Anthony Zurcher
North America correspondent

Donald Trump’s speech was long in duration but light on breaking news.

While the president may have hoped he would be able to announce a mineral deal with Ukraine, the best he could do was read a conciliatory letter from Volodymyr Zelensky that the Ukrainian president had posted on X hours earlier.

And with a tariff war between the US and its biggest trading partners looming, the president appeared to be sticking to his guns – but gave no firm indications either way.

In the end, Trump’s speech may be most remembered for his partisan needling of Democrats in the audience, and their icy, sign-waving reactions.

Much like the first month of Trump’s presidency, there was plenty in Trump’s address to Congress for his supporters to love, and lots for his critics – those, at least, who tuned in – to jeer.

We're finishing up our live coverage for the night, but there's plenty more to read across the BBC.

• Seven takeaways from Trump's big speech
• Trump says he is 'just getting started' in speech to US Congress
• Democrat Al Green ejected from chamber for heckling Trump
• Who is Elissa Slotkin, the Democrat chosen to rebut Trump's speech?

Image source, Getty Images

Congressman Al Green's protest on the House floor "was unhelpful", former Democratic Representative Stephanie Murphy tells the BBC.

"But he doesn't represent the entire Democratic party", she adds.

"Elissa Slotkin, who was chosen to provide the rebuttal, is the person that the Democratic party wants to present," she says.

Green was removed from the chamber early in Trump's speech, after he stood and shouted at the President while waving a gold-tipped cane. He later told reporters he was yelling at Trump about Medicaid - the health insurance program for the poor that Democrats and many others fear Trump will cut.

You can read about his exit and the other ways Democrats protested through signs and wardrobes in our earlier coverage.

Were hundreds of thousands of migrants released under Biden?published at 05:37 GMT 5 March 2025

05:37 GMT 5 March 2025

By Lucy Gilder

Speaking about Biden’s record on immigration earlier in his speech, Trump said “there were hundreds of thousands of illegal crossings a month, and virtually all of them…were released into our country”.

It’s true that hundreds of thousands of border crossings were recorded each month under Biden. In December 2023, Border Patrol recorded 249,740 crossings, external at the southwest border, the most ever recorded in a single month.

While there’s no evidence that “virtually all” of these migrants were released into the US, the majority were, albeit with some conditions.

Of the peak crossings recorded in December 2023, for example, the majority - nearly 192,000 - were released from custody subject to conditions such as having to appear before an immigration court.

About 39,000 of the total were transferred to another type of government custody and more than 19,000 were returned to their home country.

For more analysis on Donald Trump's address to Congress, the BBC World Service's Global News podcast has an extra edition going in-depth on what the president said.

You can listen along here.

Lisa Lambert
Reporting from Washington DC

Compared to Trump's nearly two-hour address that featured cheers and jeers, celebrations of invited guests, and an itemized list of now-slashed government spending, Senator Elissa Slotkin's rebuttal on behalf of Democrats was instead solemn and simple.

She stayed on brand for key issues to Democrats, for example saying that the US is put at risk when Trump "demonizes those are different and tells certain people they shouldn't be included." She also praised unions and higher taxes on billionaires - both key issues for Dems.

But some of her remarks - delivered in front of a background of American flags - seemed aimed at moderates or Republicans disaffected with Trump.

She took aim at the world's richest man, Elon Musk, saying he was combing through Americans' private information with a "gang of 20-year-olds" from his White House team known as Doge.

And she called for "fixing our broken immigration system," a message which could appeal to Republicans.

Most strikingly, she invoked Ronald Reagan, who is still revered by many Republicans as a great president two decades after his death.

"I’m thankful it was Reagan and not Trump in office in the 1980s," she said. "Trump would have lost us the Cold War."

The role of the rebuttal is to give an alternative view to what the president has just presented.

"I’m a student of history, and we've gone through periods of political instability before," she said. "And ultimately, we've chosen to keep changing this country for the better."

We've been hearing some analysis of Trump's speech from Zhanna Bezpiatchuk, from the BBC's Ukrainian service.

Speaking to BBC News, she says she thinks "Ukrainians didn't get any answers" from Trump's speech.

Bezpiatchuk says the president didn't give "any clear vision" of what he means by "peace", or mention anything about "any security guarantees for Ukraine" or "whether he is ready to resume" military aid.

"It's a very tough moment for Ukraine," she says.

Oklahoma Republican Congresswoman Stephanie Bice spoke to BBC News moments ago, when she gave us her reaction to Trump's speech.

She began by praising Trump's recent policies, saying that tariffs will "level the playing field".

"Its not fair that some countries are taxing US goods," she says, adding that Trump is showing that "we can't be taken advantage of any longer".

She says Trump's tariffs are necessary to bring other countries "to the table" to re-negotiate trade arrangements.

She goes on to praise Trump's economic approach.

"Doge is reining in wasteful spending," she continues, talking about Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency, adding that Trump will also bring down the costs of food and fuel.

New York Democrat Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez - who skipped Trump's address - is giving her response to the speech live on Instagram.

"This was not Trump's best speech," she says, adding that he "rambled a lot" and presented "a lot of wrong information".

One of the things he did not address, she says, is Medicaid.

Medicaid is a key issue among Democrats, who fear Trump plans to cut the insurance programme which helps millions of low-income and other Americans pay for healthcare.

"Don’t you find it interesting that Trump didn’t mention Medicaid once?" she says to her viewers, saying that much of the information the president presented is meant to distract from his administration's plans for the programme.

"Republicans are coming for your Medicaid," she says.

Trump has said he has no plans to cut Medicaid, though he has endorsed a House budget proposal which calls for cuts which could target social programmes such as Medicaid.

Has the US spent $350bn on Ukraine?published at 04:55 GMT 5 March 2025

04:55 GMT 5 March 2025

By Nick Eardley and Shayan Sardarizadeh

Let's turn back to a line from President Trump during his speech.

He repeated his unsubstantiated claim that the US has provided $350bn in aid to Ukraine.

"We've spent perhaps $350bn… and they [Europe] have spent $100bn. What a difference that is."

BBC Verify is unable to find any evidence for Trump’s $350bn claim and some figures suggest Europe has spent more as whole when all aid to Ukraine is included.

The US is, by some margin, the largest single donor to Ukraine. But Europe combined has spent more money than the US, according to the Kiel Institute think tank.

They calculate that between 24 January 2022 and the end of 2024, Europe as a whole spent $138.7bn on Ukraine, while the US spent $119.7bn. Their figure for Europe includes aid directly from the European Union, but also from bilateral deals from European countries, both inside and outside the EU. It includes military, financial and humanitarian aid.

[The US Department of Defense has also done a calculation, which looks at a broader range of US military activity in Europe and includes replenishing defence stocks. Its figure is $182.8bn - still considerably less than the figure the president has mentioned.]

We asked the White House where their figure had come from, but we haven't had an answer.

Image source, EPA

Donald Trump just spent nearly two hours addressing a joint session of Congress. These were among the key moments:

• Trump's first joint address to Congress since taking office for a second time lasted a whopping 1 hour and 40 minutes
• Democrat Al Green was ejected early on by the Republican Speaker of the House, after he rose in protest and refused to retake his seat
• The speech touched on several of Trump's favourite topics, including blasting US immigration policies and and calling for strengthened law and order

• He also said he had received a letter from Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier on Tuesday, which signalled he is ready to sign a mineral deal with the US to continue suspended US military shipments after last week's Oval Office row between the two leaders
• Trump said that the US economy will see some disruption - which he called "indigestion" - as his administration imposes tariffs on goods important from Canada, Mexico, China and others
• Trump also said that Greenland is bound to become a territory of the US, and that his administration is working hard to "get it - one way or another"
• He welcomed several guests in the chamber, including by order that a child survivor of brain cancer in the audience wearing a police uniform be deputised as a Secret Service agent
• Democrats held up protest signs during Trump speech, including with phrases such as: "Musk Steals, Protect Veterans, Save Medicaid". Some Democrats got up and left the speech before it had ended, including when the president discussed Ukraine

In case you missed Trump's bumper address to Congress, here's a quick wrap-up of the key moments.

It highlights two minutes of top lines from the more than hour-and-a-half-long speech, and you can watch by pressing the play button at the bottom of this post.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Travelling with the president

Donald Trump's motorcade has just left the Capitol, headed back to the White House. The press pool traveling with him - myself included - have been waiting in vans outside. We did not see the president as the motorcade began moving and are now headed back to the White House - again in a long line of black SUVs, limos and police vehicles. Washington DC police officers have blocked traffic to facilitate our drive back.

"We all know that our country is going through something right now," Slotkin says, wrapping up her rebuttal. "We’re not sure what the next day is going to hold, let alone the next decade."

But "this isn't the first time" and "we've gone through periods of political instability before", she adds.

"Ultimately we've chosen to keep changing this country for the better."

She says what's needed in these situations are "engaged citizens" and "principled leaders who are ready to receive the ball and do something about it".

"I promise that I, and my fellow Democrats, will do everything in our power to be the principled leaders that you deserve," she says.

Image source, EPA

Slotkin, delivering the Democratic rebuttal to Trump's speech, then pivots to one of Trump's favourite talking points, and an area where Democrats typically perform worse in the polls - immigration.

"As someone who spent my whole career protecting our homeland, every country deserves to know who and what is coming across its border. Period. Democrats and Republicans should all be for that," she says.

"But securing the border without actually fixing our broken immigration system is dealing with the symptom, not the disease."

Trump spent much of his address tonight celebrating his administration's border work.

Slotkin says: "America is a nation of immigrants. We need a functional system, keyed to the needs of our economy, that allows vetted people to come and work here legally. So I look forward to the President’s plan on that."

"As a Cold War kid, I’m thankful it was Reagan and not Trump in office in the 1980s. Trump would have lost us the Cold War," Slotkin, a Democrat, says.

"I would rather have American leadership over Chinese or Russian leadership any day of the week," she says.

Ronald Reagan remains highly popular with Republicans, 20 years after his death, and many look to his presidency as a time when the US flourished.

Focusing on the White House team headed by Elon Musk known as Doge (for Department of Government Efficiency), Slotkin asks: "Is there anyone in America who is comfortable with him and his gang of 20-year-olds using their own computer servers to poke through your tax returns, your health information, and your bank accounts?"

"No oversight. No protections against cyber-attack. No guardrails on what they do with your private data," she says.

Slotkin concedes that "we need a more efficient government... but change doesn’t need to be chaotic or make us less safe."

Elissa Slotkin, a Senate Democrat from Michigan, is in front of a backdrop of American flags. She turns to what many Americans say they care most about and an issue that helped Trump win the White House: the economy.

"The president talked a big game on the economy, but it's always important to read the fine print," she warns.

She points to the new tariffs Trump imposed on goods from US neighbours roughly 24 hours ago, and the retaliatory tariffs Canada has since put in place. They will start trade war and hurt manufacturing, she adds.

"The national debt is going to go up, not down, and if he's not careful, he could walk us right into a recession."

Image source, EPA

Slotkin starts by saying she is "honoured" to have the opportunity to speak tonight, and promises to be shorter than the president's speech.

She starts by introducing herself and her life so far.

Slotkin says the election "made it clear that prices are too high and that government needs to be more responsive" to people's needs.

"But there is a responsible way to make change, and a reckless way. And, we can make that change without forgetting who we are as a country, and as a democracy," she says.

"So that's what I'll lay out tonight."

Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin is now giving the Democrats' response to Trump's congressional address.

You can watch her speech live on the top of this page.

We'll bring you all the top lines, stick with us.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the Capitol

In his speech, Donald Trump referenced the attempt on his life at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on 13 July.

It became a major part of his speeches going into the November election and he often has spoken of it in religious terms.

At a campaign rally that day, a gunman - later identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania - opened fire from a rooftop overlooking the rally, shooting Trump in the ear and leaving one man dead and two wounded. The aftermath of the chaotic incident ultimately led to the resignation of Kimberly Cheatle, the director of the Secret Service. Trump's new Secret Service Director, Sean Curran, was also there that day, and was pictured rushing on stage to protect the then-candidate. Trump acknowledged Curran in his speech tonight. I was in Butler that day, and many people I met there told me their support for the president was strengthened in the aftermath