State of the Union 2024 address as it happened: Joe Biden greeted by protesters as he makes his way to Capitol

Fresh from his Super Tuesday victories – which led to Nikki Haley dropping out of the race for the presidential nomination – Donald Trump plans to spend tonight doing a real-time critique of Biden’s speech.

Trump, a man known for his fair share of fibs over the years, announced that he would be doing his own version of a “play-by-play” fact-check.

“I am pleased to inform you that tomorrow night we will be doing a LIVE, Play by Play, of Crooked Joe Biden’s State of the Union Address,” he said in a Truth Social post on Wednesday (local time).

“I will correct, in rapid response, any and all inaccurate Statements, especially pertaining to the Border and his Weaponization of the DOJ [Department of Justice], FBI, A.G’s [attorney generals], and District Attorneys, to go after his Political Opponent, ME (something never done before in this Country!). We did this once before to tremendous success – Beating All Records. It is important for the Country to get the TRUTH!”

It is not just outside the Capitol building where demonstrations are taking place, with Biden’s address sparking pockets of protests across the US.

Activists want the president to push for a permanent ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war and do more to curb Israel’s attacks in Gaza.

Protesters blocked traffic in Boston and Los Angeles. More than 50 arrests were made in Boston, according to one activist group and a local media report.

“We are here today because enough is enough,” said Ahmad Abuznaid, executive director of the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations advocacy group said the speech was Biden’s “best and perhaps last chance” to announce steps to reduce Palestinian suffering in Gaza and win back the support of Arab, Palestinian and anti-war Americans disappointed with his policy.

Senior US administration officials said beforehand that Biden would discuss US plans to build a port in Gaza to ship in humanitarian aid.

Hours before the speech, the US Capitol was ringed with a high wire fence as is typical ahead of the annual presidential speech to both houses of Congress.

A Palestinian flag hung from the balcony of a congressional office building, and small groups of protesters chanted “ceasefire now” on street corners, some wearing keffiyehs, the traditional Palestinian scarf.

Reuters

One thing to watch tonight is whether Biden will mention Trump by name during his speech.

One excerpt released by the White House refers to the Republican former president – and the age of Trump and Biden – but not directly:

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

One person you won’t see in the audience tonight is Olena Zelenska, the wife of Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky.

Ukraine’s first lady was invited but politely declined due to a scheduling conflict – or maybe there was more to it.

According to the Washington Post, Zelenska was supposed to sit near Jill Biden and Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Russian opposition leader Alexie Navalny, who died in a prison in Russia last month.

However, this reportedly got a bit awkward, according to the Post’s sources, as some Ukrainians don’t necessarily see opposition figures like Navalnaya as allies in the fight against Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The need to support Ukraine will nonetheless be a feature of Biden’s speech tonight. With military funding for Ukraine stalled in Congress, a group of protesters also stood outside the Capitol demanding action.

One woman held up a sign saying “Do the right thing, America”, while another had one saying: “Help Ukraine: Stop WWIII”.

As the president was preparing to make the journey from the White House to the US Capitol building, pro-Palestinian protesters gathered on the streets of Washington in a bid to obstruct the motorcade route he would take to deliver his speech.

The demonstration is one of many that Biden has faced since the Israel-Hamas war flared up, and yet another sign of the ongoing rage over his refusal to demand a ceasefire.

The issue is so sensitive for Biden that part of his preparation for tonight’s address involved tips on how to potentially deal with hecklers in his own party over this issue.

One of his most vocal critics within the Democratic progressive wing is Michigan politician Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian-American person elected to the US Congress.

She’s also the sister of one of the activists who organised last week’s “uncommitted” vote against Biden in the Michigan primary race.

Also invited to attend the State of the Union is Julian Assange’s brother Gabriel Shipton.

Shipton has been invited by Republican representative Thomas Massie, in what is seen as a pointed message to the Biden administration and US’ attempt to extradite the WikiLeaks founder from Britain for his role in publishing classified information.

Assange, 52, is accused of conspiring with the US army whistleblower Chelsea Manning to hack into a Pentagon computer, and of releasing a huge cache of classified government documents in 2010, including 90,000 reports relating to the war in Afghanistan, 400,000 relating to the Iraq war and 250,000 US diplomatic cables.

England’s High Court is considering whether Australian-born Assange, who has been held in Belmarsh prison for almost five years, can be granted leave to appeal against an extradition decision made in 2022 by the then UK home secretary, Priti Patel.

The High Court has reserved its decision.

Massie, along with 13 other US politicians, signed a bipartisan letter last month calling for Assange’s release.

There have been some chaotic scenes outside the White House ahead of the State of the Union address.

A man has been arrested after he revved his engine at pro-Palestinian protesters gathered there.

The FBI is now also on the scene and the car is being towed away.

There’s a lot of pageantry that goes into State of the Union speeches. The president entering a packed chamber. The standing ovation from his side of the political aisle. The laundry list of policies and on-cue applause. The inevitable heckling from opponents.

And there’s always a guest list of people invited to sit in the first lady’s viewing box because they highlight the themes of the administration’s agenda.

This year, that list includes Jazmin Cazares, whose sister Jackie was one of the students killed in the mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, along with 18 other students and two teachers.

United Workers Union president Shawn Fain is also on the guest list, along with Maria Shriver, the founder of the Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement and the cousin of US Ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy, and political candidate Robert F Kennedy Jnr.

Jill Biden also invited an Alabama woman, Latorya Beasley, whose IVF embryo transfer was cancelled following the Alabama Supreme Court ruling that frozen embryos should be considered children.

And in another sign of just how central reproductive rights are to the Democrats’ campaign, she also invited Kate Cox, a Texas woman who had to travel out of state for abortion care that she would have been able to receive if the Supreme Court had not repealed Roe v Wade.