drug offences was commuted by the president, and Joshua Trump, a sixth-grade student from Wilmington, Delaware, who has been bullied over his last name. They sat with first lady Melania Trump during the address.</s>5 Takeaways from Trump's State of the Union speech

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump delivered his second State of the Union speech Tuesday night, calling on Democrats and Republicans to work together and making only brief reference to the rancor that has dominated his presidency.

Five key takeaways from his remarks:

HE'S NOT BUDGING ON THE WALL

"I will get it built," he declared in his Tuesday evening speech.

Addressing a joint session of lawmakers, Trump yet again hammered his now-familiar case for building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, insisting the situation represents a crisis that demands a physical barrier. But the president outlined no plan or new strategy for convincing Congress to approve money to build the wall. He issued a broad call for all sides to "work together, compromise, and reach a deal that will truly make America safe."

Trump notably made no reference to his continued to threat to circumvent Congress by declaring a national emergency if lawmakers refuse to give him the billions of dollars he's demanding.

The White Housed decided the speech was an inappropriate venue for such an announcement, especially after Trump said he'd allow congressional negotiators to run out a three-week clock that expires on Feb. 15 before taking any action. He has all but dismissed their efforts.

THE HOUSE WAS IN ORDER

With Democrats now in charge of the House and amid a bitter border wall battle that led to the longest government shutdown in the nation's history, the White House was bracing for a less-than-friendly reception from those gathered in the House.

Instead, the 82-minute speech was punctuated by lighthearted moments, including when lawmakers from both parties sang a spontaneous rendition of "Happy Birthday" to Judah Samet, a member of the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh who survived a shooting that killed 11 people in October. Trump joked that the lawmakers wouldn't break into song for him.

The president also prompted cheers from the freshmen female House Democrats when he touted the number of new jobs created that women have filled.

The women — dressed in white in honor of early 20th-century suffragettes — stood on their feet, with one raising her hands in the air in a "raise the roof" motion.

Trump seemed taken back by the outbursts. "You weren't supposed to do that," he said before congratulating all the women who hold seats in Congress. The women jumped back up and high-fived each other, chanting "U-S-A!"

Trump made no reference to the 35-day government shutdown that rocked the nation's capital, leaving hundreds of thousands of workers without pay and freezing many government services the first month of the year.

It was a notable omission from a president who had once said that he would be proud to own the shutdown — and came just 10 days before the government is set to run out of money again.

Trump did note that Congress "has 10 days left to pass a bill that will fund our government, protect our homeland, and secure our southern border." But he didn't mention the funding deadline.

It was a different story for Stacey Abrams, the Georgia Democrat who delivered her party's response to Trump and spoke about how she'd joined volunteers to distribute meals to furloughed federal workers during the shutdown.

"Making their livelihoods a pawn for political games," she said, "is a disgrace."

AN APPEAL TO THE BASE

As he does often in his toughest political moments, Trump tried to rally the Christian conservative voters who have proven to be some of his most loyal backers. He seized upon recent controversies surrounding "late-term abortions" and warned against legislation that he claimed "would allow a baby to be ripped from the mother's womb moments before birth."

"These are living, feeling, beautiful babies who will never get the chance to share their love and dreams with the world," he said, calling on Congress to pass legislation that would limit abortion rights.

Trump also singled out embattled Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam by title, though not by name — claiming he would "execute a baby after birth." Northam in an interview last week defended, in rare occasions, the practice of third-trimester abortions. He has since been under fire for a photograph on his medical school yearbook page featuring a person in blackface standing next to a person wearing a Ku Klux Klan outfit. He denies he's in the photo and rejecting calls for his resignation.

Even as he called for a new age of bipartisanship and urged lawmakers to "govern not as two parties, but as one nation," Trump couldn't help but take few digs at Democrats, including the "resistance" movement in defiance of his presidency.

"We must reject the politics of revenge, resistance and retribution — and embrace the boundless potential of cooperation, compromise and the common good," Trump said at one point.

Later he touted an "economic miracle" taking place across the country that he said could only be stopped by "foolish wars, politics, or ridiculous partisan investigations."

As for the new wave of socialist fervor in the Democratic Party, Trump declared, "Tonight, we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country."</s>Following is a transcript of the video.

President Trump: Members of Congress: the State of our Union is strong.

Victory is not winning for our party. Victory is winning for our country.

In just over 2 years since the election, we have launched an unprecedented economic boom. We have created 5.3 million new jobs and importantly added 600,000 new manufacturing jobs...

Unemployment has reached the lowest rate in over half a century. More people are working now than at any time in the history of our country — 157 million at work.

2. More women in the workforce

All Americans can be proud that we have more women in the workforce than ever before.

My Administration worked closely with members of both parties to sign the First Step Act into law. This legislation reformed sentencing laws that have wrongly and disproportionately harmed the African-American community. The First Step Act gives non-violent offenders the chance to re-enter society as productive, law-abiding citizens.

Now is the time for Congress to show the world that America is committed to ending illegal immigration and putting the ruthless coyotes, cartels, drug dealers, and human traffickers out of business.

As we speak, large, organized caravans are on the march to the United States. We have just heard that Mexican cities, in order to remove the illegal immigrants from their communities, are getting trucks and buses to bring them up to our country in areas where there is little border protection. I have ordered another 3,750 troops to our southern border to prepare for this tremendous onslaught. I want people to come into our country in the largest numbers ever, but they have to come in legally.

In 2018, drug prices experienced their single largest decline in 46 years. It is unacceptable that Americans pay vastly more than people in other countries for the exact same drugs, often made in the exact same place. I am asking Congress to pass legislation that finally takes on the problem of global freeloading and delivers fairness and price transparency for American patients, finally.

To defend the dignity of every person, I am asking the Congress to pass legislation to prohibit the late-term abortion of children who can feel pain in the mother's womb.

My budget will ask Democrats and Republicans to make the needed commitment to eliminate the HIV epidemic in the United States within 10 years. We have made incredible strides, incredible.

If I had not been elected President of the United States, we would right now, in my opinion, be in a major war with North Korea. Much work remains to be done, but my relationship with Kim Jong Un is a good one. Chairman Kim and I will meet again on February 27th and 28th in Vietnam.</s>WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump's State of the Union address (all times local):

Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacy Abrams is declaring that the recent partial federal government shutdown was "a stunt engineered by the president of the United States."

Democrats tapped the former Georgia House minority leader deliver their party's response to President Donald Trump's State of the Union address on Tuesday night.

She drew a series of contrasts with Republicans on issues like health care, gun control and immigration.

Abrams said that a few weeks ago she volunteered to distribute meals to federal workers furloughed during the nation's longest government shutdown. She accused Trump of making their "livelihoods a pawn for political games."

The government shut down for more than a month over Trump's demands for $5.7 billion for his promised border wall with Mexico.

President Donald Trump seemed pleasantly surprised when Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez jumped to her feet with other white-garbed female House members and cheered something he said.

The moment came when Trump said women have benefited most from the strong economy. The record number of female House members jumped to their feet and cheered.

Trump said, "You weren't supposed to do that."

Then he congratulated the women who hold seats in Congress. And the Democrats jumped up and high-fived each other, chanting "U-S-A!"

It was a rare exchange that crossed the partisan divide just a few days after Trump capitulated and agreed to reopen the government without any money for his border wall. Another budget deadline looms Feb. 15.

President Donald Trump, in concluding his State of the Union address, is urging Americans to "choose greatness."

Trump finished his 82-minute speech on an optimistic note, suggesting that "our biggest victories are still to come" and that "we have not yet begun to dream." And he urged the nation to not be "defined by our differences."

But despite Trump's call for unity, much of his speech echoed his usual partisan talking points and the reaction to his address varied wildly among Democrats and Republicans.

Moreover, Trump, in the hours before speech, attacked Democratic Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer. And the president's previous public pleas for bipartisanship have usually worn off in a matter of days, often overwhelmed by a flood of his incendiary tweets.

Lawmakers from both parties sang "Happy Birthday" to Judah Samet, a member of the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh who survived a shooting that killed 11 people in October.

President Donald Trump saluted Samet during the State of the Union address. Samet, who also is a Holocaust survivor, celebrated his 81st birthday on Tuesday.

Trump said Samet can still remember the moment nearly 75 years ago when he was put on a train after 10 months in a concentration camp. Suddenly the train screeched to a halt. A soldier appeared. Samet's family braced for the worst, but then his father cried out with joy, "It's the Americans."

Lawmakers jumped to their feet and applauded as Trump told the story, and they spontaneously sang "Happy Birthday" as Samet smiled and waved. Trump told Samet lawmakers "wouldn't do that for me."

President Donald Trump says he's accelerated U.S. negotiations with the Taliban to reach "if possible" a political settlement in Afghanistan.

In his State of the Union address on Tuesday, Trump said that as progress is made in the negotiations, the U.S. will be able to reduce its troop presence and focus on counterterrorism.

He says U.S. troops have fought with "unmatched valor" and it's because of them that the U.S. is now able to pursue— "if possible"— a political solution to end the "long and bloody conflict."

Trump says the Taliban also are very happy to be negotiating because they too want to try for peace and end 17 years of war.

Trump says "the hour has come to at least try for peace."

President Donald Trump is launching a campaign to end the HIV epidemic in the United States by 2030, targeting areas where new infections happen and getting highly effective drugs to people at risk.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and senior public health officials say the campaign would focus on areas where about half of new HIV cases occur. That includes 48 counties, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and seven states with at-risk rural residents.

Anti-AIDS groups are reacting with both skepticism and cautious optimism.

Trump said in his State of the Union speech Tuesday that funding will be in his budget. He did not specify an amount.

There are about 40,000 new cases of HIV infection a year in the U.S. HIV is the virus that causes AIDS.

President Donald Trump says the United States stands with the people of Venezuela in their "noble quest for freedom. He condemned "the brutality" of President Nicolas Maduro.

Trump used his State of the Union address Tuesday night to ratchet up pressure on Maduro, saying he has turned the wealthy nation in to a state of poverty. He also said that the U.S. will never be a socialist country.

Opposition leader Juan Guaido (Gwy-DOH) has deemed himself the country's interim president over Maduro, who banned opponents from running in an election last year that has been condemned internationally as illegitimate.

The U.S. and more than 30 other countries have now recognized Guaido.

Earlier Tuesday, Maduro lashed out at Trump, saying he was obsessed with Venezuela because the U.S. wants steal Venezuelan oil.

President Donald Trump is calling on lawmakers from both parties to come together "for a great rebuilding of America's crumbling infrastructure" as he highlights a slew of domestic policy proposals during his State of the Union speech.

Trump typically spends most of his time talking about issues like trade and immigration.

But he says Tuesday night that he's eager to work with Congress on an infrastructure package — without offering specifics. And he says his "next major priority" will be working to lower the cost of health care and prescription drugs.

Trump also says his coming budget will ask Democrats and Republicans "to make the needed commitment to eliminate the HIV epidemic in the United States within 10 years."

And he's calling on Congress to dedicate $500 million over the next 10 years to fund childhood cancer research.

President Donald Trump is denouncing embattled Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam in calling for tougher anti-abortion legislation.

In his State of the Union address on Tuesday, Trump asked Congress to pass legislation to prevent "late-term abortion of children."

He attacked Northam — not by name, but by title — claiming he would "execute a baby after birth." Northam in an interview last week defended, in rare occasions, the practice of third-trimester abortions.

Trump received the enthusiastic backing of evangelicals and pro-life advocates during the 2016 elections and aides have said he planned to focus on the issue ahead of his re-election campaign.

House Democrats are sitting stone faced through much of President Donald Trump's references to overhauling immigration during his State of the Union address.

Republicans jumped to their feet again and again when Trump said the U.S. needs to crack down on people entering the U.S. illegally.

Mostly, Democrats stayed seated. Some booed when Trump described immigrants on the march to the U.S. Some chuckled when he referred to a "tremendous onslaught" of people coming over the border. Most sat in silence when he said that encouraging illegal immigration was "cruel."

But Trump did get some applause when he saluted more women serving in Congress. Many of the Democrats who wore white high-fived each other and chanted, "U-S-A!"

Trump said, "That's great. Very great."

President Donald Trump is suggesting that a multination arms control agreement could be negotiated to replace the one with Russia he is exiting.

Trump accused Moscow of repeatedly violating the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty with "impunity" by deploying banned missiles. Russia says it's pulling out, too.

U.S. officials also worry that China is gaining a significant military advantage in Asia by deploying large numbers of missiles with ranges beyond the treaty's limit. China is not party to the treaty.

In his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, Trump said that perhaps the U.S. could negotiate a "different agreement, adding China and others" or "perhaps we can't."

If not, Trump vowed that the U.S. would "outspend" and "out-innovate" all other nations in the development of arms to protect America.

A special agent who works to combat human trafficking is among President Donald Trump's State of the Union guests.

Elvin Hernandez works in the New York office of Homeland Security Investigations. He and his colleagues began targeting a violent pipeline for prostitution through Tenancingo (ten-ahn-SEEN'-go), Mexico, in 2012. The final defendants were sentenced last month to decades in prison.

Trump has pushed the idea that human trafficking is a major reason why he needs $5.7 billion for a border wall, even though most trafficking victims come through ports of entry, according to data from the International Organization for Migration.

In total, Hernandez said during one investigation he and his colleagues brought down more than 80 defendants; rescued more than 150 victims, including 45 minors; and reunified 19 children with their mothers.

President Donald Trump is addressing immigration in his State of the Union speech, saying Republicans and Democrats "must join forces" to confront what he's calling "an urgent national crisis."

Trump says Congress "has 10 days left to pass a bill that will fund our government, protect our homeland and secure our very dangerous southern border" ahead of a February 15 deadline. Critics dispute the level of danger at the border.

But he's made no reference to the national emergency he's threatened to declare if Democrats in Congress fail to give in to his demand for billions of dollars to build a wall along the southern border.

Trump says that lawmakers "have a moral duty to create an immigration system that protects the lives and jobs of our citizens."

President Donald Trump is declaring that the state of the union is "strong."

The president delivered his annual address to Congress on Tuesday with the now-standard declaration that the nation is prospering.

Trump, whose red tie was oddly askew, declared "our country is vibrant and our economy is thriving like never before."

He added that "the only thing that can stop it are foolish wars, politics or ridiculous partisan investigations" an apparent swipe at the special counsel probe into ties between Russia and the Trump campaign.

He was greeted with cheers from the Republicans in the chamber and chants of "U-S-A, U-S-A" filled half the room.

But many Democrats did not cheer, including dozens of female lawmakers who wore white as a tribute to suffragettes.

President Donald Trump has invited some previously unannounced guests to his State of the Union speech.

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin — the second man to walk on the moon — is among those seated in the House chamber for the president's speech.

Trump is also honoring World War II veterans who participated in D-Day and recounting the "fifteen thousand young American men" who "jumped from the sky and sixty thousand more stormed in from the sea, to save our civilization from tyranny."

Three D-Day veterans, Pfc. Joseph Reilly, Staff Sgt. Locker and Sgt. Herman Zeitchik, are also attending.

President Donald Trump will hold a two-day summit with North Korea leader Kim Jong Un Feb. 27-28 in Vietnam to try to convince him to give up his nuclear weapons program.

The announcement was made in Trump's prepared remarks the White House released for his Tuesday night State of the Union address.

Trump has said that his outreach to Kim and their first meeting last June in Singapore opened a path to peace. But there is not yet a concrete plan for how denuclearization could be implemented.

U.S. intelligence chiefs believe there is little likelihood Kim will voluntarily give up his nuclear weapons or missiles capable of carrying them. Private analysts reviewing commercial satellite imagery have assessed that the North is still developing nuclear and missile technology despite suspending tests.

President Donald Trump has arrived in the House chamber to deliver his State of the Union speech.

Trump, wearing a red tie, was greeted with a round of applause from Republicans as well as some Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The chamber is filled with his family members, Cabinet, a handful of Supreme Court justices, members of Congress and their invited guests.

Trump is expected to strike a unifying tone in his remarks, which are expected to touch on subjects including immigration, trade negotiations with China and U.S. troop deployments in the Middle East.

The speech is being delivered a week later than originally scheduled after Pelosi said Trump would not be allowed to speak in front of the House Chamber until the partial government shutdown came to an end.

Energy Secretary Rick Perry is the so-called designated survivor for this year's State of the Union address.

By tradition, one Cabinet secretary is closeted away at a secure, undisclosed location to ensure continuity of government in case disaster strikes while government leaders attend the speech.

The choice of Perry was confirmed by a White House official, who was not authorized to disclose the person's identity, and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Trump's choice this year was limited by the number of "acting" secretaries in the Cabinet. Only Senate-confirmed secretaries (and natural-born citizens) in the line of succession to the presidency can assume control of government in a crisis.
U.S. President Donald Trump delivers his second State of the Union Address to the 116th United States Congress in the chamber of the House of Representatives.