Acquit him. The president speaks soon. What do you expect . The big question tonight, the impeachment factor, will it come up in the president s address . The white house Spokesman Says he read the speech and did not see the word, impeachment, but he doesnt necessarily rule out the possibility that mr. Trump will allude to it in some way. Lets go to our chief White House Correspondent jim acosta. Jim, the president may not necessarily talk about impeachment tonight. But we hear he was fuming about it earlier today. Reporter thats right, wolf. All day long aides have been saying President Trump is not expected to talk about his impeachment during tonights address. One official just told me a few moments ago it is, quote, unlikely, but the subject is clearly under the president s skin. An offtherecord lunch with network news anchors earlier today, an event cnn was barred from attending, the president went off on former National Security adviser john bolton and his upcoming book which is shedding a lot of light on the ukraine scandal. The president described bolton at one point as a turncoat. And ripped into his performance as National Security adviser saying he botched the administrations efforts to get a nuclear deal with north korea. Now, the president also said bolton could face, quote, criminal penalties if he goes ahead and publishes that book. Mr. Trump went on to say he doesnt, talking about bolton here, does not deserve the title of ambassador and should just feel lucky that he got to work at the trump white house. Clearly, wolf, the president is still frustrated with john bolton and, of course, as i mentioned, all of this was discussed at an offtherecord lunch with network news anchors earlier today. Cnn was not invited to that lunch. But were going to report on it. Wolf . All right, standby. Dana bash is up at statuary hall. Dana, it could be a little awkward tonight when the president of the United States meets with the speaker of the house, nancy pelosi. What are you hearing . Reporter this whole thing is awkward. It takes awkward to a new level, wolf, because here we are in the United States capitol where everybody has been focused, particularly in the senate, on the impeachment trial the president of the United States and he is coming to this capitol in the middle of it before it is done. Thats the story line a. Story line b is the House Speaker. Hes going to be in her house tonight giving that speech. She confirmed to myself and to other Television Anchors and reporters who met with her and the Senate Democratic leader today, she confirmed she has not spoken to the president of the United States in about four months. Since october. Since that nowinfamous iconic meeting that she had with the president and many members of his National Security team about syria. You remember she got up, she walked out. She talked to him about about putin. He released the photo of her pointing at him. She took it, made it her profile pictur picture. It was that moment, that meeting, that was the last interaction the two of them have had, wolf. Dana, standby. Jake, this could be a combustible moment up there. You heard what you heard what jim acosta said. The president is fuming. You heard from dana right now, they havent spoken, pelosi and the president , what, since october. Yeah. No. Obviously, the situation is combustible. Although, we should point out a president giving a state of the Union Address after having been impeached but before the senate has acquitted him is not unprecedented. In 1999 bill clinton did exactly that. Now, obviously, there are quite a bit of differences between President Trump and president clinton. One of which, of course, is the fact that at this point in the clinton presidency, during the impeachment trial, he was apologizing. He was trying to convey to the nation that he was sorry for what he did. This is, of course, after months and months of lying about it, but at that point, he was saying he was sorry. President trump, conversely, is conveying the exact opposite. Not only is he not sorry, hes acting as if he did not do anything wrong. Even though some of the republican senators who tomorrow we anticipate will vote to acquit him, they are saying that they do think he did something wrong. Just not Something Worthy of removal from office. So what are you expecting tonight . We know hes got a scripted speech. It could go on even more than an hour, maybe. Some are suggesting an hour and a half. Its all going to be on teleprompter but he likes to deviate. Yeah, i think its a fools errand to try to predict anything that this very unpredictable president will do. Its likely that his aides have said to him, boss, youre having a great week, youre having a winning week, the Democrats Iowa caucus is a disaster, your Approval Rating for gallup is the highest its been in your entire presidency, 49 approve, 50 disapprove, and in addition, youre about to be acquitted, dont rock the boat. Maybe that argument will prevail. Were told his advisers have said that they do not think that he will mention the word, impeachment, in his speech, but on the other hand, this is a president who is unpredictable, who likes to disrupt and tends to do things for shortterm emotional gain if not necessarily in his own longterm interest. Its interesting in that gallup poll, yes, 49 of the american public, which is a high for him, approve of the job he is doing, but 94 of republicans, 94 of republicans, approve of the job hes doing. You know, its funny, for months now hes been saying he had 95 Approval Rating among republicans and it has not been true, but somehow, he has willed it into truth because now he does almost have that exact percentage in terms of Approval Rating among republicans and this is one of the reasons why you see House Republicans and Senate Republicans going along with everything he wants, even when they dont agree with it because he has such a hold on the Republican Base. Amazing, that hold, indeed. All right. Theres a lot going on. Theres going to be drama up on capitol hill. As we await the president s state of the Union Address. Theres also drama in the democratic president ial contest. Take a look at the results. 62 of the precincts reporting in iowa. Well update you on that. Lots of news. Well be right back. As your br. Thats great, carl. But we need something better. Thats easily adjustable has no penalties or advisory fee. And we can monitor to see that were on track. Like schwab intelligent income. Schwab introducing schwab intelligent income. A simple, modern way to pay yourself from your portfolio. Oh, thats cool. I mean, we dont have that. Schwab. A modern approach to wealth management. How you watch it does too. Tv just keeps getting better. This is xfinity x1. Featuring the Emmy Awardwinning voice remote. Streaming Services Without changing passwords and input. Live sports with realtime stats and scores. Access to the most 4k content. And your movies and shows to go. The best tv experience is the best tv value. Xfinity x1. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Xfinity. The future of awesome. In the democratic president ial race, lets start with a key race alert. Take a look at this, with 62 of the precincts reporting based on the Iowa Caucuses, these are state delegates. The allimportant state delegates. Pete buttigieg with 26. 9 . Bernie sanders in second place, 25. 1 . Elizabeth warren, 18. 3 . Joe biden, 15. 6 . Amy klobuchar, look at this, not too far behind, 12. 6 . Yang, steyer, neither in the ballpark. Lets go over to john king right now. Remember, john, this is 62 of the precincts. 38 of the precincts outstanding. We dont know yet whether well get any more results from the Iowa Democratic party tonight. This is where we are now. Take a look at the map. Impressive for mayor Pete Buttigieg, 26. 9 of the delegates. 25 for senator sanders. 25. 1 . 18. 3 for senator warren. 15 preside 15. 6. Amy klobuchar running fifth, 12. 6 . Still votes to be counted. These are not the final result. Take a look at it this way, leading in counties, 99 counties in iowa, in 64 of the 99. Thats pretty impressive. Mayor buttigieg either leading or tied at the moment. More results coming in. So a very impressive sweep, if you will, almost statewide by mayor buttigieg, but the Sanders Campaign voicing some hope tonight that it can come back, saying its actually quite optimist optimistic. Can they . Lets take a look through some of these places here. Story county, ames, college town, 65 of the vote. The Sanders Campaign making the case were leading here, we expect to stay in the lead, maybe well boost it up. They have to have very High Performance to get that done. Well see what happens. Other bragging right, senator warren in third place, she hopes in New Hampshire. This one is interesting, struggling for the Vice President of the United States, one, two, three, four, five, only six counties. Senator klobuchars team says they think she can report if this is bragging rights one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, leading right now in more counties than the former Vice President. Is that a moral victory . Lets see as more votes come in. Jake is about to speak with senator klobuchar. Jake . Thanks, wolf. Let me bring in from New Hampshire right now senator amy klobuchar. Democrat of minnesota. Senator klobuchar, thanks so much. Now, we know the returns are still just thanks, jake. Partial and incomplete, but with 62 of the precincts reporting out of iowa, you are in fifth place, within a stones throw of former Vice President biden. How do you assess your standing . Well, i look at it that im 800 votes from the Vice President , and we still have 38 left to be counted. The other way i look at it is that i landed in New Hampshire at 4 00 a. M. , the strong team that we put together. We basically did better than a lot of people, outperformed what people thought we would do and here we are in New Hampshire, i literally land and find out were tied for second place with senator sanders from his neighboring state out front and the rest of the four of us literally tied in a poll that came out yesterday. And thats what we are feeling on the ground. Weve had huge events all day. From concord to nashua to portsmouth. And were pretty excited about how were doing here. For me, this is a primary, jake. Lot of independent voters similar to some of the elections that ive won big in minnesota. So were pretty excited about being here in New Hampshire. So, it was a good night last night for your fellow midwesterner, Pete Buttigieg. He is positioning himself as one of the more moderate choices in the race. He currently holds a narrow lead, although who knows whats going to happen when all the votes are in. Do you think he is your major competitor in terms of trying to appeal to a more moderate voters . You know, i say there are three of us in there with the Vice President , and what i can say about this to the people of this country is that i come with the receipt in two ways. One, i passed over 100 bills as the lead democrat. Since ive gotten to washington and shown i can get things done and get through the gridlock and build coalitions. But secondly, which i think is key to democrats, im the one thats won in rural areas, suburban areas. I brought with me moderate republicans and independents and thats the kind of big tent we need if were going to not just eke by a victory against donald trump but going to win big across the country. Youre in New Hampshire right now but obviously youre going to have to be in washington, d. C. , tomorrow for the big vote on whether or not to remove President Trump from office on the two articles of impeachment or whether or not to acquit him. How are you going to vote, and why . Well, i am voting for impeachment. I thought that the evidence was overwhelming of how he literally held up aid to a foreign country, a fledgling democracy, an ally that had been invaded by russia all because he wanted dirt on a political opponent, and i am very, very dismayed about my colleagues with the exception of two of them that wouldnt even deal with having the witnesses because theyre afraid of what theyre going to say. Now, they could have voted however they want on impeachment, but at least give the American People the truth. Dont hide it from them. And im telling you, jake, its not going to come out five years from now, its going to come out five weeks from now or five days from now. All right. Senator amy klobuchar, democrat of minnesota, up in New Hampshire. Thanks so much for joining us. Okay. And watch for us in New Hampshire. I have the endorsement of every newspaper here so far and were ready to roll. All right. Well keep an eye out. Thanks so much. Wolf . Thanks very much, jake. Were getting some new information about what the president is going to be saying in his speech tonight. Hes going to be offering, were told, a rather stunning remark about relations with iran. And the threat of war. We have details. Stay with us. The real state of the union a nation divided by an angry, out of control president. A white house beset by lies, chaos and corruption. An administration that has failed the American People. It doesnt have to be this way. Next year we can have a leader who brings people together, solves problems and gets results. Mike bloomberg will get it done. Im Mike Bloomberg and i approve this message. 1 in 4 of us millennials have debt we might die with. And most of that debt is actually from credit cards. Its just not right. But with sofi, you can get your credit cards right by consolidating your Credit Card Debt into one monthly payment. Including your Interest Rate right by locking in a fixed low rate today. And you can get your money right with sofi. Check your rate in two minutes or less. Get a nofee personal loan up to 100k. Get a nofee personal loan at bayer, were helping to adto repair heart tissue. Es so bill can scream his heart out. Without putting his heart in danger. At bayer, this is why we science. Looking at live pictures over from the south lawn of the white house. President and the first lady, theyll be getting ready to get into the president ial limousine to drive down pennsylvania avenue up over to capitol hill. For his state of the Union Address. Jim acosta is over at the white house watching all this unfold for us. Jim, youre getting some more information about what the president said earlier in the day. Even in advance of his state of the Union Address . Reporter thats right, wolf. It ties to what we expect to hear from the president teonigh, expected to tout his decision to take oun the iranian general. Qasem soleimani. Revealing the u. S. Was close to military conflict with iran. At an off the Network Lunch with news anchors, an event cnn was barred from attending, the president said the u. S. Was closer to war with iran than the public actually knew. Now youll recall the president and his Team Struggled for days to justify the killing of soleimani with mr. Trump first claiming the iranian general was about to blow up embassies, a claim that differed from what his own top generals were saying. Now the president , were also told, explained to these anchors earlier today at this lunch that he plans on giving another speech tomorrow after his expected acquittal in the Senate Impeachment trial. The white house officials all day long, they have been scrambling to tell reporters today that plans are not set for that speech just yet. So once again, wolf, the president has thrown his team a curveball just ahead of tonights state of the union speech. Wolf . All right. Well wait for the president to leave the white house and drive up to capitol hill. You know, jake, its an annual event, the state of the Union Address. The constitution says the president , the president should deliver a state of the Union Address or at least something in writing, but what do you think about what the president was saying earlier in the day that the u. S. Was a lot closer to war with iran than the public knew . Well, it doesnt surprise me especially since weve found out that the attacks on the iraqi base where u. S. Service members were headquartered actually resulted in many more injuries, serious injuries, involving a traumatic brain injury and serious concussions than we were originally told, but it was in the interest of the United States at the time, i suppose, the trump administration, to deescalate any sort of tensions with iran at the time. So that was kind of soft pedaled. Perhaps, if you examine it and give the benefit of the doubt to the president , he was trying to deescalate, of course there are a lot of people, including the veterans of the foreign wars, upset the president described the wounds, tdiss. 50 or 60 american troops were suffering from those kinds of injuries. Its very serious. One of the most serious wounds that happens to veterans these days, in this era where there are the way that helmets have developed, there are fewer deaths due to head injuries, but tbi is very, very serious. To digs mismiss it as a headach offended people. Traumatic brain injury. Were standing by for the president to leave the white house, head up to capitol hill. Were anxious to see this encounter hes about to have with the speaker of the house nancy pelosi up in the capitol. She was one of those who led the impeachment fight in the house of representatives. Well be right back. I remember thinking about things i did and wondering if that was the last time i was going to do that thing. Coming to Cancer Treatment centers of america, they treat the whole person. Everything is here. Imaging, infusion. I dont have to go anywhere else. They cared about me as a person beyond just being a cancer patient. Theyre my second family. Get care like no other. Call us at Cancer Treatment centers of america. And welcome back. We are awaiting the president leaving the white house. You see the vehicle that his entourage, the beast, as they call it, waiting to take off, expecting to speak about 32 minutes from now. Here with the panel in new york. A lot to talk about. Well talk about, lets talk about the speech coming up and also how its going to be. A strange this is the first time i didnt realize he hadnt actually been facetoface with nancy pelosi or spoken to her since october, i think. Yeah. I think there will be drama right from the top when he comes up. Will they exchange pleasantries, will they shake at least shake hands . I doubt it will be pleasantries. That will be something people will be watching. But i think, you know, it will be interesting to see how he approaches this whole speech. Obviously, theres a great deal of tension with congress, but if he is if he is wise, and weve seen the experts, i think hes going down this road, this is an enormous opportunity for an incumbent president even a president whos in the midst of an impeachment trial to talk to the nation and tout his accomplishments. Right. And we know from polling that some of those accomplishments that he will claim are more popular even than he is. On the economy, hes got very high ratings. One of the strange things about this Trump Presidency is hes got a very high Approval Rating on the economy. 64 by gallup today. And hes 15 points less popular than his performance on the economy, so i think this is a chance to tout all of those thi things. In these excerpts, hes using language of inclusion, so that would be reaching out and, you know, trump off the teleprompter is often a more inclusive figure than trump riffing and doing his improv at his rallies. And this is a big opportunity for him. It really is in many ways the official kickoff of his campaign. And i think thats what were going to see. The scene is kind of stunning, though, just think, seven weeks ago in the house chamber, this is a president who was impeached largely along party lines and tomorrow, the United States senate is probably going to acquit him and today in iowa, we discovered that his nemesis, joe biden, did not do so well in the Iowa Caucuses. So, its kind of a remarkable moment for donald trump here. When we walks in that chamber, you know, usually there are people lining up on both sides of the aisle to shake his hand, all that. I guarantee you its going to be republicans. Theres also not democrats. Pay attention to polls, theres a gallup poll which shows him at 49 . Very good. Hes feeling pretty good walk bib i walking into this. The speech tonight is going to be about the Great American comeback. Going to try to be positive, not full of grievance, as we normally see him. David gergen. Hes going to answer the question that Ronald Reagan famously asked in 1980, are you better off today than you were before i started . And people are going to say, yes. Are you better off . 7 million, you know, new jobs, lowest Unemployment Rate in history, real wage growth. The bottom rung of the economic ladder improving. National security. Taken out two of the worst, you know, nemesises of the United States in the world. Hes going to have illustrated in the gallery tonight a widow whose husband was killed by an ied from soleimani. You going to have all these questions answered by this speech tonight. As gloria points out, its kind of the kickoff to the campaign i think hes feeling pretty good and i think the president does grasp the gravity of the state of the union. To davids point, does a fairly good job in these kind of solemn settings. Less rally, more solemn and i think hell use a lot more inclusion, less divisive. This is the thing with the trump era is characterized in the following way. The economy is going up, coming up, and societys coming apart. And thats the difference. I think that democrats have a hard time listening to the speech. I encourage everybody, sit down, listen to the speech. What youre going to hear is his roadmap to reelection. What he thinks hes going to be able to sell the American People on. Mainly going to be economic stuff. He will try to do some of the inclusive stuff as well. I think for a Skeptical Democratic audience, our tendency is to block him out all together. Some of the stuff hes going to be saying will be stuff we havent heard before in terms of, like, you know, laying out the economic stuff and you are going to see him, i think, teleprompter trump, not twitter trump, not rally trump, try to do outreach. I dont 234i6rthink you get awa half the country is going to be looking at this country saying im afraid for our democracy, im afraid for immigrants, im afraid for the racial tone thats been set, im afraid for my kids, and so he has an opportunity tonight to try to speak to some of those fears. Well see if he does. I think its a great moment of opportunity for the president. The question is, can he . Theyre going to write a script in prompter for him thats a reelection message, a finish this term, really about four more years. Can he keep his head up and talk to the country . She going to look down, make eye contact with adam schiff and decide im going to go off and have a moment . Thats what people dont like about him. Yeah. His strategy is clear. The excerpts released so far, talks about immigration, other things that play straight to his base. This speech is about base, drive them, keep them energized, turn them out and move the margins a little bit. What he says in the excerpts so far, well check the factcheck machines, says well always protect patients with preexisting conditions. This administration is in court trying to throw obamacare off the books. Doesnt mean the president cant say, i have a proposal for it, but theyre not advancing that right now, but well go through the fact checks after the speech. He has a remarkable moment right now. He has the strongest political place of his presidency. Heading into the reElection Year. Democrats, lets assume they figure this out, get a nominee, we dont know who that is, matter who it is. The president will talk about socialism tonight. Hes going to play to his base. The margins is improving his standards a little bit in the suburbs, improving his standard a little bit with africanamericans, just a little bit with latinos. If you do it just this month, maybe you keep pennsylvania in play, a state david knows well, maybe you keep North Carolina in play. Look at his map, what he wants to do i have to go to dana bash. Dana . Reporter hi there. Hi there, anderson. I just want to let you know that the senators are coming down. Theyre going to pass us momentarily. Led by the president of the senate. The Vice President of the United States. Mr. Vice president , how you feeling . Is it awkward to be there with the president almost acquitted or maybe okay. We tried. How are you feeling, senator . Feeling good. Reporter senator shelby, can you stop for one sec . I cant stop. Reporter okay. You cant stop. Were trying here. The senators, i will just tell you one of the reasons why theyre not stopping is because its tradition, to be fair, it is tradition for them to walk together. You can see that theyre walking, a lot of them senator romney a lot of them are walking with members of the senate of the opposite party. So i can keep trying to get them to stop, senator, would you like to stop . We can keep trying, but the reality is ive seen this movie before, and they like to come out and talk and walk with one another. Again, especially across party lines. Anderson, back to you. All right, dana, thanks very much. Having made that walk 12 times, you dont stop. I mean, this is youre led by even for dana, come on. No, no, youre walking with a colleague. Thats right. This is solemn occasion. This is not a time to ham it up to the media. You know, its you put your game face on when you do that. What are you anticipating. I think the most interesting thing, i think, very little doubt that hes going to stick to the script. I have very little doubt. What im watching for is the democrats. What are they going to do . How are they going to react to all this . Are they going to applaud him when they should applaud him . If you look over there, see the Vice President coming down, those are democrats on the right side of the screen there. And as because republicans dont line up on both sides. How are the democrats going to react when they walk by . Going to shake his hand . I remember, i was there when bill clinton was being impeached. Republicans greeted him. Shook his hand. I mean, it was it was very cordial. Theres the president and first lady leaving the white house right now. It was it was, you know, again, you have a role to play. You have a partisan role to play. Youre also youre in the house chamber. Youre a house member. You act accordingly. That didnt happen on one occasion. Yeah. We famously recall. I remember. By members you know, joe paid a price for that. That was not a good joe wilson. Yeah, joe wilson. Sorry. But i to me, its going to see how the democrats react and in this chamber. Could be a bad moment for them if hint that they didnt want to come. Youll see Ayanna Pressley wasnt coming, had some calls on radio, joe madison was saying democrats shouldnt show up for this. I dont think, you know, only two people havent say they arent going to show up. I do think, i mean, to johns point, the way he wants to attract people around the margin, africanamericans, latinos, obviously, and suburban white women, right, by seeming to reach out to those voting blocs, sort of indirect appeals. Theres a line where he talks about building the most prosperous and Inclusive Society. He mentions being inclusive several times. I think that is when hes trying to talk to those suburban collegeeducated white voters that democrats feel like they have a good shot at and the democrats the republican, obviously, wants to keep in their corner. Yeah, i think hes going to try. Yeah. But these groups are have seen him at the rallies every other week or every week. Saying something totally different. So color me a little skeptical about this effort to try to make him appear to be this grand inclusive leader when everything he has done, and everything theyve heard outside of this format, has been the opposite. You know, i want to just on your point, david, about, you know, the classic reagan question, are you better off than you were four years ago . I think this race for president is going to be a battle between two questions. Thats the first question. The second is, can we really do this for four more years . Right. Can we wake up to the tweets and the tantrums and all of that . And so were going to see the trump tonight who wants the question to be the one you pose. The person that you see at those rallies are the ones that give discomfort to those folks he wants to get around the margin. You know, in the chamber tonight, theres reporting that the house managers are going to sit together. So adam schiff not being his favorite person, obviously, if the president makes eye contact with him, will he be able to not Say Something . I dont know the answer that raises the question, why, i mean, why would they sit together . I mean, its obviously theyre trying to theyre trying to get a rise out of him. I mean, its again, look inside whats really going on, what game theyre trying to play. Theyre trying to nancy pelosi is behind him. Not a best friend. Crazy nancy pelosi. They think they he calls her. They think hi can get a rise out of the president. Well see if they can. Believe it or not, theres policy i would just point out, the president is the riser in chief. He gives the rise. He is much more likely to give than to take. Right . I mean, he punches. Hes a counterpuncher. Hell i would say hes a lot less easier to rattle than you think. I think by looking at adam schiff, hes not going to go off. You know, across the west, what you have is this rise of populism, different forms of populism. We saw in iowa, you know, that liberal progressive populism on the rise. Kind of people were mad at the economic elite. Mad at the billionaire class. Et cetera. What you guys see now today from trump is his most recent exploitation on his form of rightwing populism. And there are two things hes going to do, i guarantee you. One is, he has to go after the liberal elites. Hes going to try and do is put, quote unquote, socialism on trial. Going to say the liberal elites are socialists and going to go after them. The other thing were used to that. We expect that. The other thing is, a big antiimmigrant strand in these rightwing populism across the west. The question he has to ask answer tonight is he going to continue to lean into that . Is he going to keep giving red meat to his base and stoking the antiimmigrant sentiment . That is the most dangerous thing that he does. You can see many the excerpts that he he is going i think that that tends to undermine and undercut all the rest of it. Hes trying to strike a balance between rallying the base and some overtures to people on the margins. Hes going to talk about Prescription Drug prices. Driving down drug costs. Opioid addiction. Driving that lots of things. Your point, suburban moms. Safety. Can you go to bed at night being are you more safe when you go to bed at night . All that stuff look, you say goes after antiimmigrant. Its illegal immigrants. The Democratic Party used to be not the party of illegal immigrants. As recently as bill clinton who was very strongly antiillegal immigrati immigration. Thats changed. So i dont i dont see anybody calling bill clinton a, you know, antiimmigration. Theres a question of tone and i think i agree with the tone. But the substance i worked for an administration, rick, that came under fire for deporting a lot of immigrants who are guilty of say one more thing, again, i think a lot of democrats are going to have a hard time just even listening. Thats one i mean, and i think its important that we listen because, again, this is a roadmap to his reelection. There you see ivanka trump, jared kushner, obviously. So, you know, i actually had to work with those guys on stuff. I tell you, i expect to hear some of that stuff. Criminal justice. Criminal justice. Some of the stuff theyre going to lay out i assume on criminal justice, on family leave, which is ivankas thing. Does this speech matter . I mean, you know, obviously, in news, we pay a lot of attention to it every year, but, i mean, does it move the needle . What is the point . Of course, it matters. Look, we have seen him improve somewhat. Is he going to keep improving . I dont know. I remember when i covered the Clinton White house, he used to speak for an hour and a half. Wed always say, oh, he lost them. Youd look the next day and the tv ratings would be good, sometimes great. American people by 56 or more would say they like this and like that. I often say, you know, just beware of people in washington, i dont mean this as an insult, america is out there. They like to watch their president. To vans point, people i dont. Who dont like him will watch but the people who do like him its an enormous opportunity to speak to the country. The half life, john, is short. The half life of the state. He should get a bump. The most important thing is the thing van mentioned, youre going to see a pretty clear roadmap about what his argument is for reelection. The opening argument. How long can he stick to that . The president likes to go out on the road in the way that president obama did after the state of the union. And go to different states. How long can he use this roadmap . Lets not forget tomorrow, can be acquitted by the senate and give yet another speech. The half life is about im going to disagree a little bit on that. That speech may be full of grievance. I mean, after he that may be the time that donald trump the tone will be a lot different. Really has a different tone because hes been impeached by the house and acquitted by the senate after a difficult trial and i think he ought to expect a lot of a lot of fireworks on that one. Not so much tonight. I think the half look, for donald trump, this is a more important speech than it is for really anybody else. You know, everybody knew barack obama would get up and give a great speech because he did it all the time. And bill clinton did it all the time. George w. Bush didnt do great speeches but you knew what you were going to get. The perpetual criticism of donald trump being unhinged and lying and doing all these things, to have him stand up in this setting, deliver a speech, sound reasonable, sound articulate, sound like hes got a, you know, a plan and the country is not crashing and burning, but thats a much bigger deal for him. It is. Than it is the question is in november, which is a long time from now, with all the intervening events, what will it mean . Im not sure that much, but we will learn a lot tonight about how hes thinking about reelection. Heres what i would say is that a lot of people listen to the media and listen to the opposition and and just, he is a liar, unhinged, incompetent, whatever all the all the adjectives yet they have a chance to see him in this setting, say, yeah, he may be all those things, you know, maybe when hes doing business hes actually a pretty reasonable guy. Well, its hard to forget twitter trump, though, because you see it every single day. Youve been critical of i agree. Of twitter trump. The point is theres he can make the case theres another side of me. That maybe i, you know, maybe im not this all the time. Or you can watch the speech and say somebody wrote this for him. So, you know, but he delivered it. He delivered it. Thats right. Thats right. So there are he did it. There are two different personalities, one whos at the rallies. Right. The one who tweets. But its better the one whos standing in the chamber. People think theres only one personality. We dont know who the other guy is going to nominate yet. To your point, its not in the speech, its implicit. Talk to his campaign advisers, theyre very open about it. You may foot like parts of me, suburb ben women may not like my tweets. People of color may not like my tone toward immigrants. Dont think i have a history in your community, why am i reaching out to you now . To make a point, there are things about me you may not like. Unemployment is down in pennsylvania, unemployment is down in wisconsin. Safer than you were before. John, i think that this is the thing, i still talk to democrats, say i just dont understand, im so confused. How can anybody support this guy . Or anybody like this guy . I think what hes done, hes created this archetype will come to order. Get things done. The rebel stuff, twitter stuff, which we all hate sets him up. Youre going to hear tonight him trying to prove the point that im getting stuff done. You may not like me, im a rebel getting things done. We sound like scolds, we say you should do it a different way. Thats what youre going to see tonight. I agree. Im one of the ones who i find it hard to even be here because i see what he does on a daily basis. And so maybe he gets things done. When he gets things done, like taking away health care from people with preexisting conditions, they dont like that thing that hes getting done. I dont like separating families at the border. I dont like the way he has caused people in america to feel unsafe. Not to feel safe. But to feel unsafe. Like their government is against them. Yep. Those things, i cant forgive, so it is hard for me, it will be hard for me to watch. One point, you and john both mentioned it, but President Trump ran, he said i would never sign a Health Care Bill that didnt have protection for preexisting condition. I worked on the Health Care Bill with the president. With republicans. I can tell you for the administration, every time we had this im not signing the bill, im not going to be you know what the answer in court trying to undo it. So trying to throw out obamacare yes, that includes that. They ran it for two years. Doesnt mean hes against it. Provisions. Its really hard for you to make that argument. No, its not. Im sure its not hard for you personally to do it. Its hard for people to hear it. Knowing the hypocritical actions that hes taken. Agree. Not hypocritical, a couple parts of the bill are good doesnt mean you shouldnt throw out the bill and replace it with something thats better. Well, they tried. Epic. Yeah. I wonder how much discussion there was in the Speakers Office and at the white house about how to approach this moment when they encounter each other for the First Time Since october. The speaker . Yeah. Well, lets see if she does her clap that she did last year. We should all just point out that theyve been reading names of the Escort Committee for the president. Coming up next, theyre going to be introducing i think karen pence, the Vice President s wife, who will enter and then after that will be the sergeant of arms announces the diplomatic corps. Various ambassadors. First lady. Ultimately, the president. Can i just say, too, one of the great things thats going to happen tonight is that the new governor of michigan is going to give the response at the high school that her daughters went to. My kids went to. So im excited to see her because i thing shes a nononsense leader who does get things done. Id just like to add also this is a chance, this president , i think, to kind of ramble through this list of accomplishments and kind of put it against the backdrop of youve seen us go on today against the backdrop of this, you know, Dumpster Fire of a primary in iowa and say, weve done all these great things, and you guys cant even add . Right, i think thats another kind of juxtaposition. Or you want to impeach me. Right. I have no doubt that i mean, hes going to be acquitted tomorrow. That would be an elevated thing to add i would not that may be in here someplace. I wouldnt be surprised. I wouldnt be surprised, either. On twitter hes happy to say ive done all these things and you want to impeach me, we have the best economy, et cetera, et cetera, i dont know if hes going to mention that tonight. I dont think that happens tonight. I think there may be a reference to the economy. The economy, for sure. Comparing the ive been able to do all this an you guys cant even run a caucus. All along youve been saying you want to hear more of the president running on oh, every day. Right. Absolutely. I wish he tweeted every day. Page upon page of tweets. Right . I wish theyd go out. I think that, you know, to the point about the pain in the country, the way that people feel hurt and the way that people feel afraid, and especially people from immigrant communities, i know you make a big distinction between undocumented, not undocumented, if youre a latino in this country or a latina, that distinction begins to break down. Youre seeing people in walmarts and stuff being attacked and mistreated. There is a poisonous atmosphere in the country and a lot of his rhetoric is added to that. I think that republicans would do better if they would, i think, acknowledge a little bit more the fine policy distinctions dont play out so well in communities and the communities want to i think this is probably one of the times in American History that im aware of where you do have people who really say that is just your president. This is your president. Not my president. Because i dont feel the love. And tonight when he makes these overtures, heres going uphill against his twitter performance, everything else, i think republicans need to recognize its not just liberals and democrats are mad enough, crazy, just hate him, that there is a record here that is a painful record that he has not really atoned for or spoken to. Do you think he can pick up votes among suburban women . I mean, you know, poll after poll shows hes not doing well there. If he does, that would have a big impact, potentially, on his reelection. Look, thats going to come down to who the nominee . The Democratic Party. There are going to be opportunities, you know, looking at the list here of the democrats, create an opportunity for trump with some different voter group, and, you know, well wait and see. See who they have. I believe the president thinks he can actually do well, in the community, he talks about it all the time, always talked about the Unemployment Rate in the black community hes talked about, in the hispanic community. He does lots hes doing more and more events with people of color. Focusing all on objective accomplishments which is is the economys better. Wages are up. Opportunity zone. Hes got public policy, all economic, i agree with you, and also the, you know, the but the vast majority is economic, and suburban women, hes got paid family leave which is something barack obama couldnt get accomplished. He got that accomplished for federal workers as a start but also pushing hard on i know he will mention it in the state of the union, talk about policy things these policy things are important. They will some of them will be challenged, but its really his behavior that has created a huge problem for him. Among we all agree on that. Thats why i know you say this is fornt fimportant for th see he can eat with a fork and knife here and behave himself. Yeah. But at the end of the day, you know, hell go out probably in a very short order and hell have one of those improvisational rallies and the boulder will come running down the hill again. Think thats a big obstacle. Heres why i say the difference to that is the nation is watching here. Theyre not listening to every tweet, to every rally, everything, but he has an opportunity to really focus. This is an opportunity. I just think this is a little surreal here. That nancy pelosi and mike pence are not really talking to each other. Not at all. Theyre not even looking at each other. Not even looking at each other. In a chamber that impeached the president seven i think thats real. I think its real. It is real. Give him credit for not trying to fake it. Not a lot of conversation there. Lets check in with wolf and jake. All right. The chief justice of the United States, john roberts, has just been introduced. There you see him walking in. Three other justices, jake, are coming in, elena kagan, neil gorsuch. Gorsuch. Of course, chief justice roberts. He hasnt finished yet. He will almost be finished with his job supervising the impeachment trial of President Trump in the senate. That were expecting will finish tomorrow. There is a weird subtext of impeachment going on here in the sense that there are still some senators that we see there who have not announced how theyre going to vote tomorrow. And we see a number of the players in the impeachment trial. Both members of the house and the senate. Yeah. Thats and and, dana, i just danas up on capitol hill. Seems like theres a significant section over there on the floor of women in white. Tell us about that. Reporter its really fascinating. You can see them, of course, the woman in the speakers chair, the speaker of the house in white as well. This is a coordinated moment for the women, a historic number of women in this congress, to wear white to mark the 100th anniversary of women getting the right to vote. White women getting the right to vote, that is. You see there, right there, all those women standing together in solidarity to mark it. It is a moment, it will be a moment in any situation, but it is especially so in the house of representatives where they have the first female speaker presiding over this state of the union. And, of course, what will be likely a, again, another awkward moment when the president of the United States walks up and says hello to her after the two of them havent even spoken in about four months. That could be awkward. To manu raju whos up on capitol hill, youre there, manu. In the chamber, what do you see . Reporter yeah. Right now, im looking right at the house impeachment managers, themselves, who are sitting toward the front of the chamber, undoubtedly the president is going to make contact with them at some point throughout the proceedings. Ive been watching the members interact so far. There are some members reaching across the aisle and talking to some of their fellow colleagues across the aisle, for the most part republicans and democrats keeping to themselves. Amid this very acrimonious impeachment fight that has absolutely divided both chambers and a number of democratic women, wolf, had weighed whether or not to actually skip tonights state of the union. One democratic woman, gwen moore, told me it would be extremely difficult for her to come. She said she thought about it but ultimately decided to come. At least two decided to skip including Ayanna Pressley and alexandria ocasiocortez. Two freshmen members. It just shows you, wolf, how tense this moment is. Nancy pelosi im told urged her members to be dignified in their response in the face of potential taunting from this president. Kate bennett is with us as well. Kate, the first lady, Melania Trump, shes about to come in. Tell us, first of all, about the guests shes bringing. Right. These are guests, a preview of what the topics are going to be tonight. The comeback ais the theme the white house is saying. Two gentle men who turned their lives arrest. Former veterans working in opportunity zones, part of the usmca package. A young 2yearold girl who was one of the youngest premature babies ever born. Able to survive. Shes supposed to be there with her mother. Immigration is going to play a part. Theres a brother of a victim of a murderer who was an illegal immigrant. And, you know, thats going to be, again, probably part of the president s speech tonight. Theres the deputy u. S. Chief of Border Patrol. A gentleman who surveys the texas mexico border. Certainly, again, a reflection, but were not really seeing a lot of these be best people. We saw a couple last year. Remember the 11yearold boy, joshua trump, from delaware who fell asleep in his seat. We remember that sort of cute moment. He was part of the antibullying thing that Melania Trump does with be best. There was another woman who was pregnant and an opioid abuser, had a baby and thats another one of Melania Trumps causes. Were not really seeing a lot of her causes reflected tonight in the guests. Also, theres a military widow we mentioned before earlier and her son. He was 1 year old. Here she comes. Heres the first lady right here. First lady. So the first lady coming down here. Tiffany trump. And then lara trump and jared kushner. Surrounded by the trump family. I will say this is the first time the first lady traveled from the white house to the capitol with the president in the same vehicle. Theyve not done that the past year. And Rush Limbaugh is here tonight. Special guest of the president. Who, unfortunately, is suffering from serious lung cancer right now. You know, jake, were also about to see the president s cabinet introdu introduced. Members of the joint chiefs of staff. We should also note that the president told news anchors earlier today, cnn was not allowed to participate in this for the first time in modern history, told news anchors, and we have learned from the reporting that he intends to give Rush Limbaugh an honor. I believe the president ial medal of freedom. Obviously, Rush Limbaugh suffering from serious cancer. As you noted. Madam speaker, the president s cabinet. As i mentioned, wolf, theres this odd and surreal subtext of the impeachment and the impeachment trial going on. Secretary of state mike pompeo, obviously, playing a role they come in order of the seniority of the secretary of state the most one of the first cabinet positions. Secretary of the treasury. Mnuchin coming in second. So its an order of the cabinet as it was formed. As defense secretary esper, we expect the president will talk about the strike on soleimani. As well this evening. As one of his Foreign Policy victories. He said earlier today, were told at this lunch, that iran and the United States were much closer to war than had been previously thought. Theres ben carson, the secretary of housing and urban development. Elaine chao, secretary of labor. Also the wife of Mitch Mcconnell whos done about as good a job b as the president could want in terms of keeping him from being removed from office. Betsy devos, education secretary, walking in as well. And momentarily, jake, were going to hear those famous words, madam speaker, the president of the United States. Paul irving, the house sergeant of arms, will be introducing. And i just want to point out as well, the Vice President , mike pence, as a lot of our viewers, of course, know, is also the president of the senate. As a result, hes standing up there with the speaker of the house, nancy pelosi. Yeah. Pretty soon, were going to see the president as he walks in. Hell get a nice round of applause. But its interesting, he is an impeached president. The house of representatives, jake, impeached the president of the United States. Tomorrow, 4 00 p. M. Eastern, hes almost certainly going to be acquitted but still, hes the third president in the United States to have been impeached and he and nancy pelosi, they havent spoken directly since october. Since october. One of the other things going on right now, of course, a number of the republican senators who we expect will vote to acquit President Trump tomorrow during the acquittal vote or removal vote have been spending the last couple days talk bing about how they think what the president did regarding the ukraine scandal was wrong. Whether or not though, none of them says that they think it was worthy of being removed from office. But weve seen that in statements that theyve given. Whether ben sasse from nebraska or Susan Collins from maine, Lisa Murkowski from alaska, all of them condemning what the president did, but also saying they are not going to vote to convict. That will happen tomorrow. Its really sort of an awkward moment, but as you pointed out, jake, not the first time an impeached president is addressing the house and the senate in a state of the Union Address. Although, quite different in tone because in 1999 when bill clinton gave the state of the Union Address, after having been impeached but before the senate had acquitted him, he was apologetic. He was trying to convey to the nation that he got it, that he understood. Meanwhile, republican senators who are condemning president s actions such as, theres jerrold nadler, the house judiciary chairman, his wife is very sick, meanwhile, republican senators who are condemning the president s actions are saying they think he learned from this experience that he will not do it again. Like senator Susan Collins of maine. Meanwhile, as early, as recently as today the president said, when asked about Susan Collins remarks said that there was nothing for him to learn because he didnt do anything wrong. The president is now approaching the door. Hes about to be introduced momentarily by paul irving, the house sergeant of arms. And this is a very, very special moment for any president. As he walks in. Lets listen in to the house sergeant of arms. Madam speaker, the president of the United States. That was a moment when the president greeted chief justice of the United States, john roberts. Hes speaking with some of the other Supreme Court justices. Remember, the joint chiefs of staff as well, jeff. Thats right. You just saw him shake hands with brett kavanaugh. The Supreme Court justice who was the most recent appointment to the Supreme Court. Hes going to be, i guess, shaking hands with the Vice President whos the president of the senate and nancy pelosi, the speaker of the house as well. Lets watch this moment. It looks like she went to shake his hand and he did not he did not take it. Members of congress, the president of the United States. [ crowd chanting four more years ] thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Madam speaker, mr. Vice president , members of congress, the first lady of the united stat states. [ applause ] and my fellow citizens. Three years ago, we launched the Great American comeback. Tonight, i stand before you to share the incredible results. Jobs are booming. Incomes are soaring. Poverty is plummeting. Crime is falling. Confidence is surging. And our country is thriving and highly respected again. [ applause ] americas enemies are on the run. Americas fortunes are on the rise. And americas future is blazing bright. The years of economic decay are over. [ applause ] the days of our country being used, taken advantage of, and even scorn by other nations, are long behind us. The broken promises, jobless recoveries, tired platitudes, and constant excuses for the depletion of american wealth, power, and prestige. In just three short years, we have shattered the mentality of american decline and we have rejected the downsizing of americans destiny. We have totally rejected the downsizing. Were moving forward at a pace that was unimaginable just a short time ago and we are never, ever going back. [ applause ] i am thrilled to report to you tonight that our economy is the best it has ever been. Our military is completely rebuilt with its power being unmatched anywhere in the world and its not even close. Our borders are secure. Our families are flourishing. Our values are renewed. Our pride is restored. And for all of these reasons, i say to the people of our great country and to the members of congress, the state of our union is stronger than ever before. [ applause ] the vision i will lay out this evening demonstrates how were building the worlds most prosperous and Inclusive Society. One where every citizen can join in americas unparalleled success and where every community can take part in americas extraordinary rise. From the instant i took office, i moved rapidly to revive the u. S. Economy, slashing a Record Number of jobkilling regulations, enacting historic and recordsetting tax cuts, and fighting for fair and reciprocal trade agreements. Our agenda is relentlessly proworker, profamily, progrowth, and most of all, proamerican. [ applause ] thank you. We are advancing with unbridled optimism and lifting our citizens of every race, color, religion, and creed, very, very high. Since my election, we have created 7 million new jobs, 5 million more than Government Experts projected during the Previous Administration. [ applause ] the Unemployment Rate is the lowest in over half a century. And very incredibly, the average Unemployment Rate under my administration is lower than any administration in the history of our country. [ applause ] if we hadnt reversed the failed economic policies of the Previous Administration, the world would not now be witnessing this great economic success. [ applause ] the Unemployment Rate for africanamericans, hispanicamericans, and asianamericans. [ applause ] africanamerican youth unemployment has reached an alltime low. Africanamerican poverty has declined to the lowest rate ever recorded. The Unemployment Rate for women reached the lowest level in almost 70 years and last year women filled 72 of all new jobs added. [ applause ] the veterans Unemployment Rate dropped to a record low. [ applause ] the Unemployment Rate for disabled americans has reached an alltime low. [ applause ] workers without a High School Diploma have achieved the lowest Unemployment Rate recorded in u. S. History. A Record Number of Young Americans are now employed. Under the last administration, more than 10 Million People were added to the food stamp rolls. Under my administration, 7 million americans have come off food stamps, and 10 Million People have been lifted off of welfare. [ applause ] in eight years under the last administration, over 300,000 workingage people dropped out of the workforce. In just three years of my administration, 3. 5 Million People, workingage people, have joined the workforce. Since my election, the net worth of the bottom half of wage earners has increased by 47 , 3 times faster than the increase for the top 1 . After decades of flat and falling incomes, wages are rising fast and wonderfully, they are rising fastest for lowincome workers who have seen a 16 pay increase since my election. [ applause ] this is a bluecollar boom. [ applause ] real Median Household Income is now at the highest level ever recorded. Since my election, u. S. Stock markets have soared. 70 . Adding more than 12 trillion to our nations wealth, transcending anything anyone believed was possible. This is a record. It is something that every country in the world is looking up to. They admire. Consumer confidence has just reached amazing new highs. All of those millions of people with 401 k s and pensions are doing far better than they have ever done before with increases of 60 , 70 , 80 , 100 and even more. Jobs and investments are pouring into 9,000 previously neglected neighborhood thanks to opportunity zones. A plan spearheaded by senator tim scott as part of our great republican tax cut. [ applause ] in other words, wealthy people and companies are pouring money into poor neighborhoods or areas that havent seen investment in many decades, creating jobs, energy, and excitement. This is the first time that these deserving communities have seen anything like this. Its all working. Opportunity zones are helping americans like Army Veteran Tony Rankins from cincinnati, ohio. After struggling with drug addiction, tony lost his job, his house and his family. He was homeless but then tony found a Construction Company that invests in opportunity zones. He is now a top tradesman, drugfree, reunited with his family and he is here tonight. Tony, keep up the great work. Tony. [ applause ] thank you, tony. Our economy has for the First Time Ever given many former prisoners the ability to get a great job and a fresh start. The Second Chance at life is made possible because we passed landmark criminal Justice Reform into law. Everybody said that criminal Justice Reform couldnt be done, but i got it done and the people in this room got it done. [ applause ] thanks to our bold regulatory reduction campaign, the United States has become the numberone producer of oil and natural gas anywhere in the world, by far. With the tremendous progress we have made over the past three years, america is now Energy Independent and energy jobs like so many other elements of our country are at a record high. [ applause ] we are doing numbers that no one would have thought possible just three years ago. Likewise, we are restoring our nations manufacturing might even though predictions were, as you all know, that this could never, ever be done. After losing 60,000 factories under the previous two administrations, america has now gained 12,000 new factories under my administration with thousands upon thousands of plants and factories being planned or being built. [ applause ] companies are not leaving. They are coming back to the usa. The fact is that everybody wants to be where the action is, and the United States of america is, indeed, the place where the action is. One of the biggest promises i made to the American People was to replace the disastrous nafta trade deal. In fact, unfair trade is, perhaps, the single biggest reason that i decided to run for president. Following naftas adoption, our nation lost one in four manufacturing jobs. Many politicians came and went pledging to change or replace nafta, only to do so and then absolutely nothing happened. But unlike so many who came before me, i keep my promises. We did our job. [ applause ] six days ago i replaced nafta and signed the brandnew u. S. mexico Canada Agreement into law. The usmca will create nearly 100,000 new highpaying American Auto jobs and massively boost exports for farmers, ranchers and factory workers. It will also bring trade with mexico and canada to a much higher level but also to be a much greater degree of fairness and reciprocity, we will have that. Fairness and reciprocity and i say that finally because its been many, many years that we were treated fairly on trade. This is the first major trade deal in many years to earn the strong backing of americas labor unions. I also promised our citizens that i would impose tariffs to confront chinas massive theft of americas jobs. Our strategy has worked. Days ago, we signed a groundbreaking new agreement with china that will defend our workers, protect our intellectual property, bring billions and billions of dollars into our treasury, and open vast new markets for products made and grown right here in the usa. [ applause ] for decades, china has taken advantage of the United States. Now we have changed that, but at the same time, we have, perhaps, the best relationship weve ever had with china including with president xi. They respect what weve done because, quite frankly, they could never that they were able to get away with what they were doing year after year, decade after decade, without someone in our country stepping up and saying, thats enough. [ applause ] now we want to rebuild our country, and thats exactly what we are doing. We are rebuilding our country. As we restore American Leadership throughout the world, we are once again standing up for freedom in our hemisphere. Thats why my administration reversed the failing policies of the Previous Administration on cuba. [ applause ] we are supporting the hopes of cubans, nicaraguans and venezuelans to restore democracy. The United States is leading a 59nation Diplomatic Coalition against the socialist dictator of venezuela, nicolas maduro. [ applause ] maduro is an illegitimate ruler, a tyrant who brutalize eds his people, but maduros tyranny will be smashed and broken. Here this evening, a very brave man who carries with him the hopes, dreams, and aspirations of all venezuelans. Joining us in the gallery is the true and legitimate president of venezuela, juan guaido. Mr. President , please take this message back. [ applause ] thank you, mr. President. Great honor. Thank you very much. Please take this message back that all americans are united with the venezuelan people in their righteous struggle for freedom. Thank you very much, mr. President. [ applause ] thank you very much. Socialism destroys nations but always remember freedom unifies the soul. To safeguard american liberty, we have invested a recordbreaking 2. 2 trillion in the United States military. [ applause ] we have purchased the finest planes, missiles, rockets, ships, and every other form of military equipment, and its all made right here in the usa. [ applause ] were also getting our allies, finally, to help pay their fair share. I have raised contributions from other nato members by more than 400 billion and a number of allies meeting their minimum obligations has more than doubled. And just weeks ago, for the First Time Since president truman established the air force, more than 70 years earlier, we created a brandnew branch of the United States armed forces. Its called the space force. Very important. [ applause ] in the gallery tonight, we have a young gentleman and what he wants so badly, 13 years old, ian, hes an eighth grader from arizona. Ian, please stand up. Ian has always dreamed of going to space. He was the first of his class and among the youngest at an aviation academy. He aspires to go to the air force academy and then he has his eye on the space force. As ian says, most people look up at space, i want to look down on the world. [ applause ] but sitting behind ian tonight is his greatest hero of them all. Charles mcgee was born in cleveland, ohio, one century ago. Charles is one of the last surviving tuskegee airmen. The first black fighter pilots. And he also happens to be ians greatgrandfather. [ applause ] incredible story. After more than 130 combat missions in world war ii, he came back home to a country still struggling for civil rights and went on to serve america in korea and vietnam. On december 7th, charles celebrated his 100th birthday. [ applause ] a few weeks ago, i signed a bill promoting Charles Mcgee to Brigadier General and earlier today, i pinned the stars on his shoulders in the oval office. General mcgee, our nation salutes you. Thank you, sir. [ applause ] from the pilgrims to the founders, from the soldiers at valley forge, to the marchers at selma, and from president lincoln to the reverend Martin Luther king, americans have always rejected limits on our childrens future. Members of congress, we must never forget that the only victories that matter in washington are victories that deliver for the American People. [ applause ] the people are the heart of our country. Their dreams are the soul of our country. And their love is what powers and sustains our country. We must always remember that our job is to put america first. [ applause ] the next step forward in building an Inclusive Society is making sure that every Young American gets a great education and the opportunity to achieve the american dream. Yet, for too long, countless American Children have been trapped in failing government schools. To rescue these students, 18 states have created School Choice in the form of opportunity scholarships. The programs are so popular that tens of thousands of students remain on a waiting list. One of those students is janiyah davis, a fourth grader from philadelphia. Janiyah. [ applause ] janiyahs mom, stephanie, is a single parent. She would do anything to give her daughter a better future, but last year, that future was put further out of reach when pennsylvanias governor vetoed legislation to expand School Choice to 50,000 children. Janiyah and stephanie are in the gallery. Stephanie, thank you so much for being here with your beautiful daughter. Thank you very much. [ applause ] but janiyah, some good news for you because im pleased to inform you that your long wait is over. I can proudly announce tonight that an opportunity scholarship has become available, is going to you and you will soon be heading to the school of your choice. [ applause ] now i call on congress to give 1 million American Children the same opportunity janiyah has just received. Pass the education freedom scholarships and opportunities act because no parent should be forced to send their child to a failing government school. [ applause ] every young person should have a safe and secure environment in which to learn and to grow. For this reason, our magnificent first lady has launched the be best initiative to advance a safe, healthy, supportive, and drugfree life for the next generation. Online, in school, and in our communities. Thank you, melania, for your extraordinary love and profound care for americans children. Thank you very much. [ applause ] my administration is determined to give our citizens the opportunities they need regardless of age or background. Through our pledge to american workers, over 400 companies will also provide new jobs and Education Opportunities to almost 15 million americans. My budget also contains an exciting vision for our nations high schools. Tonight, i ask congress to support our students and back my plan to offer vocational and Technical Education in every Single High School in america. [ applause ] to expand equal opportunity, i am also proud that we achieved record and permanent funding for our nations historically black colleges and universities. [ applause ] i would like for American Families also requires the most affordable, innovative, and highquality Health Care System on earth. Before i took office, Health Insurance premiums had more than doubled in just five years. I moved quickly to provide affordable alternatives. Our new plans are up to 60 less expensive and better. [ applause ] ive also made an ironclad pledge to American Families we will also protect patients with preexisting conditions. [ applause ] and we will always protect your medicare, and we will always protect your social security. Always. [ applause ] the american patient should never be blindsided by medical bills. That is why i signed an executive order requiring price transparency. [ applause ] many experts believe that transparency which will go into full effect at the beginning of next year will be even bigger than health care reform. It will save families massive amounts of money for substantially better care, but as we work to improve Americans Health care, there are those who want to take away your health care, take away your doctor, and abolish private insurance entirely. 132 lawmakers in this room have endorsed legislation to impose a socialist takeover of our Health Care System. Wiping out the private Health Insurance plans of 180 million very happy americans. To those watching at home tonight, i want you to know, we will never let socialism destroy American Health care. [ applause ] over 130 legislators in this chamber have endorsed legislation that would bankrupt our nation by providing free taxpayerfunded health care to millions of illegal aliens, forcing taxpayers to subsidize free care for anyone in the world who unlawfully crosses our borders. These proposals would raid the medicare benefits of our seniors and that our seniors depend on, while acting as a powerful lure for illegal immigration. That is what is happening in california and other states. Their systems are totally out of control. Costing taxpayers vast and unaffordable amounts of money. Forcing american taxpayers to provide unlimited Free Health Care to illegal aliens sounds fair to you, then stand with the radical left, but if you believe that we should defend american patients and american seniors, then stand with me and pass legislation to prohibit free Government Health care for illegal aliens. [ applause ] this will be a tremendous boon to our already strongly guarded southern border. Where as we speak a long, tall, and very powerful wall is being built. [ applause ] we have now completed over 100 miles and have over 500 miles fully completed in a very short period of time. Early next year, we will have substantially more than 500 miles completed. My administration is also taking on the big pharmaceutical companies. We have approved a Record Number of affordable generic drugs and medicines are being approved by the fda at a faster clip than ever before. [ applause ] and i was pleased to announce last year that for the first time in 51 years, the cost of Prescription Drugs actually went down. And working together, congress can reduce drug prices substantially from current levels. Ive been speaking to senator Chuck Grassley of iowa and others in congress in order to get something on drug pricing done and done quickly and pro r properly. Im calling for Bipartisan Legislation that achieves the goal of dramatically lowering Prescription Drug prices. Get a bill on my desk, and i will sign it into law immediately. [ applause ] with a yearly commitment, we are the Opioid Epidemic, Drug Overdose deaths declined for the first time in nearly 30 years. Among the states hardest hit, ohio is down 22 . Pennsylvania is down 18 . Wisconsin is down 10 . And we will not quit until we end the Opioid Epidemic once and for all. [ applause ] protecting Americans Health also means fighting infectious diseases. We are coordinating with the Chinese Government and working closely together on the coronavirus outbreak in china. My administration will take all necessary steps to safeguard our citizens from this threat. We have launched ambitious new initiatives to substantially improve care for americans with kidney disease, alzheimers, and those struggling with mental health, and because congress was so good as to fund my request, new cures for Childhood Cancer and we will eradicate the aids epidemic in america by the end of this decade. [ applause ] almost every American Family knows the pain when a loved one is diagnosed with a serious illness. Here tonight is a special man. Beloved by millions of americans who just received a stage 4 advanced cancer diagnosis. This is not good news, but what is good news is that he is the greatest fighter and winner that you will ever meet. Rush limbaugh. Thank you for your decades of tireless devotion to our country. [ applause ] rush, in recognition of all that you have done for our nation, the millions of people a day that you speak to and you inspire and all of the incredible work that you have done for charity, i am proud to announce tonight that you will be receiving our countrys highest civilian honor. The president ial medal of freedom. [ applause ] i will now ask the first lady of the United States to present you with the honor. Please. [ applause ] rush and katherine. Congratulations. Thank you, katherine. As we pray for all who are sick we know america is constantly achieving new medical breakthroughs. In 2017 in kansas city one of the earliest premature babies ever to survive. 21 days and six days and weighing less than a pound, ellie snyder was a born fighter. Sh kept on winning the battle of life. Today e she is Strong Healthy two yearold girl sitting with her amazing mother robin. In the gallery. Ellie and robin, we are glad to have you with us tonight. [ applause ] every child is a miracle of life. And thanks to modern medical wonders 50 of very premature babies delivered at the hospital where she was born now survive. Incredible thing. Thank you very much. Our goal should be to ensure that every baby has the best chance to thrive and grow just like ellie. That is why im asking congress to provide an additional 50 million to Fund Research for americas youngest patients. That is yoo im also calling upon members of congress tonight to pass legislation finally banning the late term abortion of babies. [ applause ] whether we are republican, democrat or independent, surely we must all agree every human life is a sacred gift from god as we support america oos moms and dads i was proud to sign the law providing new parents in the federal work force paid family leave. Serving as a model for the rest of the country. Now i call on congress to pass the bipartisan advancing support for working families act. Extending family leave to mothers and fathers all across the nation. 40 million American Families have an average 2,000 2 hundred extra thanks to our child tax credit. I have always over seen historic funding increases for high quality child care enabling 17 states to help more children. Many of which have reduced or eliminated the wait list altogether. And i sent congress a plan with a vision to further expand access to high quality child care and urge you to act immediately. To protect the environment days ago i announced the United States will join the 1 trillion ambitious effort to bring together government and private sector to plant new trees in america and all around the world. We must also rebuild americas infrastructure. [ applause ] i ask you to pass the highway bill to invest in new roads, bridges and tunnels all across our land. Im also committed to ensuring that every citizen can have access to high Speed Internet including and especially in rural america. The better tomorrow for all americans also requires us to keep america safe. That means supporting the men and women of Law Enforcement at every level including our nations heroic ice officers. Last year our brave ice officers arrested more than 120,000 criminal aliens charged with 10,000 burglaries, 5,000 sexual assaults, 45,000 violent assaults, and 2,000 murders. Tragically there are many cities in america where radical politicians have chosen to provide sanctuary for the criminal illegal aliens. In sanctuary cities local officials order police to release dangerous criminal aliens to prey upon the public instd of handing them over to ice to be safely removed. Just 29 days ago a criminal alien freed by the sanctuary city of new york was charged with brutal rape and murder of a 92 yearold woman. The killer had been previously arrested for assault but under new york sanctuary policy he was set free. If the city had honored ices detainer request his victim would still be alive today. The state of california passed an outrageous law declaring the whole state to be a sanctuary for criminal illegal immigrants. A very terrible sanctuary. With catastrophic results. Here is just one tragic example. In december 2018, California Police detained an illegal alien with five prior arrests including kwibs conviction for robbery and assault. As required by sanctuary law, local authorities released him. Days later the criminal went on a gruesome spree of deadly violence. He viciously shot one man going about his daily work. Approached a woman sitting in her car and shot her in the arm and in the chest. He walked into a Convenient Store and wildly fired his weapon. He hijacked a truck and smashed into vehicles critically injuring innocent victims. One of the victims is a terrible, terrible situation. Died 51 yearold american named rocky jones. He was at a gas station when this vile criminal fired eight bullets at him from close range. Murdering him and in cold blood. Rocky left behind a devoted family including his brothers who loved him more than anything else in the world. One of his grieving brothers is here with us tonight. Jody, please stand. Thank you. Our hearts we feel loss and rewill not rest until you have justice. Senator tom introduced legislation it allow americans to sue sanch way cities and states. When a loved one is hurt or killed as a result of the deadly practices. I ask congress to pass the justice for victims of sanctuary cities act immediately. The United States of america should be a sanctuary for l lawabidi lawabiding americans. Not criminal aliens. The last three years ice arrested over 5,000 wicked human traffickers and i have signed nine pieces of legislation to stamp out the menace of Human Trafficking domestically and around the globe. My administration as under taken an effort to secure the southern border of the United States. Before i came into office if you showed up illegally on the southern border and were arrested you were simply are leased and allowed into the country never to be seen again. My administration has ended catch and release. If you come illegally you will be promptly removed from our country. Very importantly we entered into historic cooperation agreements with the governments of mexico, honduras and guatemala. Illegal crossings are down 75 since may. Dropping eight straight months in a row. As the war rapidly goes up drug seizures rise and the border krosdsings are going down. And going down rapidly. Last year i traveled to the border in texas and met chief patrol agent raul ortiz. They have seized more than 200,000 pounds of poisonous narcotics. Arrested more than 3,000 human smugglers and rescued more than 2,000 migrants. Days ago agent ortiz was pro moted. And he joins us tonight. Please stand. A grateful nation thanks you and all of the heros of Border Patrol and ice. Thank you, very much. To build on these gains we are working on legislation to replace the out dated and randomized immigration system. With one based on merit, welcoming those who follow the rules, contribute to the economy. Support themselves financially. And uphold our values. With every action my administration is restoring lt rule of law and reasserting the culture of american freedom. Working with Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell, thank you mitch. And his colleagues in the senate, we have confirmed a Record Number of 187 new federal judges to uphold our constitution as written. This includes two brilliant new Supreme Court justices. Gorsuch and brett kavanaugh. Thank you. And we have many in the pipeline. My administration is also defending religious liberty and that includes the constitutional right to pray in public schools. In america we dont punish prayer. We dont tear down crosses. We dont ban symbols of faith. We dont muzzle preachers and pastors. In america we celebrate faith. We cherish religion. We lift our voices in prayer and we raise our sights to the glory of god. Just as we believe in the first amendment, we also believe in another constitutional right. That is under siege all across the country. So long as i am president i will always protect your Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. In reaffirming our heritage as free nation we must remember america has always been a frontier nation. Now we must embrace the next frontier. Americas manifest destiny of the stars. I am asking congress to fully fund the art of this program to ensure the next man and the first woman on the moon will be american astronauts using this as a laumpnching pad to ensure america is the first nation to plant its flag on mars. My administration is also strongly defending our National Security and combatting radical islamic terrorism. Last week i announced a Ground Breaking plan for peace between israel and the palestinians. Recognizing that all past attempts have failed. We must be determined and creative in order to stabilize the region and gi millions of young people the chance at a future. Three years ago the isis held over 20,000 square miles of territory. In iraq and syria. Today the isis territorial cal fate has been 100 destroyed and the founder and leader of isis the bloodthirsty killer known as albaghdadi is dead. We are joined this evening by karl and mar shah mueller. After graduating from college their beautiful daughter became a humanitarian aide worker. She once wrote some people find god in church, some people find god in nature. Some people find god in love. I find god in suffering. I have known for sometime what my lifes work is. Using my hands as tools to relieve suffering. In 2013, while caring for suffering civilians in syria, she was kidnapped, tortured and enslaved by isis and kept for a prisoner of albaghdadi himself. After more than 500 horrifying days of captivity, albaghdadi murdered young, beautiful cay la. She was just 26 years old. On the night u. S. Special forces operations ended albaghdadis miserable life, the chairman of the join chief of staff received a call in the situation room. He was told that the brave men of the elite special forces team that so perfectly carried out the operation had given their mission a name. Task force 814. It was a reference to a special day. August 14, her birthday. Karl and mar sha. Americas warriors never forgot. And neither will we. Thank you. [ applause ] every day americas men and women in uniform demonstrate the depth of love that dwells in the human heart, one of these american heros was Army Staff Sergeant christopher haki. On his second deployment to iraq in 2008. He wrote a letter to his 1 year old son, gauge. I will be with you again he wrote. I will teach you to ride your first bike. Build your first sand box. Watch you play sports. And see you have kids also. I love you, son. Take care of your mother. I am always with you. Daddy. On Easter Sunday of 2008, chris was out on patrol in baghdad when his fighting vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb. That night he made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. Sergeant hake now rests in eternal glory in arlington and his wife is in the gallery tonight joined by their son. Who is a 13 yearold and doing very, very well. To kelly and gauge, chris will live in our hearts forever. He is looking down on you now. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you both. The terrorist responsible for killing sergeant haki was soleimani. Who provided the deadly roadside bomb that took his life. Soleimani was the regimes butcher. As the world rs top terrorist he orchestrated the deaths of countless men, women and children. He directed the december assault and went onto assault u. S. Forces in iraq, was actively planning new attacks when we hit him very hard and thats why last month at my direction the u. S. Military executed a flawless precision strike. That killed soleimani. And terminated his evil reign of terror forever. Our message to the terrorists is clear, you will never escape american justice. If you attack our citizens, you forfeit your life. In recent mornts we have seen proud iranians raise their voices against the oppressive rulers. The regime must abandon pursuit of nuclear weapon, stop spreading terror, death and destruction and work for the good of its own people. Because of our powerful sanctions the iranian economy is doing very poorly. We can help them make a very good and short time recovery. It can all go very quickly. Perhaps they are too proud or too foolish to ask for the help. Were here, lets see which road they choose. It is totally up to them. As we defend american lives we are working to end americas wars in the middle east. In afghanistan the determination and va lor of the war fighters has allowed us to make tremendous progress in peace talks are under way. I am not looking to kill hundreds of thousands of people in afghanistan. Many of them totally innocent. It is also not our function to serve other nations as Law Enforcement agencies. These are war fighters that we have. The best in the world. They either want to fight to win or not fight at all. We are working to finally end americas longest war. And bring our troops back home. War place is a heavy burden on our nations extraordinary military families. Especially spouses like amy williams from fort brag, North Carolina and her two children. 6 yearold and 3 yearold. She works fulltime and volunteers countless hours. Helping other military families. For the past 7 months she has done it all while her husband is in afghanistan on his fourth deployment in the middle east. Her kids havent seen their fathers face in many months. Amy, your family sacrifice makes it possible for all of our families to live in safety and peace and we want to thank you. Thank you, amy. But amy, theres one more thing. Tonight we have a very special surprise. Your husband is back from deployment. He is here with us tonight. And we couldnt keep him waiting any longer. [ applause ] [ applause ] usa usa usa welcome home, sergeant williams. Thank you. As the world bears witness tonight, america is a land of heros. This is place where greatness is born. Where destinies are forged and legends come to life. This is the home of thomas ed son and teddy roosevelt. Of many great generals including washington and mcarthur. The home of lincoln. Frederick douglas, har yet tubman. The wright brothers. Neil arm strong and so many more. The country will children learn names like dave vi crock et and anny oakly. The where the pilgrims landed and where texas patriots made their land stand at the alamo. The beautiful, beautiful ala mechani carved outd by the toughest, strongest, fiercest and most determined men and women ever to walk on the face of the earth. Our ancestors braved the unknown. Tamed the wilderness. Settled the wild west, lifted millions from poverty, disease and hunger. Ushered the world to new height of science and medicine. Laid down the railroads, dug out the canals, raised up the skyscrapers. And ladies and gentlemen, our ancestors built the most exceptional republic ever to exist in all of human history. And we are making it greater than ever before. This is our gloirs and magnificent inheritance. We are americans, we are pioneers, we are the path finders. We settle the new world. We built the modern world. And we change history forever by embracing the Eternal Truth that everyone is made equal by the hand of almighty god. [ applause ] america is the place where anything can happen. America is the place where anyone can rise. And here, on this land on this soil, on this continent. The most incredible dream come true. This nation is our canvas. And this country is our masterpiece. We look at tomorrow and see unlimited frontiers just waiting to be explored. Our brightest discoveries are not yet known. Our most thrilling stories are not yet told. Grandest journeys are not yet made. The american age, the american epic, the american adventure has only just begun. Our spirit is still young. The sun is still rising. Gods grace is still shining. And my fellow americans, the best is yet to come. Thank you, god bless you. And god bless america. Thank you very much. [ applause ] [ applause ] great speech, mr. President. Awesome speech. Great job. You get better every year. Hes getting a lot of congratulations from republicans. As hes leaving the chamber there. The president of the United States wrapping up the state of the Union Address an hour and 18 minutes speech. Very partisan in many respects. You can see that at the very end, and lets listen in. Before we discuss. What theyre saying. Amazing job, sir. Great job. You crushed it. All right. There you have it. The president of the United States delivering a very strong speech. The democrats did not like it. Republicans clearly liked it. They were standing. Declare the joint session of the two houses. Now dissolved. It was awkward at the beginning. It looked like nancy pelosi was ready to shake his hand. He didnt respond. And at the end it looked like she was ripping up the advance copy of the speech that he presented. She went to shake his hand. Whether he snubbed her or didnt see it. He didnt reciprocate. And then normally the speaker of the house will say to the members of congress and joint session. It is my high honor and pleasure to introduce the president of the United States. She just said, members of congress the president of the United States. She didnt include the high honor and distinct pleasure. Which was rather notable. It really was a striking for a number of reasons. But one of them is while we are used to since the days of reagan a president going to people in the first ladys box to illustrate some sort of policy point or some sort of american note. Whether its honoring troops or talking about education. We have never seen and i suppose this comes from the president s history in reality tv. I dont mean this in a way. What purpose does the from maryland seek recognition. Message of the president. We have never seen a scholarship given. Which is what the president did with the young girl from philadelphia. We have seen the type of thing where a war hero like the airman mcgee. Honored. That was a lovely moment to have him with his grandson. Who wants to be in the space force. Of the President Trump telling a little girl shes get a scholarship. President trump announcing that there is a soldier coming home and reuniting with his wife ask children. We have never seen anything like that before. And obviously the surprise medal of freedom the first lay bestowed upon Rush Limbaugh. This is a true and full embrace of who the president is. Somebody from the world of reality tv. Where he was trying to have these moments for the American People to experience. It worked on a lot of people. It will resonate out there. It was a little unusual at the beginning. Row you covered congress for a long time. We heard a bunch of republicans chanting four more years. Have you heard that in state of the Union Address before . Possibly. As much as this was your absolutely right. A athentic donald trump he was putting on a show. And wanted people to take away these moments. On the flip side, it was about the most traditional speech for a politician than i think we have ever seen him give. He was comfortable in the formatt. Its the third time hes given a speech like this. The first time it was not an actual state of the union. I was texting with somebody on the democratic side of the aisle reminding me of president obama reelection speech. Back in 2012. And obviously the content couldnt be more different. But the structure of the speech was very similar in that heres what he said, what i have done. Heres what i want to do. Heres some human moments. Lets talk about the terrorist i killed. And he tried to weave all that together which is exactly what if you are trying to get reelect td or if youre the people around him trying to get him elected exactly what you want to deliver. I will say this is for a state of the dwrun union of the address this a full embrace of the fact President Trump sees his are election as a base election. In other words he needs to get republicans his base clearly was there. You can see the republican standing Rush Limbaugh. And guns and religion. And it was a full embrace of really red meat republican issues. Hold on for a moment. Were getting the democratic response. Delivered by the michigan governor. Lets listen in. Good evening. Im honored to be here and grateful that you are tuning in. The 49th governor of the great state of michigan. Tonight im at my daughters public school. Were here today with families and parents, teachers and most importantly students. I want to thank you all for coming. But tonight im going to talk to toez of you watching at home. I made a lot more than ten minutes to respond what the president said. Instead of talking about what he is saying, im going to highlight what democrats are doing. After all, you can listen to what someone says but to know the truth, watch what they do. Michiganers are no different vn americans everywhere. We love our families and want a good life today and a better life tomorrow for our kids. We work hard and we except our government to work hard for us as well. We have grit and value loyalty. And we still root for the detroit lions. We and all americans might be weary of politics. We must stay engaged. Our country, our democracy, our future demand it. Were capable of great things when we work together. We cannot forget that despite the dishonest hi and division of the last few years and we heard tonight from the president of the United States, together we have boundless potential. And Young Americans are proving that every day. By taking action. That is what i want to focus on tonight. A 13 yearold in michigan. Her street was covered in potholes. Ankle deep. He got tired of waiting for they will to get fixed. He grabbed a shovel and a bucket of dirt and filled them himself. During my Campaign People told me to fix the damn roads. Blown tires and broken windshields are dangerous. And car repairs taek money from rent. Child care or groceries. And we the democrats are doing something about it. In illinois, governor passed a plan to rebuild the roads and bridges. Governor murphy is replacing led pipes in new jersey. All across the country, democratic leader are rebuilding bridges. Fixing roads, expanding broad band. And cleaning up drinking water. Everyone in this country benefits when we invest in infrastructure. Congressional democrats have presented proposals to keep us moving forward. President trump and the republicans in the senate are blocking the path. When it comes to infrastructure, he tried to do more with a shovel and pile of dirt than the republicans have done with the oval office and the senate. Bullying people on twitter doesnt fix bridges. It burns them. Our energy should be used to solve problems. And its true for healthcare too. For me, for so many americans. Healthcare is personal. Not political. When i was 30, i became a member of the sandwich generation. That means i was sandwiched between two generations of my own family for whom i was the primary care giver. Holding down a new job, caring for my newborn daughter, as well as my mom at the epd of his brain cancer battle. I was up with a baby and during the day i had to fight my moms Insurance Company when they wrongly denied her coverage for chemotherapy. It was hard. It exposed the harsh realit of workplaces, Healthcare System and child care system. And it changed me. I lost patience for people who are just talk. And no action. So as a state senator i worked with a republican governor and legislature to expand healthcare coverage to more than 680,000 under the Affordable Care act. Today democrats from maine it montana are expanding coverage and lowering costs. In kansas, governor kelly is working across the aisle to bring medicaid coverage to tens of thousands. In new mexico the governor inshrined aca protections into law. Every democrat running for president has a plan to expand healthcare for all americans. Every one of them has supported the Affordable Care act with coverage for people are preexisting conditions. They may have different plans. But the goal is the same. President trump sadly has a different plan. He is asking the courts to rip the life saving protections away. Its simple. Democrats are trying to make healthcare better. Republicans in washington are trying to take it away. Think about kids like 17 yearold blake carol from idaho. Who organized a fundraiser to pay for his moms Cancer Treatment. 19 yearold ebony from utah. Who sells art to help pay for her own rare disorder treatment. No one should have to crowd source their healthcare. Not in america. But the reality is is not everyone in america has a job with healthcare and benefits. Many have jobs that dont pay enough to cover monthly expenses. Doesnt matter what the president says about the stock market. What matters is millions of People Struggle to get by or dont have enough money at the end of the month after paying for transportation, Student Loans or Prescription Drugs. American workers are hurting. In my own state our neighbors in wisconsin and ohio, pennsylvania and all over the country, wages have stagnated while ceo pay skyrocketed. When the president says the economy is strong, my question is, strong for whom . Strong for the wealthy . Who are reaping rewards from tax cuts they dont need. The American Economy needs to be a different kind of strong. Strong for the science teachers spending her own money to buy supplies for the classroom. Strong for the single mom picking up extra hours. So she can afford her daughters soccer cleats. Strong for the Small Business owner who has to make payroll. Michigan invented the middle class. We know if the economy doesnt work for working people, it just doesnt work. Who fighting for working hard working americans . Democrats do. In the u. S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and democrats pass a landmark bill on equal pay. Another bill to give 30 million americans a raise by increasing minimum wage and graund breaking legislation to give medicare the power to negotiate lower drug prices for americas seniors and families. Those three bills and more than 275 other bipartisan bills are just gathering dust on Senate Majority leader mcconnells desk. Senator mcconnell, America Needs you to move those bills. Meanwhile, democrats across the country are getting things done. Pennsylvania governor is expanding right to overtime pay. Michigan is too. Because if youre on the clock, you deserve to get paid. Nevada governor and North Carolina governor are working to give hard working teachers a raise. Speaking of the classroom, wisconsin governor increased School Funding by 65 million last year. In colorado, governor has an active free all day kindergarten. In 29 states we have helped pass minimum wage hikes into law which will lift people out of poverty and improve lives for families. Thats strength. Thats action. Democracy takes action. And thats why im so inspired by young people. They respond to mass shootings, demanding policies that make schools safer. They react to a world thats on fire. With fire in their bellies. To push leaders to finally take action on climate change. They take on a road filled with potholes with a shovel and dirt. Its what gives me great confidence in our future. Its why sometimes it feels like theyre the adults in the room. It shouldnt have to be that way. Its not their mess to clean up. Its ours. The choices we make today create their reality tomorrow. Young people im talking to you. And your parents and grandparents. Democrats want safe schools. We want everyone to have a path to a good life. Whether through a union apprenticeship, community college, four Year University without drowning in debt. We want your water to be clean. We want you to love who you love. And live authentically as your true self. And we want women to have atonmy over or bodies. And our country welcoming and every vote counted. 2020 is a big year. Any daughter will graduate from high school. And the year shell cast her first ballot. Along with millions of Young Americans. Two things are connected. Walking across a graduation stage is paz important as walking into the voting booth for the first time. Her future all our kids futures will be determined by their dreams, but by our actions. As we witness the impeachment process in washington, theres some things each of us no matter party should demand. Truth matters. Facts matter. And no one should be above the law. Its not what those senators say. Tomorrow, its about what they do ta matters. Remember, listen to what people say but watch what they do. Its time for action. Generations of americans are counting on us. Lets not let them down. Thank you for listening, god bless america. Good night. Michigan governor. Giving the democratic response to the state of the Union Address. Earlier the president wrapped up his final state of the Union Address just before the president ial election in november. One day before a likely acquittal in the Senate Impeachment trial. A very very partisan atmosphere was evident throughout the evening. President appeared to snub the House Speaker handshake. Prior to the speech. But it was not the only testy moment between the two leaders. She didnt deliver the typical introduction. She would have said i have the high privilege and distijt honor of presenting the president of the United States. Instead look at this. Members of congress, the president of the United States. At the end of the speech after the president finished and walking away. The speaker was clearly seen ripping up what appeared to be the advance copy of the speech. She had. There you see her ripping it up. Lets get thoughts. Its just i thought the whole evening with the few exceptions like the airmen and the soldier returning from afghanistan. It was partisan on both sides. President trump gave a speech that was not aimed in on uniting the room or country. It was aimed at appealing to conservatives with red meat republican issues. It included some things that were not true. He said i have made an ironclad pledge to American Families well protect preexisting conditions thats a guarantee. Its fot factual. He supported getting rid of the preexisting conditions. Heres the falsehood the president s. Lets role the tape. I have always made an iran clad pledge to American Families. We will always protect patients with preexisting conditions. Its just a lie. The administration has tried to end guarantees for preexisting conditions. Supported lawsuits and legislation to get rid of it. And even when they talk about how they dont support taking away healthcare garn feed for people with preexisting conditions. When they refuse to commit to it making sure the Health Insurance is the same price for preexisting conditions as it is for people who do not. Its a falsehood. And i understand most people probably dont know that. And you have to be a policy wonk and understand that. Its a lie. Now on the other hand there were a lot of times that the president was saying things that are good. Such as lower unemployment for various minority groups and the like. In which democratics were seen not applauding. You can tell that were in the middle of not just an impeachment and impeachment trial. But a divided time this this country. No reference at all to the impeachment of the president. Didnt make any reference. I assume tomorrow after hes acquitted hell Say Something. Thats what colleagues at the white house are reporting. Hell save that. I was told that earlier there were references to impeachment and that was excised by people who are very focussed on this speech and more broadly this term being the first of two terms. Because they really want him to knock it out of the park in a way that was kind of bigger picture. Your point about the whole partisan aspect of it. It really was as uponishing when you think about it. State of the Union Speeches are usually when everybody is on the their best behavior. Think about this speech more than the person who is in the white house. More than the person who is in the speaker chair. But the institutions of both. And that was out the window. From the beginning whether or not the president saw her pit her hand out or not. He didnt make eye contact. There was no attempt. To the end when the speaker who has admonished her caucus on more than one occasion to present themselves with decorum and so on and so forth. She was angry. Ripping up the speech. I was texting the source close to her who said this is probably obvious. But that was not planned. That was an emotional moment. That was a genuine reaction to what she just heard. She ripped it audiotape aup t down. There are lots of reasons. One of many reasons she would argue is because of what you said. About healthcare. Him telling the American People and the world he thinks preexisting conditions should be guaranteed. When he is in court fighting to take it away. Dismandle obamacare. I was at a meeting with her and Chuck Schumer today they predicted he would do that. They are trying to turn the page back to healthcare. They were prepared for that. The fact that both sides, everybody was everybody is so on edge. And even in this moment where usually they try to be on the best behavior, they didnt try. So obvious. Another thing you can tell this theres very little difference i thought in terms of content. Between what the president said with a few exceptions obviously. The airmen and soldier coming home. Trillion trees initiative. In terms of most of the policy its really not that different from the stump speeches he gives. Except this was teleprompter trump. Who stuck to the script. Completely to the the advanced copy. He barely deviated. When you think about the way he talked about immigration. Right . It was exact first of all he oo used terms that democrats and even moderate republicans dont like. Like illegal aliens. Sanctuary cities. Things terps that are part of the debate going on. Stuff he says on the campaign trail. Stuff his base loves. Stuff republicans love. Thats not bringing the room together. There are areas obviously where republicans and democrats can come together to work on immigration reform. And he can you get this, i get this, we come together. Thats not what he did. This was a very partisan speech in an Election Year, and it really shows you what he is banking on for reelection. But he said that the United States will never be a socialist country. We know what he was referring to. That we expected. We expected, he said something similar last year as well. Anderson, were told that several lawmakers boycotted the session democrats, didnt show up. And during the course of the speech several walked out in protest. And Speaker Pelosi seemed to be admonishing somebody, im not sure who it was, somebody who said something something that Speaker Pelosi was kind of here with our political panel. John king, youve heard a lot of these speeches, what do you make of tonight . Was it as partisan . Yes, if you forgot we were in an Election Year here in the United States when Speaker Pelosi is confident shes going to keep her majority but shes stoking it up because of the impeachment criticism. The speaker ripping up the speech, interestingly the michigan governor mentioning impeachment at the end of her speech, talking about the senators, the big vote tomorrow. She says the truth is the truth, the facts are facts, the law is the law, the president didnt touch it, she decided to. The michigan governor didnt write that on her own. Its a conscious decision, were going to go there with the American People watching tonight. For the president , just think about this. The economy, immigration and the border wall, socialism, abortion, judges, guns, School Prayer and a medal of freedom for Rush Limbaugh, this is about the base, period. The republicans started chanting four more years, i want to play that. Just watch. Four more years, four more years, four more years. Have you heard that before . Has that i dont remember that. I dont think so. It might be. It could be. I dont know. It didnt shock me that they did it. I think john is right in terms of reaching out to the base in all of this hot button issues, the cultural issues we talk about. There was that in terms of the base but then there were all of these minorities who he featured throughout the evening. I think most of the folks who got recognition and stood up were people of color. There was tim scott, the guy who benefitted from the opportunity zone, there was a woman who got the scholarship, it was the tuskegee airman. So there was that. Listen, Donald Trumps administration is probably the least diverse ever in the history of administrations over the last 30 or 40 years. The Republican Party itself, the least diverse Republican Party weve seen in quite some time but you had those appeals to africanamericans and to minorities. And van and i were talking about, does that matter to africanamericans who might be looking at this, or latinos, in a way, but also i think as we were talking about matters to those suburban white women in particular. Thats what i think. Who are nervous and turned off by Donald Trumps displays of intolerance, right. So i think in that way it worked for him. Listen, this is one speech and we know who donald trump is on twitter and on the road. So its hard, i think, for him to stick to this. But for just average americans who are tuning in, i think, for this hour, they did that in a very effective way. I think this was a as we say, i think it turned out as we expected, it was a blueprint for the reelection, the touting of the economy, the red meat for the base, the characterization of the opposition as socialists who want to take away your health care and give it to illegal immigrants. And, you know, all of that was there. The interesting thing was the outreach to minorities that i think was meant to reassure, particularly some of these women who are nervous about him. Hes running a huge gender gap. He needs to close it. I think divisiveness is one of the reasons. I think thats one of his motivations. And, you know, the reunification of the family at the end and so on, which was a reality show touch, but probably worked with a lot of people. So, you know, this was a very, very well crafted reelection. Weve got to leave the Fact Checking to the Fact Checkers and it will enrage a lot of his opponents but he did what he wanted to do. The question is, as i said before the speech, what is the halflife on it and how much does he carry through on these themes moving forward . There was the reality show touch which you were talking about, very effective and then there was the real show, which was nancy pelosi sitting behind him the entire time biting her cheek, biting her lip, refusing to smile, applauding sometimes, and standing a couple of times. But you can tell that the caucus was looking at her. There were members as wolf mentioned who left. And then of course the ripping up of the speech in anger, i think. I viewed it as a gesture for recycling. Recycling. Trillion trees. And it was one of those moments where you honestly see this epic clash between these two powerful and important political figures. And he wouldnt shake her hand. She held it out. She ripped up his speech. And she wouldnt smile. And walked out. I mean, it was remarkable to me. And honestly i couldnt take my eyes off of nancy pelosi. At the beginning, not even having a conversation with mike pence. Standing there as if they had nothing to say to each other. They had some early words. A few early words. I think the last 24 hours have been a big wake up call for democrats. Thats what i think. The iowa caucus was a debacle. And this was a very strong speech. And it shows what he thinks he needs to do to win. Very clinical about this. Youre exactly right. He knows hes got to give a lot of red meat to his base, he gave it, religious liberty, abortion, all of it, the military, et cetera. But hes doing Something Else. And it has to do with how hes going to manage race in this thing and there seems to be a tradeoff between the latinos and the africanamericans, thats what you see. He went hard on the sanctuary city stuff. That is very, very disturbing. It turns out sanctuary cities are safer than nonsanctuary cities. Libertarians have come out and said immigrants are committing less crime. For some reason he thinks that doubling down on the antiimgrant piece is a big part of this thing. At the same time, warning the democrats. What he was saying to africanamericans can be effective. You may not like it but he mentioned hbcus, black colleges have been struggling, he threw a lifeline to them in real life in his budget. He talked about this. He talked about the criminal Justice Reform. He talked about opportunity zones. Fiscal choice. Listen, wake up, he doesnt have to be effective. To move margins around the edges. The thing about it is, and weve got to wake up, folks, theres a whole bubble thing that goes on, he said shole nations, therefore all black people are going to hate him forever. That aint necessarily so. What youre going to see him do, you may not like my rhetoric, but look at my results and my record to black people, if he narrow casts that, its going to be effective. Weve got to pay a lot more attention both to whats going on with the latino vote. Are we going to get a benefit in terms of having them respond and with the black vote is it going to be a split off, weve got to be clinical about this stuff. We get so emotional about it. That was a warning shot to us that hes going after enough black votes to cause us problems. Can i say one thing about this . The problem with that for him that hes going to have to balance is this was a speech off the teleprompter that was finely calibrated. Then you get into the room in those rallies and things are said that undo whatever he was trying to do there. Then you look at some of the things they are doing on the ground in some of these communities, he talked about opportunity zones and ive been talking to black republicans who work in the administration and theyre doing some real work and reachout to some of these africanamerican communities. Weve got to work harder. Were going to have more on the exchanges between President Trump and House Speaker pelosi tonight. I want to go to jim acosta at the white house now with reaction there. Anderson, i think this was a state of the base speech, not a state of the union speech. The state of the trump base is strong. The state of the union is deeply divided. Getting reaction to what happened inside the hall. I talked to a white house official, responding to nancy pelosi ripping up the president s speech as soon as he was finished, right in front of Vice President mike pence. For such a really big night she sure behaved pretty small. I will tell you anderson i talked to a trump adviser a few minutes ago who speaks with the president regularly who said the president missed an opportunity here. He had a chance tonight with a deeply divided country watching to extend a bit of an olive branch. And when nancy pelosi reached out to shake his hand he snubbed her. In the words of this adviser that was a missed opportunity. So i think this really sets the stage, as you all have been saying for the months to come, yes the president had some heartwarming moments during this speech but he was also engaging in some deeply divisive rhetoric aimed at immigrants and latinos. He was trying to make appeal to the Africanamerican Community it cant be forgotten he was awarding the medal of freedom to Rush Limbaugh who has a history of making derogatory comments about africanamericans. So i think, you know, overall its a wash, and as David Axelrod was saying the base pays more attention to what the president says at rally than they do the state of the union speech. Back to the panel. Rick . First i would just say that this was the best delivered speech that ive seen the president give. I mean, this was the most president ial speech donald trump has ever given. He had his tone was solemn. He i mean, the idea that this was a base speech, as if this was some sort of rally speech, it was not a base speech. Yeah, he talked about things his administration is doing and wants to do, just like every president does. You dont go out and say thats a base speech. Hes talking about his agenda. That doesnt mean its a base speech. It means hes putting forth his agenda, like Gretchen Whitmer talked about the things. Thats a complete characterization. I agree 100 with van, yeah, maybe its suburban women, its about minorities. The reality is, in his rallies he talks about africanamerican unemployment. He talks about he talks about youth poverty in africanamericans. He goes through the litany at the beginning of this speech where he talked to, you know, the facts of all of the different statistics of how well different groups of people, wage earners, manufacturers, blacks, hispanics. In the context of all the other things hes doing, opportunities. Theres a direct play. This president believes that his policies and what hes trying to accomplish is a different path, School Choice. Is a different path than the liberal statist path that the democrats have laid out for the Africanamerican Community and hes making that pitch and hes not going to stop. And thats why criminal Justice Reform was so important to him. He is going to go after that vote. You may say it will never work. Hes going to go after that vote and he has what i think it is clear to me is that the democrats are going to have to work harder to explain why our pathway is better than his. And i think theres been an assumption, listen africanamericans gave black women gave 96 support to Hillary Clinton, black men 88 . Thats as close to unanimous you get in a democratic election anywhere in the world. Obama was higher. As close as you can get. And there is a its important now i think for democrats to point out that thats a worthwhile investment to make in this party. Donald trump is going to say youve been taking for granted. What im trying to say is that there is a liberal bubble that dismisses it out of hand. We are going to have to sharpen our argument. That said, his attacks on the latino community, i know you say hes only going after illegal immigration. We were talking about criminal illegal aliens. White men are much more violent, commit much more crimes. Hes picking this group out to demonize them and hold them up for false scrutiny. Hes going after sanctuary cities when sanctuary cities are safer than nonsanctuary cities. We havent heard from the governor. Can i just its all in this speech was delivered all in the context of somebody who has lied now 16,000 times. And do you remember when obama was president and wanted to tout the gains in the economy . He was very sensitive about how people were feeling things on the ground. Not to overstate stuff. And so tonight he says, yoourn, that hes got created more jobs, 5 million more jobs than the obama administration. That is a lie. And people across the country who are in these communities that have been hurting, particularly manufacturing communities. Absolutely. There is a manufacturing recession happening. He cannot go forth and claim that everything is rosy when individuals are not feeling that on the ground. When he brags about the stock market, yeah the stock markets doing great but half of america does not own stocks. 40 of americans. A lot of them, in michigan, wisconsin, pennsylvania, and a lot of the Southern States too, the poor communities that they 40 do not even have 400 in the bank account. So you cannot continue to say everything is great. Its wonderful. When the real gdp of everyday citizens is not that. And then one other thing i want to say is he spent a good amount of time on health care and i know we disagreed about this at the beginning. But truly he has put forth a budget that is proposing to cut medicaid by over 800 million, and social security. To stand up there and say im going to protect all of your health care is just not true. I could go through the litany of things that he said that were not true. Drug price negotiation. Total i mean, it has been declared to be a lie that drug prices have gone down. Democrats have passed a drug price cutting bill. Its on the stack on Mitch Mcconnells desk. Same thing with infrastructure. I want to pass an infrastructure bill. Broad band, theyve passed that bill. Come on, lets tell the truth. Thats all im saying. And tell it in a way that resonates with what peoples real experience is across the country. Well, preexisting conditions is another issue. Of course. You could attack medicare for all, you might have another argument to make about that, democrats are arguing about that and they talked about the socialist takeover and i know youre going to argue with me on this, rick great. But, you have a Justice Department that is fighting the protection of preexisting conditions. No, theyre not. And you say you want to protect preexisting conditions. If you really want to protect preexisting conditions why doesnt he do something about it . Theres a law in place called obamacare that protects preexisting conditions. Which hes trying to undo. Hes trying to undo the entire act. That happens to be one small part of it. They do care deeply about it. Most states already had a protection for preexisting conditions prior to the federal law. With all respect to jake its not a lie. The president has from the very beginning said i will not do anything to take away protection for preexisting conditions. So i will tell you but they are. Hes trying to repeal a broader law. Control of the legislature and he didnt pass any a law that the democrats admit is a failure. Why . Because they democrats do not admit its a failure. Because they all want to replace it. We want to improve it. Bernie sanders wants to replace it. Elizabeth warren wants to replace it. They all want a fundamentally different bill than whats in place right now. Thats not true, rick, hes not proposed to replace for that provision. He wants to end the Affordable Care act. Correct. And he doesnt have a proposal to protect it with preexisting conditions. Weve put together a bill which does protect preexisting conditions. The administration has embraced that bill. Has not gotten it through. Look, the republicans failed for two years to get it through, and its a pox on their house for doing so, a pox on the president for doing so. It was a huge failure, one of the reasons they lost the election in 2018. Right. But the idea that which is why this is why he said what he said in the speech. Didnt he run with that because of preexisting conditions. So he ran his whole thing when he was running, the whole its going ton instantaneous, were going to get rid of the Affordable Care act, within an hour or two, the same day, its going to magically switch over to this thing and protect everything. Thats just made up. It didnt happen. Well, no, i think the president went in there with an expectation that its not like you get rid of it in court and theres Something Else like as soon as the jury reads the verdict theyre going to run out and switch over to this thing they have waiting. The answer is that the president could i think very quickly pass something that would get bipartisan support to protect people with preexisting conditions. And, you know, i have no doubt that a straight up bill that did that would pass like this if the Affordable Care act was repealed. Theres a drug pricing bill and right now thats what democrats on the floor. As we sit here and cry for the Drug Companies to solve the problem of the coronavirus we want to say lets crush them so they dont have any money. The president s speech was im going to lower your drug prices. Pass a bill. There is one. Back to one point that you made, whatever you argue, its very hard to argue that when the president talks about well never let socialism destroy American Health care or when he says were not going to you dont join the radical here it is. Youre forcing american taxpayers to provide Unlimited Health care to illegal aliens sounds fair to you, then stand with the radical left. Very hard to argue this isnt a base speech when he bestows the medal of freedom on Rush Limbaugh. Let me show that section youre talking about. Hard to say thats not a base play. Lets play that. To those watching at home tonight i want you to know we will never let socialism destroy American Health care. Basically what hes saying, look, this is a mainstream position within the Democratic Party. I understand that but he is going to run depicting democrats, whoever the nominee is, whatever their positions are every democrat raised their hand saying they would provide health care to illegal immigrants. I understand what the political argument is but all im saying is, it is ludicrous to say this wasnt a base play that the speech was a base oriented speech. Every president says things in their speech that is focused on the base. Obama did, everybody does it. I wasnt saying it was a novel idea in your reElection Year to give a speech that appeals to your base. But the specific language, they have a map, they look at their 2016 map, a little more complicated than 2020. But the president s in a stronger position today than he was a few months ago. They have this play, they think with immigration, the warning about socialism, abortion, judges that they turn out their people and try to do this work on the margins. Suburban women turning out and pulling over africanamericans, if they cant do that, to turn them on the democrats and depress turnout. If they can do it on the margins, if you look at the map flu its very easy to get trump to 259. He needs 11 electoral votes, get that in pennsylvania and have some to spare. Get it in wisconsin, toss in one electoral vote for maine, finish line at 270. The way he gets to it is in places where youre not looking for big latino population, but you are looking to move the margins of the africanamerican population. If you can tweak it this much in the suburbs, finish lines in sight. You keep talking about abortion and judges, youre not going to get the women. Whats interesting, one thing that he didnt say, he had one sentence about the Second Amendment. Didnt really go deeply into guns because thats one of the reasons that a suburban voters fled in droves from him and particularly women. Yeah. So i do think that there is he is trying to cut his margin. His gender gap. Among women. Another thing hes trying to do on that, notice hes mentioning the environment. He tries to hes got a problem with the suburban women on that. Yeah, trillion trees. Trees. Notice the use of this trillion trees as a sort of like all kind of purpose thing, thats kind of a climate measure. Pelosi applauded that. Why is that . Its because the concern about climate and environment is actually going up. And these young people are driving that very, very hard and he has no actual answer to that. Some stuff he shows some weaknesses for democrats to focus in on and drive harder. Back to wolf. Thanks very much, anderson. Its interesting it didnt take long for the white house to react to nancy pelosi ripping up the president s speech and then basically tossing it. And it would be political malpractice for them not to do it. It was such a visceral moment, as dana pointed out it was not planned by Speaker Pelosi. It was done because she was upset at what the speech was. The white house has now tweeted Speaker Pelosi just ripped up one of our last surviving tuskegee, the survival of a child born at 21 weeks, the mourning families of rocky joins and kayla mueller, thats her legacy. Thats a quote im reading. Obviously when Speaker Pelosi is asked about this shes going to say she did not have an issue with those moments ant about mourning families or families reuniting with tuskegee airmen, its the more partisan moments of the speech in her view. But that is, of course, what we expected. And dana bash and i were talking about this. I want to point out, Speaker Pelosi just tweeted thats what i was looking at. Go ahead. There are a couple things, first of all, staying on this topic, she told fox up on capitol hill the reason she ripped up the speech that was the courteous thing to do. She said that to a bunch of reporters. Why was it courteous . As opposed to throwing it at them. The point she was trying to make is what she really wanted to do was a lot more harsher than ripping it up. That was the nice thing that she sort of found to do. But separately on the idea of the president kind of blowing off her attempt to shake his hand this is what she said in a tweet moments ago, this is what youre referring to, wolf, democrats will never stop extending the hand of friendship to get the job done for the people. We will work to find Common Ground where we can but well stand our ground where we cannot. One of the things i think is interesting here is that Speaker Pelosi has been really effective at getting under Donald Trumps skin. And she has done, i think, generally speaking a pretty good job at not letting his attacks get to her while he makes it very clear when her attacks bother him. He has little outbursts on twitter and th like. I think we saw a little bit of the opposite here. Donald trump is having a week that is frustrating lots of democrats. They had their iowa fiasco in the iowa caucus, we still dont know who won the caucus and were still waiting for results. President trumps Approval Ratings, according to gallup, highest theyve ever been, 49 approve, he has the state of the union. Tomorrow he is about to be acquitted in the impeachment trial on impeachment that Speaker Pelosi did not even want to do. So this is for democrats a very, very frustrating week. And i think that the speech, thing was partisan, i dont think its odd that it was partisan, but it was a partisan speech really got under her skin. And she let it show that it bothered her in a way that usually shes better at hiding. One of the reasons why nancy pelosi, in the past three years has become an iconic figure, a real iconic figure among democrats is because she is the person from their perspective, the only person who should be and could be their leader to go up against donald trump because she gets under his skin so much. And she plays it cool with her applause with the hands like this, the cameras not showing me, she did the whole thing, she did that and came out of the white house with her sunglasses on and her big red coat. Iconic to liberals. All those moments, her kind of taking the White House Photo that the president thought made her look like an angry woman. Shes pointing at him across the desk. Making it her profile picture on social media, all of those things and tonight felt different. The fact that she even is saying that ripping up the speech, something that theres no question that that kind of reaction would be and has been something that she admonished her own caucus not to do, it shows you were at a completely different place right now. They hadnt spoken since october. Havent spoken since october. And you can see when he first walked in normally they shake hands, you know pass along the he presents the advance copy of the speech. Afterwards he didnt even turn around to look at the Vice President , whos the president of the senate, or the speaker of the house, he just walked right out. At that point as he was walking out she rips up the speech. I have to say, though, also, i see a lot of republicans on social media talking about how horrible this moment was, how Speaker Pelosi has done away with norms that have lasted for decades. And, you know, im not going to take issue with any of that. But President Trump has been doing away with norms that have lasted for decades as well and many more of them. This is one of these moments where we hear a bunch of people talk about how offended they were, and maybe they are actually offended. This was something Speaker Pelosi did thats certainly notable and i can see people being bothered by it, but lets not forget who she was reacting to. Lets not forget the impeachment. The president of the United States was impeached by the house of representatives. In that very chamber. Shes in charge of the representatives and democrats, and our reporters and producers of the white house have been reporting it was very clear that this whole impeachment process has really gotten under the president s skin. Even though hes going to be acquitted tomorrow at 4 00 p. M. Eastern, hes not going to be convicted. Hes not going to be removed from office. Hes going to go down forever as an impeached president of the United States. And that has clearly irritated him. Im sure that bothers him and i understand why it would bother him. We hear a lot of democrats say, Speaker Pelosi, hes always going to be impeached, its a stain on his record the rest of his life. Bill clinton was impeached, hes been given a prime time speaking spot in every single Congressional Convention since 2007. It will always be on his legacy. It irritates him. Im sure it irritates him. President s are able to go along and still be rather Popular Figures in their party even after theyre impeached. Hes going to live with that, even though it irritates him, youre probably right, within that Republican Base and that gallup poll that came out today has him at 94 job approval among republicans. With every day that passes hes being told by political advisers that as bad as it feels to be impeached by the house of representatives and that be your legacy politically speaking in his quest to be reelected, maybe not so bad. His Approval Rating among republicans is up. Yeah. So it has had at least a limited effect of rallying republicans around him, not democrats, and not independents. We should point out, even in that same gallup poll, but rallying republicans around him. Again we see his effort this evening, a speech that im sure his supporters, like senator santorum in the other room, really, really liked. And the republicans clearly are happy with him and they want him to get reelected. This is going to be an intense fight over the next several months. We have a lot more coming up on this very busy night. Up next, our other big story tonight, the Iowa Caucuses, were expecting, yes, we are expecting more results. Stand by. Were reporters from the new york times. This melting pot of impacted species. Everywhere is going to get touched by climate change. And that was all you knew, would you really understand it, with just that point of view . Weve got a different way to look at it, from right here on the ground. We dont just the United States we see united towns. Were grateful for what you bring, and all the sparks youve shown, in the thousands of towns that we get to call home. Go to the pharmacy counter for powerful. Congestion and pressure . Claritind. While the leading allergy spray is indicated for 6 symptoms. Claritind is indicated for 8. Including sinus congestion and pressure. Claritind. Get more. Can you help keep these iguys protected online . . Easy, connect to the xfi gateway. What about internet speeds that keep up with my gaming . Lets hook you up with the Fastest Internet from xfinity. What about wireless data options for the family . Of course, you can customize and save. Can you save me from this conversation . That we cant do, but come in and see what we can do. Were here to make life simple. Easy. Awesome. Ask. Shop. Discover. At your local xfinity store today. Now we want to continue our special coverage with the latest on the democratic Iowa Caucuses. We are expecting to get some more results soon. Thats what were told. Its been more than a full day sincnce the doors closed on the caucuses. We still have only partial results. So far only 62 of the precincts reporting. Pete buttigieg with a narrow lead in state delegates as you can see over Bernie Sanders, 26. 9 to 25. 1 . Elizabeth warren in third. Joe biden in fourth. Amy klobuchar in fifth place. Again thats with just 62 of the precincts reporting. No word from the Iowa Democratic party on when we will see the full results. Lets go to ryan nobles, watching this from the Sanders Campaign out there. What are you seeing, ryan . Well, right now the Sanders Campaign is just like everyone else, wolf, theyre waiting to see these full results come in from the Iowa Caucuses but theyre not stopping moving forward. Right behind me senator sanders is delivering his own version of a response to the state of the union. Taking apart the president s speech line by line, offering up how he would do things differently if he were elected to the white house. To these results in iowa, yes the Sanders Campaign acknowledges with this group of votes that have come in, the 62 reported at this point that they are trailing in the delegate math but they believe when they take a look at the outstanding counties that have yet to come in and also the satellite precincts, specifically zeroed in on the satellite precincts as being an opportunity for sanders to pick up more votes and pick up votes in the key areas that would affect the weighted vote in totality and then bring him either equal with Pete Buttigiegs delegate count or surpass the delegate count. Theyre not ruling out the possibility that sanders could win the Iowa Caucuses outright. We understand the way you win the Iowa Caucuses is through the delegate count. But sanders is continuing to remind voters at this point hes winning the popular vote and firmly believe when the votes are counted up, he will be the winner. A busy day of activity for senator sanders in New Hampshire. He has an event planned for the morning before heading back to washington for the final stage of President Trumps impeachment trial. Feeling good about their standings in iowa and even better about how they stand in New Hampshire. Doing very well according to the most Public Opinion polls . Thats absolutely right, theyve long felt New Hampshire was a strong opportunity for senator sanders, even if he fell short in iowa. They knew that his base of support here in New Hampshire was strong. I have to tell you, wolf, we were on the flight with senator sanders from iowa to New Hampshire today. He had a pep in his step. Seems very happy, seems very satisfied with his standing in the polls. The event he held earlier today in milford, New Hampshire, the campaign told me was their largest event to date in this cycle in New Hampshire. Its at an alltime high, they believe that especially if it gets to the point where theyre able to claim victory in iowa that will only further that momentum and then as things head into the next couple of states. They feel very confident about prospects in New Hampshire, but wolf still some time to go before New Hampshire voters have to fully make up their minds. New hampshire, nevada and then South Carolina. Lets check in about the Buttigieg Campaign. Abby philip is joining us from des moines. Whats the latest youre hearing from the Buttigieg Campaign . Wolf, they are feeling, as you can understand, pretty good tonight. I think theyve been saying for the last 24 hours that they believe they did really well in iowa. And frankly based on my conversations with aides over the last week or so, they feel like they exceeded their own expectations for some of the things that they wanted to do in the Iowa Caucuses, particularly they believe they overperformed in some parts of the state, the rural parts of the state. They showed what they hoped to show to voters, not just in iowa but across the country, that they can put together a coalition that is broad based, that is comprised of people from rural and suburban and urban areas, of younger people and older people. And that was the objective for iowa for him. They had really poured everything into that state, hoping that this would be their provi proving ground as they move forward. Interestingly toward the end of his time in iowa you already sue Pete Buttigieg and his campaign pivoting to what they know is the task ahead. Yes, New Hampshire comes next. Yes, they are invested in that. They also know theres an important task in proving he can make more inroads than he has been able to make with nonwhite africanamerican voters in particular at his last rally he was introduced by a number of africanamerican surrogates who all came out onto the stage for a massive, you know, 2,000 person rally in the des moines area and on the night of the Iowa Caucuses he was introduced by congressman anthony brown, the Congressional Black Caucus member whos endorsed him and also by the south bend Democratic Party chairwoman, an africanamerican woman who spoke directly to that issue. Theres already an attempt right now for the cam. To pivot to this next phase for them, as critically as important as winning the Iowa Caucuses. Theyre feeling good and spirits are high. Pete buttigieg got emotional, rarely does on the campaign trail, the milestone for him as an openly gay president ial candidate, regardless of how far he goes from this point. Really did get emotional at that moment. Abby, thanks very much. Well go back to jake and dana. Bernie sanders and Pete Buttigieg with 62 of the precincts reporting so far, theyre one and two in iowa. Could change, philip, 38 of the precincts have not yet reported. What ultimately matters is delegates, who actually gets the most delegates. Thats what this is, its a race for delegates. I believe in 2008 Hillary Clinton actually got more popular votes than barack obama, but proim barack obama, the way he was able to game out the primary caucus system he got more delegates and its a race for delegates. Im not sure ultimately whether buttigieg, sanders, warren or someone else is going to have more delegates or popular vote from iowa what matters the delegates. Theyll have bragging rights no matter what happens. Buy the way thats a pattern for Hillary Clinton getting more popular votes in the caucus and the primary and in the general. Obama did it to her before trump did. Thats right. Im looking at the screen here. So Bernie Sanders can you really read that . I mean, a little bit. Thank you, control room. So hes a little bit over a thousand votes, Bernie Sanders is, more than Pete Buttigieg in the popular vote. If you look at the overall number in the universe of voters thats not that much. I mean, its very close. Especially with 38 of the precincts still outstanding. I was just going to say and we have a lot more to go on that. But, you know what, at this point because this is were doing this literally a night late, that was supposed to be last night, some of the air is out of the balloon. Not that this doesnt matter. But at a certain point theyre focused on the next big thing, which is New Hampshire. Well iowa is out of their hands. Except for the people in the Iowa Democratic party who are still running this about as poorly as ive ever seen a primary or caucus run, we still have no idea when and if were ever going to get new results. So whatever, they obviously have no idea what theyre doing over there. More importantly youre onto the next. New hampshire. Yeah, New Hampshire, the New Hampshire primary which is tuesday. The other thing thats very significant here in terms of this battle for delegates versus the battle for the popular vote, the system is what the system is, and the democrats set up their system according to the basic rules of delegates. So, for example, i remember in 08 Hillary Clinton would go to new jersey and shed win new jersey, a big delegate rich state. And shed beat obama there by ten delegates and then obama, same day, would go to a state like, i dont know, idaho or nebraska, and get the same amount of net votes by spending much less money, not as delegate rich, but at the end of the day it would be a wash. Yeah. And thats the system and you have to play it according to the system, play it according to the rules whether its electoral vote in the president ial contest or delegates. Hillary clinton got a lot more popular votes than the Electoral College is what counts in the president ial race. Go to john king. Were waiting and hopefully well get more numbers at some point but what are you looking for right now . Not as frustrated as we were this lime last night but frustrated in the sense it was hours ago we got the 62 and were still waiting. Some say in the campaign they expect the votes to be dumped out by the party. Number one, to the point you were just having, we scored this by delegates, what you need at the convention to win the nomination. At the moment, mayor buttigieg sorry about that. That was interesting, wasnt it . Sometimes lets there we go. Yes. Had a couple long days. This is what its about, delegates. The Sanders Campaign has every right to say we got more votes and every right to say lets wait and see what happens because its quite possible, if you look with 38 still out, especially if you look at some of the places where senator sanders, 60 of the vote here, doing quite well here, if he continues in the other precincts in woodbury county. Thats still up. That is without a dat mathematically possible. Scott county, Bernie Sanders won here four years ago, its relatively close, only half the vote, 48 . Sanders campaign has every right to say wait, lets see if they can catch up in the end and see if that happens. All the campaigns are frustrated, the Sanders Campaign very frustrated thats not moved in several hours. Where we are now, if you look at this, the light green is mayor buttigieg, the way you get the delegates is to be competitive everywhere. I want to show you when you break it down if you look at the 99 counties, 64 of them, the mayor at the moment, this could change, at the moment in 64 of 99 he is leading or tied. Thats, again, how you win the broader delegates. Come out of this and come back to senator sanders. Way fewer, 21 counties where he is leading at the moment, at the moment, still a strong organization, not to criticize it at all, if you look at just how many, versus the man in second place, you know, thats the depth of it right there. Its the depth of the organization. Worked hard in iowa, shes going to get 18 . This is the Biggest Issue for me if you look down here for the former Vice President , thats a struggle. Theyve said from the beginning iowa is not our place. Hes the former Vice President of the United States, the president whom he served as Vice President , half dozen counties where the former Vice President is leading, a couple others where hes tied. Disappointing performance. Can he rebound from it in New Hampshire . And amy klobuchar, you wonder here all of these senators how much were they impacted by impeachment, warren, sanders, and klobuchar. Some of the counts around here she racked up but at 12. 6 she is struggling. Her campaign, like the Sanders Campaign, is saying lets wait for the rest of the votes. They think they might be able to catch up to the president. The last two weeks those u. S. Senators who are running, spent a lot of time in washington as opposed to iowa or New Hampshire. And mayor buttigieg benefitted from that, but then explain that. Yeah, thats a problem for former Vice President. Don, thank you. Once again were expecting more results. We dont know when. We are expecting them. Up next how the biden camp is reacting to the iowa numbers we have so far. Introducing schwab intelligent income. A simple, modern way to pay yourself from your portfolio. Tell us how much you have, and how long you need it to last. 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We are going to guarantee health care to all people and create up to 20 million good paying jobs to save this planet. Im Bernie Sanders and i approve this message because we need an economy that works for all of us, not just wealthy campaign contributors. Were waiting for more results from the Iowa Caucuses, were told they could come fairly soon. When they do arrive were going to bring them to you right away. As for former Vice President joe biden hes been campaigning in New Hampshire, most of the day, cnns Arlette Saenz is covering the Biden Campaign for us, joining us live from manchester. Arlette, earlier tonight the Vice President said he felt good about the results so far in iowa. Whats the latest youre hearing from your sources . Well, wolf, joe biden opened an event in concord, New Hampshire telling the voters there that he was happy to be here in New Hampshire, more than you will know, a signal hes eager to move on from iowa to start focusing on other early nominating states. One biden adviser i spoke with said they hoped for more support in the Iowa Caucuses but they ultimately werent surprised. They thought the demographic makeup in iowa wasnt as favorable to joe biden but they said theyre not concerned about his future moving forward, specifically pointing to states like South Carolina, nevada, also states in the super tuesday contest, which they see as more diverse demographically and they think that that is more beneficial to joe biden. Now one other thing the Biden Campaign keeps pointing to is that this is all a delegate game and they say that iowa makes up just a small portion of the amount of full delegates these candidates are competing for. Tonight biden told reporters hes focused oncoming out of iowa with delegates on hand. How is the Biden Campaign strategizing in New Hampshire . Their plan in iowa didnt go very well, at least based on the numbers we have so far. Well, wolf, the Biden Campaign certainly wants to come up with a strong finish here in New Hampshire. They understand that having a strong finish, having a win gives you momentum heading into other states. Bidens advisers tell me his message here is going to stay pretty consistent. But one thing to keep an eye out for advisers tell me is that he is likely to increase his criticisms and trying to draw contrast when it comes to medicare for all, thats the policy proposal thats espoused by sanders. Biden campaign believes health care is a winning issue for them. Weve seen biden trying to draw distinctions with Bernie Sanders when it comes to medicare for all in both of their health care plans. Biden is certainly going to be spending a lot of time on the ground here over the course of the next week. He needs to show that he still can make that electability push, which has been central to his campaign and make sure theyre assuring donors who might be uneasy about bidens performance. But biden told voters in New Hampshire, that hes hoping New Hampshire, theyll rocket him out of New Hampshire and into the other nominating states. Arlette, thank you very much. Anderson, back to you. We are expecting more results from iowa and were not sure exactly what percentage of results will be coming in. I mean, theres been so much today. Its kind of hard to catch up. How important are these new numbers in terms of New Hampshire, in terms of actually influencing what happens in New Hampshire or is that already done . Well, there are these questions about, you know, will these numbers hold . And, you know, the sanders people have claimed they would move in. But in many ways i think the cake is baked here and the question is, is there a bounce off of it . But for joe biden i think its very, very clear. He was polling in second place, in New Hampshire before the Iowa Caucuses. Is he able to hold onto it . I think if he slips to third or fourth place he is in a major crisis. I think hes close to it now. Does having done both of these states, theres a contrarian nature to New Hampshire. New hampshire doesnt like iowa to lead them. And so as much as you would get a bounce on it, i think the bigger bounce you got out of iowa, is fund raising credibility. Media. You get media. You really get a whole new infusion of oxygen. It doesnt necessarily apply to New Hampshire. Barack obama won the Iowa Caucuses and then ended up five days later losing in New Hampshire. No offense to any new englander here but they believe they are the real primary. That iowa is a bit of a side show, which they unfortunately proved out in this election. I think theyre going to say this the New Hampshire vote is almost de novo. Try to reset the table. Amy klobuchar said earlier on the area, she was looking at a poll where theres a four place tie for second place. If biden is in second place that was before, but so were a lot of other people going into New Hampshire after iowa. I think bidens big challenge right now is money. Hes running out of money. Hes the person everybody thought, well, hes a former Vice President. Hes the front runner. Donald trump is afraid of him. National polls show him beating donald trump. And now he looks like somebody whos kind of limping along and as arlette is saying hes trying to find an issue that he can carve out and differentiate himself from Bernie Sanders. And that, of course, is health care where he happens to have a lot of credibility because of obamacare. And hes an opponent of medicare for all. Which a lot of democrats are opposed to, and you heard the president tonight talk about socialism. Hes talking about medicare for all. Yeah. So i think biden figures out this is his niche. What an uphill climb in New Hampshire, its neighboring state, new englander. And its going to be very difficult for him to do that. The money issue. Listen, hes doing well with these voters. We always talk about africanamerican voters, older voters. The problem with those voters is they tithe, they give to their churches, they dont give to campaigns in the way that he would need to, to fund sort of longterm if he were competitive in New Hampshire i think some of that money issue would continue to help him along. I think the biden people see iowa they knew iowa was going to be a struggle. And they know New Hampshires going to be a struggle because of weBernie Sanders. They also know iowa represents 1 of the delegates and they see this as the start, the launch of a marathon, rather than all the sudden its closed. So many opportunities where people thought that we would rally to biden. Now the Foreign Policy issue is happening now and weve got this now bidens the impeachment thing would make you, you know you can walk through all these different moments of rationale from the Biden Campaign. Now its going to whats happened is the air has continued to come out of the tires. Now, hes still up there but hes barely hanging on. I think, you know, once we get past New Hampshire i dont know if hes going to have i want to thank everyone. Weve been told more results will come out of iowa at any minute. Well bring those numbers to you as soon as we get them. Check in with john king for a closer look after the break. You know im not sure. Whos peter samuel . Daddy . Yeah . Whos peter . Well sweetie, hes your greatgreat grandfather. Does he look like me . Yeah. Yeah . Yeah. Turn questions youve always had into stories you cant wait to share; with ancestry. 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Obviously well bring those to you and let you foe where theyre coming from and how it changing the race in the democratic side. Back with our political team. I just have to say, i know were talking about iowa. I have to jump back to the state of the union. Grechen whit mer. I have to give a shout out. Who did the response. She did a great job. And its a hard thing to do. She ran on the theme of fix the damn roads. Her story about the kid filling the pothole and all of that. And the legislature hasnt come around in michigan to that. Basic pragmatic stuff. Anything you have seen from a democratic candidate in a year. It was a traditional meat and potatoes liberal argument for the Democratic Party. Not the wild eye stuff in the debates. One of the things thats better fwo to tweet about. I do that too. Back to biden. Yes. Well, nothing succeeds like success. He didnt have any. And. Miserable fourth place. Right. Its very hard uphill New Hampshire. Also. If it doesnt wrk out in New Hampshire for him. He claims South Carolina is his firewall. It better be. Hell be limping. The problem is they thought they would do well in iowa. Right . You were talking to the campaign. About a month ago they thought they would do well. Not fourth or fifth. They werent saying were sure well beat klobuchar. What you were saying about essentially democrats need to wake up. I have spoken to a lot of democrats folks who have run before, who have been in office before, they seemed over the last month or two incredibly confident in i dont understand where theyre confidence is based on. They seem to think it doesnt matter what candidate it is. Theres such turn out and excitement and energy. Were not seeing that in iowa. Its a misinterpretation. Midterm election we performed very well. Women led that charge. It give a sense of the trump thing was an aberration. I remember this was obama. Obama was there the tea party came. Took the house back. And all my republican friend are look were knocking obama out. No youre not. Thats our guy. We will fight until the last dog barks and we thought. Theres something going on where when trump is on the ballot, its a different thing. His base will fight for him. We can beat the guy. We cant beat the guy being arrogant and i watch the news all the time. I dont like what he says. Everyone is with me. Thats not the right way to think. He has a strategy. He revealed it. Hell double down opt red meat for the base. Push hard and go for the black vote. Now you know. You have to think which of the candidates is going it really be able to energize and hold onto black voters and connect with latin os and get something out of the the bounce back from the attack. And who actually can speak to the working class concerns. If youre not thinking about that clip clinically, youll wind up being emotional and make mistakes. First of all, donald trump is at worst even money to get reelected. We dont general will turn out president s. Its hard not to get reelected. Its unusual in this does he have the advantage . I do. Part of it is when you have no opponent to speak of, and you have months sp months to prepare your campaign and do things to set the table for your campaign, while the other party is in disarray trying to figure out who the nominee will be. Thats a huge advantage. And the economy is a big advantage for him. The only disadvantage he has is donald trump. And his lack of discipline and his belief in his own the tweets he thinks are a huge advantage. I think he can defeat himself. But if he gets the right opponent, hes ging to be very hard to beat. I agree. Im not sure about that. Because the truth is hes doing better with hispanic voters than africanamerican voters. And hes writing off in florida. A lot of latin o voters who arent necessarily as offended on the immigration issues. Theyre conservative and evangelical. I would say that we missed an opportunity with the puerto ricoens who had to leave the island to go to florida. Were not giving them enough attention. There are voices and forces that this party is disconnected from. Look at it and be disciplined about it. And not assume hell gaffe himself out of the election. It will never happen. The candidate matters too. Thats the thing. Who is the perfect candidate to take on trump . There doesnt seem to be one. I want to thank everybody on the panel. Our coverage continues can chris cuomo. All right. Thank you. Im chris cuomo welcome to prime time. Midnight edition. We have breaking news on our watch. More votes coming from iowa at any minute. The big question is Pete Buttigieg still in the lead . And did you watch tonight . The state of the politics was clear at the state of the union. The president started it out with a snub of the speaker. And she ended it with the tear heard round the country. The good news is, we are better than the current poison Politics Around us and the election is here. Lets get after it. All right. Lets start with what we know about what youre say wg votes in