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 25 February

03:42 GMT 25 February

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 25 February

03:03 GMT 25 February

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.

Daniel Bush
Washington Correspondent

Trump has made the issue of affordability a key part of his speech, weaving it into remarks on health care, energy and housing.

It appears clear that the president and his team have read the polls showing that a majority of Americans are worried about rising costs.

The issue hurt former President Joe Biden, who saw inflation rise under his watch.

Trump seems intent on avoiding the same fate heading into the 2026 midterms.

Daniel Bush
Washington correspondent

In his first term, Republicans tried and failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare.

Trump continues to criticise the law, but tonight he’s focusing on bringing down health care costs, a tacit admission that more than a decade after it went into effect, the ACA isn’t going anywhere.

Trump is now talking about healthcare costs.

He says his is confronting "one of the biggest rip-offs of our times, the crushing cost of healthcare".

Trump blames the high costs on the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, saying that insurance companies have used those policies to get rich.

The president says he is going to push for healthcare price transparency and ending the "wildly inflated cost of prescription drugs". He adds that other presidents were "all talk and no action".

Trump credits a "stunning economic turnaround" on the effectiveness of his tariffs.

He calls the Supreme Court's recent ruling against many of his tariffs "disappointing" and "unfortunate", staring in the direction of the four out of nine justices seated in Congress.

Despite the ruling, tariffs "will remain in place under fully approved and tested alternative legal statuses", Trump says, adding they will "somebody fully replace income taxes".

There was a resounding silence when Trump first emphasised the word "tariffs", but rumblings from the chamber could then be heard as he claimed the import taxes were "working well".

"Even the Democrats know it," he adds.

Daniel Bush
Washington Correspondent

The Supreme Court ruling striking down Trump’s sweeping global tariffs was one of the biggest setbacks of his second term.

But tonight, he is painting the decision as a mere bump in the road, while pledging to find other ways to continue his tariffs agenda.

However, to do so, he’ll need help from Congress. The 15% tariffs he put in place after the Supreme Court ruling expire in 150 days if Congress doesn’t extend them.

Anthony Zurcher
North America correspondent, reporting from the US Capitol

Nineteen days ago, the S&P stock index hit 7,000 - a mark that Donald Trump celebrated at the time and noted again tonight.

But the index quickly dropped below that number and has yet to reach it again.

There are then murmurs around the chamber as Trump mentions tariffs for the first time.

Notably, this hasn’t been an applause line for Republicans, who have been quick to cheer previous portions of Trump’s speech.

This portion of the speech is sucking the air out of the room.

Trump finally gets some applause from Republicans when he says the tariffs could abolish the income tax.

That, it appears, is an idea they can get behind.

Image source, Reuters

Anthony Zurcher
North America correspondent, reporting from the US Capitol

For the first time since the start of Trump’s speech, most of the Democrats have stirred from their seats. It took the US hockey team’s arrival to do it. Trump quipped: “That’s the first time I’ve seen them get up."

It’s no secret that Trump is a sports fan. He used to own a professional football team, after all. And he seems to be particularly relishing the opportunity to bask in the glow of the American gold medal team.

Expect more of that this year, when the US co-hosts the World Cup - and when Washington holds a number of sporting events during America’s 250th anniversary celebration.

Image source, Getty Images

Trump tells Congress that the "state of our union is strong".

"Our country is winning again," he adds.

Then, he introduces the US men's hockey team, who just won gold at the Olympics. The players emerge from behind doors, and walk into the chamber to take their seats.

The team's attendance has been a talking point, after the women's team, which also won gold, declined an invitation.

Trump, in his remarks, notes the women's victory, adding that they "will soon be coming to the White House".

Before moving on, Trump says that he plans to award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to the team's goaltender, Connor Hellebuyck. The award is the highest civilian honour a president can give.

Image source, Getty Images