Biden’s State of the Union address LIVE: Kamala Harris greets Speaker Mike Johnson as lawmakers fill Congress ahead of president’s high stakes 9pm speech

Marjorie Taylor Greene had a message for President Joe Biden as he entered the House chamber before his State of the Union address.

‘Say her name,’ Greene told the president.

Georgia lawmaker was referencing Laken Riley, a 22-year-old college student, who was allegedly killed by an illegal immigrant in February.

Greene was wearing a red ‘MAGA’ hat and a shirt that said ‘Say her name Laken Riley.’

Fellow Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., was quick to call out Greene’s choice of attire as a violation of congressional rules.

‘MTG in direct violation of the rules of the House by wearing campaign insignia on the House floor,’ he posted on X.

‘Good evening, good evening, if I were smart I would go home now,’ Biden kicked off his speech to cheers and applause.

He welcomed members of Congress and his own Cabinet before tearing into the dangers on the world stage.

‘Freedom and democracy were under assault in the world, tonight I come to this same chamber to address the nation, now it is we who face an unprecedented moment in the history of the union,’ he said.

‘And yes, my purpose tonight is to wake up Congress and alert the American people that this is no ordinary moment either. Not since president Lincoln and the civil war have freedom and democracy been under assault at home as they are today.’

‘What makes our moment where is the freedom and democracy under attack both at home and overseas,’ he said about Putin’s war of aggression in Ukraine.

President Biden stepped onto the House floor at 9:17 p.m. ET.

He was greeted with a standing ovation and members of Congress from both the Republican and Democrat parties shook his hand as he made his way down.

Notably, Squad Rep. Rashida Tlaib was the only Democrat not to stand for the president.

He shook hands until 9:25 p.m. ET when he took the stage.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. recalled the era of his father and John F. Kennedy in a video post making a pitch for his independent candidacy that he released minutes before President Biden’s speech.

RFK, Jr. appeared from a presidential-style backdrop, speaking behind a large wooden desk flanked by American flags. With soft musical accompaniment, he looked to the past and said ‘our current leadership seems to have forgotten’ the difference between leadership and polling.

He spoke of a time of prosperity when ‘we made the best music, we made the best movies and we made gold standard autommobiles.’ Images showed U.S. rocket launches, RFK with Martin Luther King, Jr., and the candidate spoke of his uncle’s ‘legacy of peace.’

Democrats fear RFK, Jr.’s campaign could siphon off votes from Biden, and fellow Kennedy family members were furious when a PAC ran a Super Bowl ad based off JFK’s 1960 campaign ad.

The Biden camp tried to signal that the president is the torch bearer for the Kennedy legacy by inviting RFK, Jr.’s cousin Maria Shriver to the president’s speech.

Supreme Court justices have arrived in the House chamber:

• John Roberts
• Neil Gorsuch
• Elena Kagan
• Sonia Sotomayor
• Ketanji Brown Jackson
• Brett Kavanaugh

Retired Justice Anthony Kennedy is also in attendence.

The current justices not in attendence are Justices Thomas, Alito and Barrett.

A number of Democratic women lawmakers are standing out in the House by wearing white ahead of the State of the Union address.

Wearing white suits has become a reoccuring choice for Democratic women for the annual speech.

The Democratic Women’s Caucus posted ahead of the speech ‘For tonight’s State of the Union address, we’re in white and wearing “Fighting for Reproductive Freedom” pins.’

It comes as Democrats have been fighting to restore abortion rights after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. It became a huge motivator for voters to elect Democrats following the landmark decision.

‘Our message is clear: we won’t stop fighting until all women can access the health care they need to control their own lives and futures,’ the post continued.

Democrats have also seized on the need to protect IVF after clinics paused fertility treatments amid legal concerns after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled embryos are children.

The president has departed the White House and is heading to the Capitol.

Due to pro-Palestine protestors blocking the quickest route to Capitol Hill, his motorcade will take an alternate path.

He appeared to joke with First Lady Jill as he got into ‘the beast.’

‘I’m feeling good,’ he told reporters.

He is slotted to begin speaking at 9:10 p.m. ET.

President Biden’s campaign is touting his strong fundraising ahead of his all-important State of the Union address.

His deputy campaign manager posted on X that they have raised $1 million online on Thursday with more than an hour to go before the president makes his speech.

Rob Flaherty wrote their more than one million person grassroot donor community ‘is strong and getting stronger!’

Biden is heading into the general election campaign season with a strong fundraising advantage over former President Trump who has been bleeding cash as he fights legal battles.

The Biden campaign has been sending out a series of campaign fundraising texts and emails asking for supporters to give ahead of the State of the Union address.

Several hundred fired-up Pro-Palestinian protesters sat in the street to block President Joe Biden‘s motorcade between the White House and Capitol for his State of the Union address Thursday.

A massive Palestinian flag was unfurled on the street with demonstrators sitting and standing around it as others held a banner with the message: ‘Biden’s legacy is genocide.’

The protesters held bullhorns, ‘ceasefire’ signs and wore black shirts with messages demanding Biden get tough on Israel.

They were surrounded by law enforcement officials from all sides as helicopters circled Washington, D.C.

But the protesters are sitting and marching in the middle of Pennsylvania Ave. on the route between the White House and Capitol.

An Afghanistan Gold Star mother has arrived at the Capitol for Biden’s State of the Union as she seeks closure over two years since the deadly withdrawal.

Shamblin is the mother-in-law of Marine Sgt. Nicole Gee, who was one of the 13 US troops killed in the terror attack in Kabul during the Afghanistan withdrawal in August 2021.

Earlier Thursday, Shamblin surprised CNN anchor Abby Phillip after she disclosed that President Biden has never reached out to her family.

‘He does talk to families that have lost loved ones because of his own experiences,’ CNN anchor Abby Phillip said, citing how Biden frequently speaks about the deaths of his wife, daughter Naomie and son Beau.

‘Have you spoken to him?’ Phillip asked.

‘No. He’s not reached out to our family,’ Shamblin said about Biden, who is known as the ‘consoler in chief.’

‘We’ve actually reached out to the White House and have never heard back. We asked to meet with them to understand where their thinking was in calling this a success, and we’ve not received a response. It’s been months.’

On a day when President Biden was set to attack Donald Trump in his address, the FBI arrested an Indiana man charged with disrupting a joing session of Congress when it met to count the electoral votes on January 6 – 38 months ago.

David Scott Kuntz, 53, of Elizabeth Indiana is accused in court documents with attending a rally with Trump near the White House, then breaching the Capitol along with rioters and yelling ‘F*** the police!’

He allegedly posted a tweet by Trump on a message board and wrote, ‘Good he does need us im going armed period,’ adding, ‘alot of groups are going in hot.’ He is not accused of possessing a weapon in the Capitol.

‘In the 38 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,358 individuals have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including more than 486 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement,’ according to the DOJ release on the arrest.

Another man, Lance Michael Ligocki, 34, of Oakwood, Illinois, was charged with attacking police with a flagpole attached to a ‘Trump’ flag that day while wearing American flag pants.

The former president said: ‘There is very little that Joe Biden can say that can mitigate the damage he has done to our Country.

‘We are under a MIGRANT INVASION the likes of which has never been witnessed in World History.

‘Migrant Crime is rampant, and he just doesn’t want to do anything about it. AMAZING!’

There will be more from the presumptive Republican nominee during the course of the evening.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene dawned a red ‘MAGA’ hat and shirt commemorating Riley Laken in a video slamming Joe Biden before his State of the Union.

‘Tonight is the State of the Union, and the State of the Union is Laken Riley,’ Greene said referencing the 22-year-old student who was allegedly murdered by an illegal immigrant.

Greene wore a shirt that read: ‘Say her name Laken Riley.’

Earlier today the House passed a bill in the late student’s honor titled the ‘Laken Riley Act.’

The bill would require the Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas to take into custody migrants who have been charged with theft.

‘America’s been under attack because of Joe Biden’s open border policies with over 10 million illegal aliens invading our country,’ Greene said. ‘There’s two million gotaways and among them, we know there are terrorists.’

‘America has a national security crisis because of Joe Biden.’

‘Joe must go and I am ready for the State of the Union,’ she concluded.

Santos is back! Three months after he was booted from Congress, the embattled congressman made his way back for Biden’s State of the Union.

Because he is a former member of Congress, he is allowed to keep floor privileges.

He was spotted wearing a classic navy sweater vest, blazer and rhinestone stone collared shirt.

Santos promptly took a seat next to Rep. Lauren Boebert.

Pro-Palestine protesters flanked a Republican Capitol Hill watering hole ahead of President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address Thursday night.

Ceafire demostrators holding Palestinian flags and posters with ‘end the occupation’ stood outside Bullfeathers – a bar just steps from the Capitol.

They banged on drums and chanted ‘Staffers, staffers you can’t hide! We charge you with Genocide,’ and demanded they ‘quit your jobs.’

‘Get a job!’ Republican House staffers shouted back at the protesters interupting their evening.

Progressive Democrats and pro-Palestine activists have been highly critical of President Joe Biden’s backing of Israel in its war with Hamas terrorists operating out of Gaza.

House Speaker Mike Johnson preemptively criticized Joe Biden ahead of his impending State of the Union address by targeting the president for the southern border crisis, rising inflation and economic strife and increased global tensions.

The one-and-a-half minute video posted to Johnson’s X account on Thursday morning slams ‘three years of decline’ and includes a collection of headlines and news reports highlighting the declining conditions in the U.S. since Biden took office.

It serves to counter arguments expected to be included in Biden’s State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress on Thursday evening.

The ad kicks-off with what most Republicans view as the biggest priority going into 2024 – the migration crisis at the southern border and surging illegal immigration, which comes with increases in human and drug trafficking.

Spending nearly one-third of the ad time on the subject of immigration and the southern border crisis, a clip is featured of Johnson saying: ‘America is at a breaking point.’

During President Biden’s State of the Union address onlookers will be keenly aware of any signs of cognitive decline after a bombshell special counsel report described him as ‘elderly’ and ‘forgetful.’

But with age comes ‘wisdom and experience,’ now says Minnesota Democrat Rep. Dean Phillips, who ended a primary challenge against Biden on Wednesday that he had launched in large part due to concerns about his age.

‘His age is his age,’ Phillips told DailyMail.com on Thursday. ‘No he’s not the same young vigorous man he used to be, none of us are. And neither is Donald Trump.’

‘Is it a disconnect right now? Yeah. And I’ve learned some ways to I think overcome that and I’ll share those with him.’

Phillips urged Biden to ‘show vigor’ in his third yearly address to a joint session of Congress.

Three months after he was expelled from Congress, the Long Island Liar could be making a dramatic return.

George Santos, the Republican fabulist, is set to make a surprise appearance at Biden’s State of the Union on Thursday night.

The ousted GOP member who fabricated most of his resume and used campaign funds on botox and OnlyFans still has privileges that mean he can get on the House floor.

It is unclear where he will sit, according to multiple reports.

President Joe Biden is facing dismal polls as he address millions in his State of the Union.

The 81-year-old’s disapproval is at 56.3 percent, the heighest since he came into office in January 2021, according to poll aggregator FiveThirtyEight.

His approval is at just 38.1 percent, with eight months until the general election and a likely rematch with Donald Trump.

Excerpts from the State of the Union Republican rebuttal show Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) will warn ‘the country we know and love seems to be slipping away.’

Britt will say the country is at a ‘crossroads’ and allege that President Joe Biden inherited ideal situations after Donald Trump’s four years in office and somehow flubbed it all.

‘Where I’m from, your word is your bond,’ reads an excerpt from Britt’s speech. ‘But for three years, this President has demonstrated that America’s word doesn’t mean what it used to.’

Citing the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, Britt’s remarks note the U.S. has ‘become a nation in retreat.’

‘Right now, our Commander in Chief is not in command. The free world deserves better than a dithering and diminished leader,’ she will say in remarks after Biden’s annual remarks to a join session of Congress.

Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) was selected to deliver the Republican rebuttal to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union this year

President Joe Biden hosted a young group of social media influencers at the White House this week as part of his State of the Union address PR blitz.

Despite the president’s advanced age, White House staff continue looking for ways to make an impact on social media, where most young people get their news and information.

It’s unclear whether Biden personally visited the group, but over 70 social media figures were present for a meeting at the White House on Wednesday according to Wired magazine.

Emily Amick who posts videos under the handle @emilyinyourphone, with 135,000 followers on Instagram, went to the briefing and posted about it on her account.

President Joe Biden will confront his and Donald Trump’s ages in his State of the Union address, arguing he wants ‘honestly’ while his Republican rival wants ‘retribution.’

The early excerpts released by the White House do not mention Trump by name, but it does contain a reference to the Republican candidate. But they do contain a ding at the former president.

‘My lifetime has taught me to embrace freedom and democracy. A future based on the core values that have defined America: honesty, decency, dignity, equality. To respect everyone. To give everyone a fair shot. To give hate no safe harbor,’ Biden, 81, will say.

‘Now some other people my age see a different story: an American story of resentment, revenge, and retribution. That’s not me.’

President Joe Biden will urge Congress on Thursday night to introduce sweeping tax hikes on billionaires and corporations to make sure they ‘pay their fair share’.

The proposals include raising the corporate minimum tax for companies worth more than $1 billion to 21 percent, up from the 15 percent that went into effect last year.

The president will also call for a 25 percent tax on individuals with wealth of more than $100 million and the abolition of tax deductions on private and corporate jets. Biden has insisted that his plans will not increase taxes for Americans making less than $400,000.

But those not in the top one percent of American earners could still feel pinch.

DailyMail.com has spoken to experts about Biden’s bold tax scheme and whether they believe it will impact the middle class.

President Joe Biden is preparing to push for a massive housing initiative as more and more young adults say they can’t afford to buy their first home.

Amid record-high inflation and rising mortgage interest rates, Biden will urge Congress to alleviate mortgage interest rates by offering first-time homebuyers a $5,000 credit each year for their first two years of home ownership to equate a total of $10,000.

The White House says this should equate to essentially knocking off 1.5 percent of homeowners’ interest rate for the medium home in the U.S.

In a series of proposals in his State of the Union address on Thursday evening, Biden will urge Congress to help free up some of the housing market by offering a one-year credit of up to $10,000 for families who sell their starter homes.

The average mortgage interest rate for a $300,000 loan is 7.9 percent for a 30-year fixed term. Meanwhile, the average cost of a home in the U.S. is upwards of $400,000.

President Joe Biden will crack down on private jets as part of his plan to hike the taxes on the super rich as he tries to win over voters upset with his stewardship of the economy.

Biden will also propose that billionaires would need to pay a minimum of 25% in federal taxes on their income as he targets the super wealthy like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk.

Another person who will be affected by his plans is his 2024 rival Donald Trump, who relies on his private jet – Trump Force One – to campaign across the country. Biden uses the military jet Air Force One for his travel.

Brainard noted the president will be ‘fighting for working people and middle class families like the ones he grew up with in Scranton. The President will continue to put the middle class first as he lays out his plan for the American economy.’

The sweeping tax increases are targeted at bringing down the U.S. deficit but also raising Biden’s poll numbers as he heads into the November election. Polls show Trump in the lead – by a narrow margin – with eight months until Election Day.

Voters give Biden low marks for his handling of the economy. And Trump has hammered Biden repeatedly on the high rate of inflation that has raised food and fuel prices for consumers.

The president’s proposals will also affect some of his allies: John Kerry, his former climate adviser, uses a private jet. So do celebrities like Taylor Swift and Leonardo DiCaprio, who support the president.

Biden will propose increasing the fuel tax on corporate and private jet travel and changing depreciation rules. The White House declined to say how much the fuel tax would be increased.

House Republican leadership told members of the GOP to not play games during Biden’s State of the Union address, but some predict their colleagues could make it a ‘wild evening.’

Biden’s State of the Union Thursday night will be an opportunity for the president to message his accomplishments to the country.

Republicans, meanwhile, could lash out at the president during his remarks like firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., did last year screaming ‘liar!’ during his remarks.

Speaker Mike Johnson, however, has called for Republicans to display a level of ‘decorum,’ according to members of the conference.

His top lieutenant and second highest-ranking House Republican Whip Tom Emmer exclusively told DailyMail.com that though he will not be policing his colleagues’ actions, he doesn’t think Americans want to see ‘childish’ spats.

‘I didn’t come here to play childish games, or to draw attention to myself and my screwing around on the playground,’ Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., said.

‘Democrats are the ones that usually do stunts and do hissing noises and stand up and turn their backs and wear the same clothes or uniform to signify some objection.’

‘I have no interest in that kind of childish behavior,’ Emmer added. ‘This is serious business in the U.S. Congress.’

Alberto Gonzales, who was attorney general under President George W. Bush, was the ‘designated survivor’ in 2007.

Gonzales said it was ‘kind of cool’ but also a ‘sobering moment’.

He was approached by Bush’s chief of staff a week beforehand.

He was then given two options of where to be on the night

One of them was on a plane and he chose that because ‘it would be kind of cool to fly around as the president gave the State of the Union.”

When he got to Andrews Air Force Base to board the plane he was greeted by officials from every major government department.

They had ‘big binders of protocols and procedures to advise me in the event that I became president.’

Then he ‘settled in’ on the plane and watched the speech.

President Joe Biden will deliver his last State of the Union address as president of the United States Thursday if he fails to win reelection later this year.

That means the stakes for this speech are extremely high.

Public opinion polls show that Americans are not sure the 81-year-old leader will be an effective president in a second term due to his age.

And while Biden – as a U.S. senator and then vice president – always had a reputation for being gaffe-prone, now the verbal slip-ups are giving political opponents more fodder.

Thanks to the timing, Biden’s speech will serve as a table-setter for the 2024 general election, with Super Tuesday’s results knocking former President Donald Trump’s final opponent, former U.N. Amb. Nikki Haley, out of the GOP primary race Wednesday.

The White House has stayed tight-lipped about the meat of the speech, but DailyMail.com has put together a bingo card with some of his favorite Bidenisms, including folksy sayings, familiar anecdotes and the free space has been reserved for a gaffe.

During the State of the Union address and any other major political address, one member of the presidential line of sucession has to stay away.

The ‘designated survivor’ is picked to ensure the presidency can continue if there is a catastrophic event.

If the president, vice president, speaker of the House or another top official are killed or disabled in some way, they would step in as acting commander-in-chief.

The tradition began during the Cold War in the 1960s, when fears of a nuclear attack were at their highest.

During President Biden’s 2023 State of the Union, Labor Secretary Marty Walsh was the designated survivor.

A conservative nonprofit is slamming Biden’s Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) pause and  ‘bad’ border policies in ads throughout the nation’s Capitol days as he is set to deliver his State of the Union address.

The Job Creators Networks (JCN) deployed three billboard trucks around to Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. – where President Biden’s State of the Union address will take place tonight at 9 p.m. ET.

‘Bad energy policies matter,’ some of the electronic billboards read, DailyMail.com exclusively reported.

The group is targeting the Biden administration’s January pause on pending and future LNG projects, a move advocated for by climate activists. It will also bring attention to the current state of the southern border.

The group is also running ads in New York City’s Times Square. Additional billboards will be placed in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

An eight-foot tall security fence has been set around the U.S. Capitol ahead of Biden’s State of the Union on Thursday night.

Echoing the aftermath of the January 6 Capitol Riot, the barrier has gradually been constructed over the last few days.

Democrats are going into Thursday night’s State of the Union fretting that President Joe Biden will have a ‘senior moment’ that will result in a renewed round of questions about his age.

‘We are all nervous,’ a House Democrat told Axios, noting the concerns about the 81-year-old Biden’s ‘ability to speak without blowing things.’

‘There’s always, in these moments, a desire to focus on the distractions dujour,’ said deputy White House press secretary Olivia Dalton on CNN. ‘The president is focused on one thing and that’s communicating clearly his vision for the country to the American people.’

Biden plans to launch a raid on the super rich, hiking taxes for corporations and billionaires like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.

He wants to raise the minimum corporate tax for big companies worth over $1 billion to 21 percent, up from the 15 percent he imposed earlier in his presidency.

Biden will also call for a 25 percent tax for individuals with wealth of over $100 million.

White House officials said the steps were part of a proposed 2025 budget to be released next week, and aimed at reducing the federal deficit by $3 trillion over 10 years.

Most of Biden’s tax proposals have little chance of enactment unless Democrats win strong majorities in both chambers of Congress in November, a sweep that polls suggest is unlikely.

President Joe Biden has spent the past five days preparing for his State of the Union address, trying to cover all the possibilities: tea to keep his throat smooth, a print out of his remarks – with giant type – in case the teleprompter goes out, and hours of practice sessions.

But the fear among aides is all the preparations could be overshadowed by the unexpected: hecklers in the form of Republican lawmakers, a presidential freeze during the remarks, or, the worst case scenario, Biden trips walking up the aisle of the House chamber.

That would retrigger all the questions about the 81-year-old’s fitness for office.

And it would happen in front of millions of television viewers who are deciding whether to support Biden or his rival Donald Trump in the 2024 election.

The State of the Union address takes place in the shadow of the presidential race. The two nominees are decided. Voters know who their choice is. And Trump will on his Truth Social Thursday night, offering commentary about his opponent’s remarks.