Donald Trump is delivering the second State of the Union address of his presidency, where he has the opportunity to lay out his vision for the last two years of his first term in office and beyond.
With a damaging and politically contentious 35-day government shutdown having just ended in Washington, the president stands before a joint session in the House chamber — where is expected to make sweeping calls for unity in a time of dramatic division and to promote lofty efforts like the eradication of HIV by 2030.
But, Mr Trump’s audience in the House chamber will be noticeably different from his address last year. Flanked behind him and to his left will sit Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who proved to be a formidable political foil to Mr Trump during those shutdown negotiations last month after her party took control of the lower chamber during the 2018 midterm elections.
Follow live updates below
Hello and welcome to The Independent's coverage of the build-up to President Trump's second State of the Union address.
As the president prepares to deliver his second State of the Union address following the curtailing of the longest US government shutdown in history, trouble is afoot.
Federal prosecutors from the US Attorney’s Office in New York have issued a subpoena demanding "all documents" from Mr Trump's inauguration committee be turned over to its investigation into alleged funding irregularities.
The criminal inquiry is examining whether some of the committee’s donors, particularly foreign nationals, gave money in exchange for policy concessions, influencing administration positions or access to the incoming administration, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Inaugural committee spokeswoman Kristin Celauro confirmed it had received the order and was still reviewing it. ”It is our intention to cooperate with the inquiry,” she said.
Here's Tom Embury-Dennis with the full story.
Trump inaugural committee suspected of conspiracy to defraud the US and other crimes, subpoena suggests
Investigation deepens into spending on US president's 2016 inauguration celebrationsPresident Trump is meanwhile finally clear to give his speech on the state of the nation to the House of Representatives.
The traditional address was originally scheduled for 29 January but had to be delayed due to the shutdown, an impasse caused by the president's demands for federal funding for his proposed border wall "from sea to shining sea" with Mexico.
The Democrats, led by House speaker Nancy Pelosi, stood firm, refusing to hand over a single red cent as Ms Pelosi suggested the president submit his State of the Union by letter or from an alternative venue.
He declined, but was not above denying the speaker the use of a military plane to fly a congressional committee on a fact-finding mission to Brussels, Egypt and Afghanistan by way of revenge.
Here's Clark Mindock with a reminder of that spectacularly petty episode.
Trump sends Pelosi a letter cancelling her trip after she suggests State of the Union delay
'We will reschedule this seven-day excursion when the shutdown is over'Once the president has given his address - taking place before a packed House at 9pm EST tonight - the Democrats have the chance to nominate a candidate to issue their rebuttal, a custom in place since 1966.
Last year, Massachusetts Democrat Joe Kennedy III, grandson of Bobby Kennedy and grandnephew of John F Kennedy, was the chosen man and was widely praised for his performance.
This time around, the duty falls to Georgia's Stacey Abrams, a former romance novelist who narrowly lost out on her state's governorship after running against Republican Brian Kemp in November's midterms, a race marred by a voter suppression scandal.
Here's Sarah Harvard with an introduction to Ms Abrams.
Everything to know about Stacey Abrams before her State of the Union address
Ms Abrams served as the Democratic leader in the Georgia state General Assembly from 2011 to 2017Here's a guide to the history of the State of the Union address, why it was introduced and how presidents have distinguished themselves at the podium.
Some searing honesty from Gerald Ford here.
The highs and lows of America's State of the Union address
End of government shutdown means POTUS can give his speech a week later than originally scheduledAnd here's Chris Riotta with five things to look out for, from news of the border wall to Nancy Pelosi's real-time reactions.
Five things to look out for in Trump’s State of the Union address
Falsities, eye rolls and special guests: here's what to keep a lookout for on Tuesday nightHere's how you can watch Mr T's big moment.
When is Trump's State of the Union address and how can you watch it?
All major networks and cable news channels will be airing the speechOne of the more eccentric aspects of the State of the Union is that members of the public can be invited to attend by the president and senior members of the House.
Such guests are known as “Lenny Skutniks” after the man Ronald Reagan paid tribute to in 1982 for his courage during the Air Florida Flight 90 crash, the bystander rescuing a passenger from Washington’s Potomac River when the plane struck the capital’s 14th Street Bridge just two miles from the White House.
This year's Skutniks include: an 11-year-old Delaware schoolboy named Joshua Trump, bullied because of his surname; Judah Samet, a survivor of the Holocaust and a mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue; and the family of an elderly Nevada couple killed allegedly by an illegal immigrant.
Alice Johnson will also be there - an Alabama grandmother given life imprisonment for a non-violent drug offence who was granted clemency when Kim Kardashian West brought her case to the president.
Trump invites bullied 11-year-old Joshua Trump to the State of the Union
Boy joins Pittsburgh shooting survivor and family of murdered Nevada couple on guest listIn other Trump news, preparations are underway for the president's next summit with North Korea's Kim Jong-un.
Here's Andrew Buncombe with more.
Place and date of second Trump-Kim summit 'to be revealed'
US president claims there is 'good chance' of delivering on denuclearisationThe president is awake - and now pushing a "human wall". He does appear to mean that literally doesn't he?
As the below tweet indicates, Mr Trump is tonight expected to continue the tactic employed in his Oval Office TV address of 8 January, in which he painted an alarmist picture of the scene on the US southern border and labelled the situation “a humanitarian and security crisis”.
“How much more American blood must be shed before Congress does its job?” he asked at the height of the 35-day shutdown.
The president still hopes to secure the $5.7bn he needs to get his signature campaign promise built and is set to throw down the gauntlet to the Democrats over the issue once more, again with the eyes of millions of American’s glued to their TVs.
He is not expected to declare a national emergency and Nancy Pelosi, sitting directly over his shoulder, is unlikely to change her position on the matter.
Will Trump's border wall ever become a reality?
President insists US faces 'a crisis of the heart and a crisis of the soul' over illegal immigrationRather than declare a national emergency, the president is likely to urge a congressional committee to work out a border security deal by that crucial 15 February deadline.
Our old friend Kellyanne Conway says Mr Trump "has an absolute right" to take the more extreme option but would prefer that lawmakers forge a solution together.
"He wants Congress to finish its work and hopefully come to an agreement, put a deal on his desk that he will sign into law," she told reporters at the White House.
While President Trump is expected to seek to strike a conciliatory note with one eye on the 2020 election, his insistence on the wall makes the balancing act difficult.
"I'm for whatever works that prevents the level of dysfunction we've seen on full display here the last month, and also doesn't bring about a view on the president's part that he needs to declare a national emergency," Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell told reporters last week.
On foreign policy, the Maduro crisis in Venezuela, the apparent demise of Isis in Syria and Mr Kim are all set to be on the agenda.
The speech was reportedly gone over with a fine-tooth comb late last night by vice president Mike Pence, acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, campaign aides Corey Lewandoski and David Bossie and Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union.
BuzzFeed has just published a tranche of internal Trump Organisation documents relating to the proposed Trump Tower Moscow project, following up their story alleging that Michael Cohen was told to lie to Congress about the precise date negotiations with Russia were curtailed.
Robert Mueller himself dismissed the original report as "not accurate" but the news site says the papers "show how secret negotiations... unfolded while Trump was on the campaign trail, publicly praising Putin".
Mr Cohen, the president's estranged former right-hand man, is due to testify before Congress later this week.
The new documents are said to reveal Mr Trump's ambition to build "the tallest tower in Europe" in the Russian capital.
The usual hyperbole or a coherent vision from the former real estate magnate?
Either way, his efforts to underplay the project as a passing fancy look pretty disingenuous.
Back to the State of the Union, where female legislators are being encouraged to wear "suffragette white" to tonight's address as an expression of solidarity.
Potential 2020 Democratic presidential challengers Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand could be among their number.
Here's Katie O'Malley with more.
Women to deliver feminist message to Trump by wearing white at State of the Union
'Wearing suffragette white is a respectful message of solidarity with women across the country’"The number one reason the state of the union has such woes is the president," Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said on Monday.
His adversary has just hit back.
More on what the president might say tonight.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders appeared on Sean Hannity's Fox News show last night and said her boss would highlight his administration's achievements and downplay discord.
Despite the shutdown, the US economy did add 304,000 jobs in January, marking its 100th consecutive month of growth. Mr Trump will not be shy about taking credit.
"You're going to continue see the president push for policies that help continue the economic boom," she said.
"You're also going to see the president call on Congress and say, 'Look, we can either work together and get great things done or we can fight each other and get nothing done.' And frankly, the American people deserve better than that."
Another matter the president is likely to claim credit for is the defeat of Isis.
Mr Trump announced with some confidence a week before Christmas that the Islamist terrorist group had been defeated and that 2,000 American troops would duly be withdrawn from Syria.
International military observers were quick to denounce the president’s triumphalism as premature or naive and, on 20 December, secretary of defence Jim Mattis resigned, telling Mr Trump in his farewell letter the position should be held by someone “whose views are better aligned with yours”.
His national security adviser John Bolton subsequently visited the Middle East to reassure the US’s allies in the Syrian Democratic Forces they would be shielded from Turkish aggression, incurring the wrath of Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara.
Isis is currently believed to hold just 3.9 square miles of territory in Syria, an area smaller than Central Park in New York City.
But a Defense Department inspector-general's report published yesterday warns the group "remains a potent force of battle-hardened and well-disciplined fighters that could likely resurge in Syria" without an American presence.
Will Donald Trump really withdraw US troops from Syria and is Isis beaten?
American exit risks allowing remaining Islamist extremists to regroup and leaves Kurdish allies vulnerable to attack from TurkeyPlease allow a moment for our liveblog to load
.png?w=600)
