Trump delivers national address on economy: Live

Democrats clearly delivered their verdict on President Donald Trump’s speech tonight while also trolling him over the impending release of the Epstein files.

The files are scheduled to be released sometime Friday, marking the end of a 30-day deadline given to the Justice Department last month.

According to reporters in the White House press pool, President Donald Trump’s entourage was in the room watching him deliver his national address.

Press Secretary Carolyn Levitt, Communications Director Steve Cheung, Chief of Staff Susie Wills, Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino and aide Natalie Harp all watched Trump speak from the Diplomatic Reception Room.

Just before the remarks began, an usher brought three Diet Cokes and ice and the President took a sip of his favorite drink just before the speech began.

A group of advisors stood in the back corner during the remarks.

Their live reactions were limited and few nodded when the president talked about pay increases.

Harp reportedly had a smile on his face during the entire speech, while Leavitt watched it on a monitor to see how it would look on TV.

When the comments were over and everything was given the all-clear to the President, he turned to the press and said, “You think it’s easy?” And then took a sip of Diet Coke.

“I’d love to do yours, just click,” he told photo pooler Doug Mills.

He turned to his employees and asked how they did it. They all replied with some version of “great.”

During his relatively brief address tonight, President Donald Trump mentioned his predecessor Joe Biden seven times and the Democrats nine times, according to a transcript.

Trump only spoke for less than 20 minutes, which is much shorter than most of his speeches.

The President previewed that he intended to talk about how he “inherited a mess” from the previous administration and delivered.

He told the press pool after the address that Chief of Staff Susie Wills had told him that he would have to give a speech in 20 minutes.

“I told you 20 minutes and you were in 20 minutes,” Wills said.

President Donald Trump made no mention of rapidly escalating tensions with Venezuela during his speech tonight, although there was speculation he would address it.

That same evening, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that US forces, under his direction, had carried out another deadly attack on a ship in the Pacific, killing four.

At least 99 people have died so far in attacks by the administration.

“Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was transiting a known narco-trafficking route in the eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” the US Southern Command X account said. “A total of four male narco-terrorists were killed, and no US military forces were harmed.”

The attack followed Trump’s call for a “complete and total blockade” of Venezuelan oil tankers.

President Donald Trump touted his TrumpRx website during his address to the nation on Wednesday night, saying it’s part of his plan aimed at saving Americans money on prescription drugs.

“The first of these unprecedented price reductions will be available in January through a new website, TrumpRx.gov,” he said. “And these big price cuts will significantly reduce health care costs.”

He first announced the plan in October.

katie hawkinson The details are there.

fans of survivor People are complaining online about parts of the show’s three-hour finale being missing on Wednesday night, which was paused for the duration of the president’s address to the nation.

“I will keep watching.” Survivor,” one X user claimed. Another said, “Why is mine survivor The closing ceremony is being disrupted by that orange criminal…I’m Canadian.”

Another said, “Somebody tell me when he’s done yapping so I can go back to watch the finale.”

CBS announced that the 3-hour finale would begin at 8 p.m. ET and “pick up where it left off immediately following the President’s address for Eastern and Central Time Zone viewers.”

President Donald Trump delivered a national address Wednesday night that was forceful and angry, leading people on social media to question his mental state.

Former Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger wrote on Twitter, “Somebody’s coming to get Grandpa, he’s screaming again, and we’re worried.”

Journalist John Hardwood said, “He’s really losing it.”

John Ralston, CEO nevada independentWrote, “Just turned on the TV. Are you crazy, bro?”

California Governor Gavin Newsom’s press team took the opportunity to sarcastically comment: “Many people are saying this was a better speech than the Gettysburg Address.”

Trump has promised that energy prices, including gasoline, have fallen and will continue to fall. But they are not at the level they claim.

Trump claimed the national average gas price would be $2.50 per gallon. The AAA average nationally is $2.90. Without providing evidence, Trump also said household energy costs had fallen by $3,000.

Trump promised that the US would open 1,600 new power generation plants “within the next 12 months” – again referring to what he called a “Democrat inflation disaster”.

Fact-checkers are quick to pounce on claims made by President Donald Trump during his address, most of which he has already said.

CNN’s Daniel Dale said Trump “repeated some of his oft-debunked lies tonight.”

Trump repeated his claim that he had “dealt with eight wars in 10 months,” including “ending the war in Gaza,” and said grocery prices were falling “precipitously.”

“Trump hasn’t settled eight wars,” Dell said in a post on X. Continue to grow…”

President Donald Trump used his nationally televised speech on Wednesday to deliver a campaign-style speech in which he blamed his predecessor for the economic problems being felt by Americans a year into his presidency, while offering little in the way of proposals to address rising prices caused by the massive tariffs he has imposed on nearly all American imports. Andrew Feinberg writes.

Speaking from the Diplomatic Reception Room at the White House, Trump began by claiming that he “inherited a mess” that he is now “fixing.”

What happened next was partisan rhetoric indistinguishable from the signature rallies that have been the centerpiece of his political movement, in which he laid out a list of grievances blaming his predecessor for the state of the country nearly a full year after taking the oath of office.