Trump airs familiar grievances, charts MAGA plan in address before bitterly divided Congress

Sen. Elissa Slotkin delivered the Democratic response to Trump's address.

ByAlexandra Hutzler, Ivan Pereira, Emily Chang, and Julia Reinstein
Last Updated: March 5, 2025, 12:09 AM EST

President Donald Trump addressed a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night, six weeks into his historic return to the White House.

During the speech, Trump said "America is back" and defended the tariffs on key U.S. trading partners. He touched on immigration and the mineral deal with Ukraine, but neglected to go into detail on his economic plan. The speech was also met with protests and disruptions from Democrats.

Key headlines:

Here's how the news developed:
Mar 04, 2025, 9:04 PM EST

FBI director arrives

In a rare move, the FBI director is in attendance at the president's speech tonight.

Director Kash Patel has arrived to the House chamber.

FBI Director Kash Patel arrives for US President Donald Trump's address to a joint session of Congress in the House Chamber of the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on March 4, 2025.
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

-ABC News' Pierre Thomas

Mar 04, 2025, 9:02 PM EST

Members of Congress wear blue and yellow for Ukraine

In support of Ukraine, members of Congress sport blue and yellow attire, including ties and scarves.

Mar 04, 2025, 8:59 PM EST

Four sitting members of SCOTUS attend address

Four sitting members of the U.S. Supreme Court are in attendance for Trump's address tonight: Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Elena Kagan, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Retired Justice Anthony Kennedy is also present.

PHOTO: (L-R) US Supreme Court John Roberts, Elena Kagan, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett and Anthony Kennedy arrive for President Donald Trump's address to a joint session of Congress at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on March 4, 2025.
(L-R) US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, US Supreme Court Associate Justice Elena Kagan, US Supreme Court Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh, US Supreme Court Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett and former Supreme Court Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy arrive for President Donald Trump's address to a joint session of Congress at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on March 4, 2025.
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

This is a slightly smaller showing from the court compared with recent presidential addresses to Congress as six attended in 2024, five attended in 2023, and five attended in 2022.

During Trump's first term, however, only four justices ever attended each of Trump's addresses before Congress.

Trump will shake hands with and speak before members of the Supreme Court at a time when his administration is seeking its emergency intervention in two pending cases related to his executive actions -- one involving his power to fire any employee of the executive branch for any reason, and the other involving his power to freeze foreign aid that Congress has authorized for specific programs.

To date, the Supreme Court has not yet weighed in in any meaningful way on Trump's asserted presidential powers during his second term.

– ABC News’ Devin Dwyer

Mar 04, 2025, 8:53 PM EST

Trump will defend his tariffs, according to speech excerpts

Trump will defend the steep tariffs on Canada, China and Mexico after markets roiled and the key U.S. trading partners vowed retaliation.

"Whatever they tariff us, we tariff them. Whatever they tax us, we tax them. If they do non-monetary tariffs to keep us out of their market, then we do non-monetary barriers to keep them out of our market. We will take in trillions of dollars and create jobs like we have never seen before," Trump will say, according to excerpts of his speech released by the White House.

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