Image source, Reuters

Texas Democrat Al Green, who was removed from the chamber earlier after he held up a sign that read "Black people aren't apes", says he thinks Trump has now "got the message".

"Tonight I wanted him to have a person confront him and let him know that black people aren't apes, and that black people aren't going to tolerate this kind of behaviour," Green tells C-SPAN, adding that he refuses to tolerate "this level of hate that the president is in fact putting into policy".

Green's sign was in reference to a racist video Trump posted, which depicted America's first black president - Barack Obama - as an ape.

The Texan representative says Trump has become a person who assumes that he is beyond the law.

"He doesn't recognise a separation of powers, he doesn't recognise due process of the law, he doesn't believe that judges can make rulings that are antithetical to his opinions and be right," Green says.

"If we allow this to continue, the constitution will become meaningless."

Was Trump right about beef prices?published at 05:37 GMT

05:37 GMT

By Tom Edgington

Trump talked about affordability his speech, with Trump claiming his policies were rapidly ending high prices.

One of the items he listed was beef, where he said the price "is starting to come down significantly”.

According to the official inflation figures, external, beef prices fell between December and January, but they remain much higher compared to 12 months ago.

The category “beef and veal” shows that prices increased 15% in the 12 months to January 2026, but fell by 0.9% between December 2025 and January 2026.

Other items which also increased in price over the past 12 months include coffee, at 18.3%, and frozen fish and seafood, 8.5%.

Overall grocery prices increased 2.1% in the 12 months to January 2026.

But not everything has increased. Egg prices - which were also mentioned by the president - fell by 34.2% over the past 12 months.

Other items that have fallen in price over the same period include butter, -5%, tomatoes, -2.4%, and fresh whole chicken, -1.3%.

Daniel Bush
Washington correspondent

Image source, Reuters

State of the Union rebuttals are rarely remembered for long – unless things go wrong.

Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger’s rebuttal didn’t contain any major mistakes, but it also didn’t break much new ground.

Spanberger criticised Trump’s handling of the economy, called him a liar and said his administration was rife with corruption – all part of the Democrats’ messaging going into the midterms.

Is it enough to energise Democrats and independents? That remains to be seen.

Donald Trump just delivered the longest-ever State of the Union speech to Congress. Here's what he discussed:

• The economy: Trump says he inherited a terrible economy from the previous administration, but now it "is roaring like never before"
• Tariffs: He called the Supreme Court's ruling against many of his global tariffs imposed last year "disappointing" and "unfortunate". The levies "will remain in place under fully approved and tested alternative legal statuses", Trump said
• Immigration: Trump hailed the progress he said his administration has made in slashing illegal immigration and securing the southern US border, though he did not mention his immigration enforcement crackdown in Minnesota, which opinion polling suggests was not popular among Americans
• Foreign policy: Trump boasted about the US operation to arrest then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in Caracas last month, and said his foreign policy is about "peace through strength". He warned Iran against developing a nuclear weapon, saying that he prefers to settle the issue through diplomacy

Lucy Gilder
BBC Verify journalist

By Lucy Gilder

Trump claimed to have secured $18tn (£13tn) of investment in the US.

“In 12 months I secured commitments for more than $18tn pouring in from all over the globe," he said.

But there is no publicly available evidence to support a figure this big. A White House website, last updated in , externalFebruary, external this year, aims to track "new investment in U.S. manufacturing, technology, and infrastructure".

It states that investments since Trump returned to the White House total $9.6tn (£7.1tn).The biggest single investment listed is a $1.4tn (£1tn) investment in manufacturing and industry by the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The website for the UAE embassy in Washington DC says the country is "working with the Trump Administration to make a historic $1.4 trillion investment in the US over the next decade".

Greg Auclair, a statistician at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told BBC Verify that there has been an uptick in foreign investment in the US over the past year.

But he cautioned that the White House tracker "includes pledges that may not materialize”. The EU trade deal, for example, appeared to be frozen due to tensions over Greenland, and was again halted in February because of Trump’s tariff threats.

Image source, Reuters

California Senator Alex Padilla also delivered a Democratic response, most of which was in Spanish.

He referred to his background as the son of Mexican immigrants, before criticising Trump's immigration policies, describing them as "illegal".

He said in November, Americans have an opportunity for "real change" and to clearly choose between division and unity, lies and truth, referring to the mid-term elections.

Has Trump really ended eight wars?published at 04:41 GMT

04:41 GMT

By Tom Edgington

In his speech, Trump repeated his claim to have ended eight wars since the beginning of his presidency.

BBC Verify has examined this in detail before. The eight wars, according to the White House, are ones between:

• Israel and Hamas
• Israel and Iran
• Pakistan and India
• Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
• Thailand and Cambodia
• Armenia and Azerbaijan
• Egypt and Ethiopia
• Serbia and Kosovo

It is reasonable for the president to claim credit for helping to broker the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, for instance. But a number of the other conflicts had lasted just days.

Image source, Reuters

Spanberger says that recent Democrat victories, in the months since Trump's victory in 2024, indicate that Americans want more from the White House.

Democrats, she says, are "working to lower costs, working to keep communities and countries safe, and working for you".

She refers to George Washington's final speech after he completed his tenure as America's first president. She says he warned against the danger of "cunning" men who seek to divide the people.

But she says Washington also talked about the Americans who "do the right thing". Those citizens are the ones who have kept America strong for the past 250 years.

And with that, her short speech ends in less than 15 minutes.

Spanberger says Trump has put his name on buildings around Washington, referring to his move to rename the Kennedy Center the Trump-Kennedy Center.

His actions "are not what our founders envisioned, not by a longshot".

She says the nation knows better than any other what is possible when ordinary citizens "reject the unacceptable and demand more of their government".

Spanberger is now talking about Trump's immigration crackdown, and accuses him of "ripping families apart".

Trump, she says, has interrupted America's global reputation for being a force for good. He has not kept Americans safe at home or abroad, she adds.

Spanberger begins by saying Trump was not honest in his speech.

She says she has three questions for voters, which are: "Is the president working to make life more affordable? Is he working to keep Americans safe at home and abroad? Is the president working for you?"

She says the answer to all three is that he was not.

"Tonight the president did what he always does," she says.

"He lied, he scapegoated, and he distracted and he offered no real solutions to our nation's pressing challenges so many of which he is actively making worse."

Image source, Reuters

Abigail Spanberger, Virginia's governor, is now delivering the Democrats' response to Trump's State of the Union address.

We'll bring you live updates here, and you can also follow our live stream by tapping Watch live at the top of the page.

Danielle Kaye
New York business reporter

During his address, Trump said mortgage rates are at their lowest level in four years and "falling fast".

It's true that mortgage rates have dropped in recent weeks. The average rate on the 30-year mortgage, the most popular home loan in the US, fell to 6.01% last week, according to Freddie Mac - its lowest level in nearly four years.

Still, it's unclear how much further mortgage rates will fall in the coming months. And the reasons for the easing, economists say, are largely not attributable to Trump's policies.

The most recent drop in borrowing costs has been driven by a dip in government bond yields - which mortgage rates closely track - as investors worry about, in part, Trump's trade wars.

Trump has directed government-backed housing finance firms to buy $200bn worth of mortgage bonds in a bid to push down mortgage rates. But housing economists have cautioned that the bond purchases might not push mortgage rates substantially lower in the long run.

Daniel Bush
Washington correspondent

Trump’s record State of the Union speech wrapped up with an extended riff on America’s 250th anniversary.

Trump invoked a history of taming the “dangerous” wild West, victories over fascism and communism, and technological advances.

He also placed himself at the centre of that history, reviving his second inaugural pledge to usher in a “Golden Age” of America, and claiming that he has made good on that promise.

Trump is now making his way out of the House chamber. His speech clocked in at approximately 1 hour 48 minutes, by far the longest on record.

Image source, Getty Images

The 250-year anniversary of the Declaration of Independence has become a popular refrain throughout Trump's speech – from joking about a $1,776 tax dividend, to praising "the 250 years in the life of a nation".

July fourth celebrations this year will celebrate America, Trump says.

"From the rugged border towns of Texas to the heartland villages of Michigan, from the sun-kissed shores of Florida to the endless fields of the Dakotas... the Golden age of America is now upon us," he says.

And that wraps up the president's state of the union address – officially the longest in history.

Image source, Getty Images

Trump talks about how his tough view on Iran is part of his "peace through strength" strategy.

He says that has included building up the US military as the most powerful on Earth.

Trump is praising Republicans for their investment into the military and mentions how he's also pushed for Nato members to up their defence spending, too.

Trump moves on to the death of El Mencho, one of the world’s most wanted drug traffickers, who was killed in Mexico during a security operation to arrest him earlier this week.

He also praised strikes on alleged drug smuggling boats in waters off South America, which he says has helped stopped drugs from coming to the US, and the arrest of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro last month.

Trump says the operation ended the reign of an "outlaw dictator".

Danielle Kaye
New York business reporter

Trump earlier claimed that countries that have reached trade deals with the US want to keep those deals intact. But many US trading partners have said they remain uncertain about the status of deals negotiated in the wake of Trump's initial tariff measure.

Within hours of the Supreme Court's ruling last week striking down many of Trump's global levies, the president said he would introduce a new 10% global rate. He then said on Saturday that the rate would be 15%.

However, according to official documents, the tariffs have been set at the lower rate from Tuesday with no directive to increase the rate issued. That confusion has left many countries unclear on where they now stand.

Trump's attempt to maintain his tariffs through other legal authorities has raised questions about the fate of deals with trading partners including the UK, India and the European Union.

Many countries had sought lower levies on their goods in exchange for promises of investments or other concessions meant to make it easier for US firms to do business abroad.

The EU said on Monday that it would suspend its ratification of a deal struck over the summer. India also said it would defer previously scheduled talks to finalise a recent agreement.

Daniel Bush
Washington Correspondent

Trump did not tip his hand tonight on his thinking about a potential military strike against Iran, after weeks of the largest US military buildup in the Middle East in two decades.

Trump said his “preference” is to resolve the standoff with Iran with diplomacy. But also included a veiled threat, saying he would “never” allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon.

With that, he moved on to another topic - leaving lawmakers in Congress, people watching at home, and across the world guessing about what he’ll do if the US-Iran talks break down.

Image source, Reuters

Trump turns to talking about Iran. He refers to the US operation there last year, known as OperationMidnight Hammer, which targeted the country's nuclear facilities.

"After Midnight Hammer, they were warned to make no future attempts to rebuild their weapons program—yet they continue, and are at this moment again pursuing their sinister nuclear ambitions," he says.

He adds that Iran wants to make a deal to avoid further US strikes, but has yet to commit to never making a nuclear weapon.

"My preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy - but one thing is certain. I will never allow the world’s number one sponsor of terror - which they are by far - to have a nuclear weapon," he says.