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.

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.

Daniel Bush
Washington correspondent

Trump has officially set the record for the longest State of the Union speech, now clocking in at more than 1 hour and 29 minutes, beating Bill Clinton's record from his final address in 2000.

Image source, EPA

Is murder at a 125-year low?published at 03:42 GMT

03:42 GMT

By Lucy Gilder

The president said murder in the US had fallen to “the lowest number in 125 years”.

It’s a claim Trump has made before. When we previously looked into it, the White House pointed us to a study by the think-tank the Council on Criminal Justice which forecasts that the 2025 homicide rate could fall to its lowest level since 1900, when records began, external.

But there is still uncertainty about this as the FBI is yet to publish nationwide numbers for 2025.

"If the official 2025 homicide rate ultimately comes in higher than our current estimate, 2025 may not be the lowest ever recorded - but it would still rank among the lowest homicide rates observed in the US since 1900,” one of the study’s authors, Ernesto Lopez, told BBC Verify.

You can read more here.

Trump says his deployment of National Guard troops in some US cities last year is part of his efforts to deal with crime and promote law and order.

He pays tribute to Sarah Bekstrom, a 20-year-old National Guard member who was fatally shot in Washington DC in November. Her parents are in the audience.

Another National Guard member, Andrew Wolfe, who was also seriously injured in the same attack, is in the audience with his mother.

Trump has announced Wolfe will receive the Purple Heart medal, a military honour given to service members who are killed or wounded on duty. A senior military officer pins the medal on Wolfe.

Beckstrom is also being honoured, with her parents receiving the medal on her behalf.

Image source, Getty Images

Trump is now highlighting crime levels in major US cities and calls out "pro-crime" politicians, who he says release criminals back on to the streets with lax policies.

He then points to a mother in the audience whose daughter was killed in North Carolina after fleeing Ukraine. Trump says the suspect had been arrested more than a dozen times for various offences, before fatally stabbing 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska.

The case drew attention in the US in September, after footage was released showing the attack on a train in Charlotte.

"She had escaped a brutal war only to be slain by a hardened criminal," he says.

Trump then calls on Congress to pass tough legislation to halt the release of violent repeat offenders.

As Trump introduced Erika Kirk, the wife of murdered right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, he said the country must come together and "reject political violence of any kind".

He said that Kirk "was responsible for a large growth in religious belief".

"We love religion, and we love bringing it back," he added.

Image source, Reuters

Daniel Bush
Washington Correspondent

So far, Trump has focused on issues that will rally his Republican base.

There has been little, if anything, in the speech intended to reach across the aisle, and Trump has repeatedly attacked Democrats in the process.

The strategy might appeal to Republican voters, but it likely won’t help him win over independents, at a time when polls show he’s lost significant support with that key group.

Trump calls for states to ban children from accessing gender-related medical care without their parents' consent.

"But surely we can all agree no state could be allowed to rip children from their parents' arms and transition them to a new gender," he tells Congress.

Medical care, including gender-related medical treatments, usually requires parental consent in all US states.

He then called out Democrats who did not stand up and applaud, saying: "These people are crazy."

Daniel Bush
Washington Correspondent

When talking about Voter ID, Trump didn’t specifically refer to the 2020 election.

But he repeated one of the core parts of his false claim that the election was stolen by saying that mail-in ballots are “crooked".

Image source, Reuters

Trump is calling for Congress to pass the Save America Act, a law which would require people to provide proof-of-citizenship when registering to vote as the midterm elections approach.

He says the law will protect elections from "rampant" cheating.

"The reason they don't want to do it ... [is] because they want to cheat," he says, referring to Democratic opposition to the bill.

Democrats say the legislation could prevent citizens who have changed their names and others from voting.

"The only way to get elected is to cheat and we are going to stop it," he says.

Anthony Zurcher
North America correspondent, reporting from the US Capitol

While Trump talks about fraud and attacks the Somali community in Minnesota, one of the Democrats got up and walked out.

Minnesota Democrat Ilhan Omar, the first Somali-American to be elected to Congress, shouts that Trump is a liar.

She’s sitting next to fellow Democrat Representative Rashida Tlaib, who has also made a number of comments.

A congresswoman on the other side of Omar reached over and squeezed her hand after Trump finished his attack on the Somali community.

Image source, Getty Images

Vice-President JD Vance will spearhead a "war on fraud", Trump tells Congress.

He says there's "corruption that is plundering America", in four Democratic-led states: Minnesota, California, Massachusetts and Maine.

Vance has been tasked with rooting out fraud that ends up costing American taxpayers "billions" of dollars, Trump says.

Vance's crackdown has been in effect for four months, Trump says, adding: "If we are able to find enough of that fraud, we will have a balanced budget overnight."

Image source, Reuters

Fact-checking Trump's inflation claimpublished at 03:03 GMT

03:03 GMT

By Tom Edgington

Trump began his speech by comparing the state of the nation now to 12 months ago, before he took office. He said he inherited inflation “at record levels”.

It's true that prices rose significantly during former President Joe Biden's first two years in office, peaking at 9.1% in June 2022, following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which contributed to inflation in other countries.

However, this was not a record, as Trump claimed. This occurred in 1920, when inflation reached 23.7%. It was also higher at points in the 1970s and 1980s.

The pace of inflation has eased since Trump took office last year. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, inflation was 2.4% in the 12 months to January 2026, external, down from 3% in January 2025.

However, that is still above the 2% target set by the Federal Reserve, the US central bank.