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, 10:28 PM EST

Trump tells his FBI director, attorney general: 'Good luck'

Trump railed against what he claims is a justice system weaponized by Democrats to go after political opponents, including him. Democrats audibly grumbled at the comments.

Trump then wished FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi "good luck" and the pair received standing ovations. Patel and Bondi narrowly survived their confirmation votes. In fact, Patel's was one of the most partisan and divided confirmation votes for an FBI director in history at 51-49.

FBI Director Kash Patel stands as he is recognized by US President Donald Trump during an address to a joint session of Congress in the House Chamber of the Capitol in Washington, Mar. 4, 2025.
Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

Mar 04, 2025, 10:25 PM EST

Claim: 'Hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud' found by DOGE

FACT CHECK: This is unverifiable.

This claim is unverifiable because DOGE has yet to release the entirety of its work or specify which cuts have been "fraud" as opposed to "waste." DOGE has claimed to have saved $106 billion in total savings, not "hundreds of billions" in fraud, and even Elon Musk himself has said they have mostly found "waste" and "mostly not fraud."

DOGE has claimed it has saved a total of $106 billion in federal money from a "combination of asset sales, contract/lease cancellations and renegotiations, fraud and improper payment deletion, grant cancellations, interest savings, programmatic changes, regulatory savings, and workforce reductions." The figure remains unverifiable and DOGE’s website claims to have posted only 30% of the receipts supporting this total.

Even Musk himself said on Joe Rogan’s podcast last week that most of what DOGE is finding is "waste," rather than outright fraud. "Only the federal government could get away with this level of waste. It's mostly waste. It's mostly not fraud, it's mostly waste. It's mostly just ridiculous things happening," Musk said.

-ABC News' Soo Rin Kim and Will Steakin

Mar 04, 2025, 10:22 PM EST

Trump crosses the 1-hour mark

Trump has been speaking for one hour. His remarks so far resemble the tone of his 2024 campaign speeches, as he weaves from one topic to another. He is currently railing against illegal immigration, the southern border and criminal cartels, which were some of his favorite topics to talk about on the trail.

President Donald Trump delivers a speech to a joint session of Congress, in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Mar. 4, 2025.
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

Mar 04, 2025, 10:21 PM EST

Democrats speak out after leaving speech

Democratic Reps. Sydney Kamlager-Dove and Maxwell Frost released statements after they left the speech.

"Through walking out, my message to Donald Trump is simple: stop the lies, stop the cheating, and stop the stealing -- enough is enough. The American people deserve better," Kamlager-Dove said.

"Donald Trump is many things -- a liar, a grifter, a wanna-be-dictator -- but no matter how hard he tries and how many Republicans in Congress bend the knee and kiss the ring: he will never be king," Frost said.

-ABC News' John Parkinson

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