For International Women’s Day, which falls annually on March 8, people across the world are celebrating with a variety of tones. Some festivities are commemorating the achievements of women, others are protesting in an effort to end gender inequalities and gender-based violence. In Bangkok, women took to the streets and marched, equipped with banners, as did activists in Berlin. Meanwhile, across the U.K., some women marked the day by participating in sunrise swims. Across the U.S., Women’s March—a network born out of Trump’s first presidency and dedicated to building a base of feminist activism—and affiliates organized marches to mobilize and celebrate their “Unite and Resist” call to action. According to Women’s March executive director Rachel O’Leary Carmona, the goal of the day is to help people “build community” and “practice democracy,” particularly at a time when democratic resistance to President Donald Trump's Administration presents as fractured. This was seen most plainly at Trump’s congressional address on Tuesday, during which varying responses from Democrats—including some congresswomen who were dressed in pink to denote their disapproval with how Trump’s policies affect women and families, other members of Congress wearing blue and yellow in solidarity with Ukraine, and some lawmakers who walked out of the speech in protest—showed a fragmented and broad messaging from the left. Carmona says that just because the left has different priorities and goals, does not mean they cannot be united in their “fight against” what she describes as “authoritarianism.” And Carmona sees these International Women’s Day actions as a moment to practice this unity. “Just because different folks are building different things, does not mean that everyone is not running in the same direction,” Carmona says. “I think the country is fragmented across the board… some people are focused on feminism, some are focused on immigration rights. But when [people] just say, ‘Oh, the left is fractured.’ I think that is how they stop people from building power.” Women’s March—which held a worldwide protest the day after Trump’s first Inauguration Day in 2017—was seen as a heavily unifying force during Trump's initial term, bringing an estimated 500,000 marchers to Washington, D.C. and over 4 million throughout the United States. Carmona calls the first march “historic” and “the tip of the spear” of resistance. The iconography of the original march and its message lives on. However, these are different times. “We are eight years later. Two presidential terms later. We're post-COVID, post-Jan. 6, [2021], post-Dobbs,” she says. “[We have] struggled to meet the moment, as so much of the moment has changed.” Women’s March has worked to rebrand along with the times. In the years after 2017, the network faced internal fractures with concerns that participants were “overwhelmingly white” and accusations of anti-semitism. Now, Women’s March is keen to revive its unifying X-factor amid Trump’s second term, attempting to meet the moment with multi-racial, intersectional, and multifaceted activism. This means welcoming back previous activists and participants, but also breathing life into the cause with new voices. Ashley Parys and Kailani Rodriguez are two first-time organizers who spearheaded International Women’s Day 2025 events in their respective cities. For Parys, organizing in the Boston area has been a whirlwind, but she says that women who have led marches in the past have helped her find her footing. She says she’s grown from a “baby activist” to someone who will continue to show up for Women’s March in the future. Ahead of the big day, the Women’s March Boston action website page logged close to 1,500 RSVPs. “People [emailed me] saying they’re going to bring buses of women of all ages to the protest,” Parys says. Rodriguez, 19, graduated high school in 2023 and organized a debut Women’s March in her small town of Port Angeles in Washington State. When she looked for Women’s Day actions to participate in, the closest one she could find was in Seattle, which is a few hours away. She began organizing a more local action only a few days ahead of the big day, and ended up receiving hundreds of messages from prospective attendees and others hosting similar activism sessions. “I wasn’t expecting this to happen. I wasn’t expecting to be the one in charge of it…it just fell into my lap,” Rodriguez says, noting that she has received a lot of support from older generations. For Carmona, International Women’s Day 2025 is about people like Rodriguez and Parys helping their community practice democracy, and in doing so, practicing democracy themselves. “What we're trying to do is help folks build community. Give folks a chance to organize something in their communities at a time that’s not a trigger moment, because things get very heightened inside of a moment of a Supreme Court decision that doesn't go our way, or a right that's been stripped,” she says. “We want to build relationships [now] so that when the time comes, we're able to be with each other in principled struggle.”

President Donald Trump appeared on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures with host Maria Bartiromo, in which he discussed a variety of issues from his first few weeks back in the White House. Key talking points included his tariffs, which have resulted in a trade war, mounting fears that the U.S. may be heading into a recession, and foreign relations—specifically that with Ukraine, after Trump clashed with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office on Feb. 28. Bartiromo, who Trump just appointed to the Kennedy Center Board, sat down with the President for the interview that aired on March 9 and was filmed during the past week. Here are some of the key topics Trump shared his views on: Recession fears Consumers and experts alike have shown concern about a possible recession, particularly amid the Trump Administration’s proposed reciprocal tariffs and the mass layoffs largely triggered by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under Elon Musk. The Atlanta Federal Reserve model suggested that economic growth might be negative in Q1 2025. Trump did not rule out the possibility of economic hardship, arguing that the economy and the U.S. population will have to adjust to the changes being made. “I hate to predict things like that,” Trump said, when asked if he is expecting a recession this year. “There is a period of transition, because what we’re doing is very big. We’re bringing wealth back to America. There are always periods of… it takes a little time. It takes a little time. But I think it should be great for us.” What is happening with Trump’s tariffs Bartiromo pushed for more detail on tariffs, stating that businesses want “clarity” and predictability for shareholder purposes amid Trump’s proposed tariffs and, more specifically, his decision to delay some of those tariffs on Canada and Mexico. Trump said that businesses will have clarity after April 2, when his reciprocal tariffs are set to be put in place. But he also said that the tariffs may well rise over time. “The tariffs could go up as time goes by, they may go up…” he said. “This country has been ripped off from every nation in the world, every company in the world. We've been ripped off at levels never seen before, and what we're going to do is get it back.” Trump went on to reaffirm his belief that more business and production should be carried out on American soil. “Build it here, there’s no tariff,” he said. Where U.S. and Ukraine relations stand after the Zelensky Oval Office confrontation When asked by Bartiromo about the Oval Office exchange between himself and Zelensky, Trump said that Zelensky is a “smart and tough guy” and likened him getting U.S. aid from the Biden Administration after Russia invaded Ukraine to taking “candy from a baby.” “He [Zelensky] took money out of this country under Biden like taking candy from a baby. It was so easy,” Trump said, adding: “I just don’t think he’s grateful.” Trump went on to say if he had been President at the time, Russia wouldn’t have invaded Ukraine. He also said that other global events—such as Hamas’ assault on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023— wouldn’t have happened if he was in the White House. When asked about the U.S.-Ukraine minerals deal—the original intended focus of Trump and Zelensky’s Oval Office meeting—and whether it will still go ahead, Trump said he “thinks so.” If there are plans to cut defense spending Trump was asked about the Administration's plan to shrink the size of the federal government, a charge spearheaded by DOGE under the watchful eye of Musk. These cuts, though, will not affect defense spending for the time being. Trump said he would “love” to cut defense spending, but will not do so “now.” “You have China, you have Russia, you have a lot of problems out there,” he said, rueful that the government has to spend so much on nuclear weapons. He also reiterated his message that social security and Medicaid will not be affected by the DOGE spending cuts. Trump’s proposed “gold card” route to U.S. citizenship Trump addressed his recent proposal of a “gold card” route to citizenship, putting a $5 million price tag on a card that would allow foreign-born potential immigrants a pathway into the United States. Championing his idea, Trump told Bartiromo that major companies have reached out to him about how hard it is to hire talent from good schools when immigrants must leave the country after their education ends. “You graduate number one at the Wharton School of Finance, or Harvard, or Stanford, and you get thrown out of the country,” Trump said. “And [businesses] want to hire these people. Now, they can buy a gold card and they can take that gold card and make it a part of their deal to get these top students—no different than an athlete.” Read More: What Is Trump’s ‘Gold Card’ Route to Citizenship and How Might It Work? The future of education in the U.S. Trump spoke out about his thoughts on America’s education system amid the news that he wishes to dismantle the Department of Education. “We want to bring the schools back to the States, because we have the worst, literally, we have the worst Education Department and education in the world,” Trump claimed. “We're ranked at the bottom of the list, and yet we're number one when it comes to cost per pupil.” In defense of Elon Musk and DOGE Amid mounting concerns about the oversight Musk and DOGE have been given to cut spending at the federal level—from firing the federal workforce in droves to terminating thousands of government contracts—Trump defended the Tesla and X owner. “What he’s done is unbelievable,” Trump said of Musk, referring to him as a “patriot” and championing his ability to spot financial waste. “This is something that’s really not good for him, and yet he’s doing it. But, he’s opened a lot of eyes.” Trump’s defense of Musk lands amid reports that Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Musk have clashed over DOGE’s actions. Trump addressed the reports via his social media platform, Truth Social, on Saturday evening, stating that the two cabinet members have a “great relationship,” and any statement otherwise is “fake news.” Negotiations with Iran Trump addressed the news that he recently sent a letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei over the country’s advancing nuclear program. There are two ways to “deal” with Iran, Trump said: with the military or with a deal. “I would prefer to make a deal, because I'm not looking to hurt Iran. They're great people,” Trump said. “I've written them a letter saying, ‘I hope you're going to negotiate,’ because if we have to go in militarily, it's going to be a terrible thing for them.” Trump’s comments about Iran initially aired on Friday, seemingly prompting a response from the country’s Supreme Leader the following day. Khamenei reportedly said Iran would not negotiate with “bullying governments” insisting on discussions.

Last week, after President Donald Trump’s introduction of his “Liberation Day” tariffs, the global and U.S. stock markets took a major hit, as Wall Street slumped and the U.S. dollar dipped. As Trump introduced a blanket 10% tariffs on all imported goods, and additional import taxes placed on 60 other countries, last week saw the worst week for U.S. stocks since the markets crashed in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Dow Jones average closed on Friday, April 4, 2,000 points down, the S&P Index plunged 6%, and Nasdaq dipped almost 6%. Experts and consumers alike fear a recession as a result of the tariffs—and uncertainty and volatility in the markets have left homebuyers wondering how this will affect mortgage rates. Throughout his campaign, Trump ran on a promise of affordability. Homebuyers' concerns loomed large over the 2024 election as the housing crisis affected voters across the country, with high mortgage rates playing a central role in purchasing power. Here’s what you need to know about what Trump’s tariffs mean for mortgage rates. How have tariffs affected mortgage rates so far? With concerns about economic growth and the stock market, investors are seeking the relative safety of the Treasury market, driving equities lower and bond prices higher. As a result, the first week following Trump’s tariff news pushed interest rates down—as of April 3, one day after the president's announcement, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 6.64%, down 0.01 percentage points from a week earlier and 0.18 percentage points from a year earlier, according to the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation. And according to data released Wednesday by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), mortgage applications last week jumped 20% from the prior week and reached the highest level since September 2024. At the start of this week, though, mortgage rates began to climb on Monday and Tuesday as uncertainty continues to rock the economy on multiple sides. How do experts expect tariffs to affect mortgage rates in the future? Laurence Kotlikoff, professor of economics at Boston University, believes that the uncertainty in the market—and subsequently the risk of recession—will continue to hike up mortgage rates. If people are looking to buy soon, he says now may be the lowest the mortgage rates will be for some time. “We could see 10% mortgage rates with what's going on here,” Kotlikoff told TIME. “Initial mortgages with their adjustable rates might have been lower for a few days last week, but the longer term picture here is that we just had five years of cumulative 25% inflation. Mortgage rates are high because of that, and if inflation tends to head up, I think you can see mortgage rates at 10% because there’s just extra risk.” This is Kotlikoff’s prediction, but experts also say that the rise and fall of mortgage rates over the past week shows the volatility of the markets right now. What happens with mortgages is likely dependent on whether or not the U.S. goes into a recession, or whether there is massive inflation in consumer prices. A rise in inflation is likely to prevent the Federal Reserve from cutting interest rates significantly, a move that many have been counting on to improve affordability in the U.S. housing market. “Slower growth and heightened uncertainty are likely to drag on housing market activity,” MBA commentators Mike Fratantoni and Joel Kan said in a March forecast on MBA’s website. At the time, they cited mortgage rates declining from over 7% in January to as low as 6.5% in February—marking the “lowest levels thus far in 2025.” “Net impact on the mortgage market will be mixed,” they concluded, “revealing itself only through the weekly and monthly data.” Given the tumultuous economic situation, “flexibility is key” from homebuyers, says Bruce Maginn, financial advisor at Solomon Financial. They must be able to financially respond to either potential inflation or large-scale retaliation in a trade war that could end in a U.S. recession. What has Trump said about mortgage rates? Trump has stood steadfast beside his tariff decisions. He previously said that lowering interest rates for affordability purposes will be possible with tariffs. "Interest Rates should be lowered, something which would go hand in hand with upcoming Tariffs!!!" Trump wrote in a post on Feb. 12 on Truth Social. On April 7, as the market continued to handle hits, Trump also posted about mortgage rates, stating that “the slow moving Fed should cut rates”—something he has called for multiple times since he entered office. “This would be a perfect time for Fed Chairman Jerome Powell to cut Interest Rates. He is always ‘late,’ but he could now change his image, and quickly,” Trump posted on Truth Social on April 4. “Cut interest rates, Jerome, and stop playing politics!” That same day, Powell told journalists that the tariffs introduced by Trump were “significantly larger than expected,” and that the Fed was “well positioned to wait for greater clarity before considering any adjustments to our policy stance.”

The U.S. decision to suspend the flow of military intelligence to Ukraine this week has aided the Russian advance along a critical part of the front, weakening the negotiating position of President Volodymyr Zelensky and killing many Ukrainian soldiers in recent days, according to five senior Western and Ukrainian officials and military officers familiar with the situation. “As a result of this pause, there are hundreds of dead Ukrainians,” one of the officers told TIME in an interview on Friday in Kyiv, asking not to be named when discussing sensitive military operations. “The biggest problem is morale,” he added, as the armed forces of Ukraine are being left to fight without some of their best weapons systems, not as a result of Russian attacks but American pull backs. “It’s really causing an advantage for the enemy on the front line.” The U.S. stopped providing intelligence to Ukraine shortly after the Presidents of both counties, Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump, clashed in the Oval Office on Feb. 28. During the meeting, Zelensky questioned whether the Russians could be trusted to abide by any ceasefire. President Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance responded by berating the Ukrainian leader on camera. “You don’t have the cards," Trump said. "You’re gambling with World War III.” In the days that followed, the U.S. suspended military aid to Ukraine, including intelligence sharing. Questioned about that decision on Thursday, President Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, General Keith Kellogg, said the Ukrainians had “brought it on themselves.” The U.S. response to Zelensky’s position was “sort of like hitting a mule with a two-by-four across the nose," Kellogg said. "Got their attention." The impact for the Ukrainians has been most acute in the Russian region of Kursk, where the Ukrainian armed forces are struggling to hold a swath of territory that they seized in a shock offensive last August. That assault marked the first foreign invasion of Russian land since World War II, humiliating the Kremlin and drawing thousands of North Korean troops into the war to help Russia regain control of the area. President Zelensky sees that region as a critical source of leverage in any future peace talks with the Russians. His aim is to trade parts of the Kursk area for Ukrainian land that Russia has occupied. “We will swap one territory for another,” Zelensky told the Guardian last month. Since the U.S. halted intelligence sharing, however, the Russians have made swift advances in Kursk, aiming to cut off Ukrainian supply lines into the region, according to military officers and fresh maps of the battlefield produced by Deep State, an open-source intelligence organization. “If we do nothing, there will be huge consequences,” the co-founder of Deep State, Roman Pogorily, told local media on Tuesday. The main supply line for Ukrainian troops operating in Kursk is now “under constant attack,” he added. “It is impossible to move normally along it.” Advertisement A source in the Zelensky government confirmed that operations in the region of Kursk have been worst affected by the loss of access to U.S. intelligence. “Not only Kursk, in all Russian territory there are problems now,” he says. The Ukrainians have lost the ability to detect the approach of Russian bombers and other warplanes as they take off inside Russia. As a result, Ukraine has less time to warn civilians and military personnel about the risk of an approaching airstrike or missile. “It’s very dangerous for our people,” the government source says. “It has to be immediately changed.” These capabilities have now been crippled without access to information from U.S. satellites. Even Maxar Technologies, a private space technology company headquartered in Colorado, has stopped sending Ukraine images from its satellites, according to two Ukrainian military officers familiar with the situation. Ukrainian forces have often used satellite images from Maxar to plan long-range strikes against Russia. In an emailed statement to TIME on Friday, Maxar Technologies confirmed the disruption to service in Ukraine. “The U.S. government has decided to temporarily suspend Ukrainian accounts” in the system that the government uses to provide access to commercial satellite imagery. “Maxar has contracts with the U.S. government and dozens of allied and partner nations around the world to provide satellite imagery and other geospatial data,” it said. “Each customer makes their own decisions on how they use and share that data.” Adding to the Ukrainian sense of abandonment, the group of Western “partners” who helped receive and process satellite intelligence at the military headquarters in Kyiv have departed, says the source close to Ukraine’s general staff. “There’s no one left,” he says, declining to be more specific in identifying what “partners” he meant. Some European intelligence agencies have rushed to help fill the gap left by the Trump Administration. But it will take time for them to deploy, and they are not likely to make up for U.S. intelligence capabilities any time soon, two of the Ukrainian officers say. “We are really thankful to European partners,” one of them says. “This is the only one solid point that gives us any hope, because without this support, we cannot survive.”

The Trump Administration dropped a high-profile lawsuit over the right to emergency abortions in Idaho on March 5—a stark reversal from the Biden Administration, and a move that reproductive rights advocates, providers, patients, and legislators have called “devastating” and “troubling.” “Unfortunately, it was not a surprise at all. We have been nervous but ready for this decision to come down. I think the Trump Administration has abandoned pregnant women in medical crises by abandoning [this case],” says Idaho State Sen. Melissa Wintrow, a Democrat. “They dropped that case, which was only holding onto the sliver of protection in a crisis, and they can’t even allow that. Think about that: they can’t even allow a pregnant woman to go to the emergency room, and if her life and health are in jeopardy, to get medical treatment that could save it or preserve her health. That speaks volumes.” On March 5, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, which had initially been brought by the Biden Administration. Doing so would have permitted Idaho to fully enforce its near-total ban on abortion, even in medical emergencies, but Idaho U.S. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill blocked that move by granting a temporary restraining order at the request of the state’s largest health care provider, St. Luke’s Health System, which had filed its own lawsuit on the issue in January, in anticipation of the Trump Administration dropping the case. The initial case was one of the Biden Administration’s efforts to protect reproductive rights in the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade. At the heart of the lawsuit is a federal law known as the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), which requires emergency rooms receiving Medicare funding to stabilize patients experiencing medical emergencies before discharging or transferring them, regardless of the patients’ ability to pay. The Biden Administration argued that emergency abortion care is required under EMTALA, and that Idaho’s near-total ban on abortion prevents doctors from providing that care in medical emergencies. The state of Idaho has insisted that the state’s ban doesn’t conflict with federal law. On March 5, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, which had initially been brought by the Biden Administration. Doing so would have permitted Idaho to fully enforce its near-total ban on abortion, even in medical emergencies, but Idaho U.S. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill blocked that move by granting a temporary restraining order at the request of the state’s largest health care provider, St. Luke’s Health System, which had filed its own lawsuit on the issue in January, in anticipation of the Trump Administration dropping the case. The initial case was one of the Biden Administration’s efforts to protect reproductive rights in the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade. At the heart of the lawsuit is a federal law known as the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), which requires emergency rooms receiving Medicare funding to stabilize patients experiencing medical emergencies before discharging or transferring them, regardless of the patients’ ability to pay. The Biden Administration argued that emergency abortion care is required under EMTALA, and that Idaho’s near-total ban on abortion prevents doctors from providing that care in medical emergencies. The state of Idaho has insisted that the state’s ban doesn’t conflict with federal law. “EMTALA was never enough anyway, but it did add a little layer of a legal safeguard for necessary abortions and [health] care when it was a health emergency,” Wintrow says. “It was the last shred, the bare minimum protection for women in Idaho.” The case filed by the Biden Administration eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in June 2024 that Idaho hospitals receiving federal dollars were temporarily permitted to provide emergency abortions in situations where patients are facing serious health risks. But the court declined to rule on whether the state’s ban conflicts with EMTALA, throwing the case back down to lower court judges on procedural grounds. Since Winmill granted St. Luke’s the temporary restraining order, doctors in Idaho are allowed to provide abortions in emergency situations for now, as the court reviews the case. The judge’s ruling prohibits the Idaho Attorney General’s Office from prosecuting doctors providing that care. The state Attorney General’s Office declined to comment on the pending litigation filed by St. Luke’s, but released a statement reacting to the news that the Trump Administration had dropped the lawsuit brought in during former President Joe Biden’s term. “It has been our position from the beginning that there is no conflict between EMTALA and Idaho’s Defense of Life Act,” Attorney General Raúl Labrador said in the press release. “We are grateful that meddlesome DOJ litigation on this issue will no longer be an obstacle to Idaho enforcing its laws.” The Justice Department and White House did not respond to a request for comment on the decision to dismiss the case. In a January press release (reviewed by TIME) announcing its own lawsuit, St. Luke’s chief physician executive Dr. Jim Souza said the conflict between the state’s near-total abortion ban and EMTALA “makes it impossible to provide the highest standard of care in some of the most heartbreaking situations.” Carrie Flaxman, a senior legal advisor for the national legal organization Democracy Forward and a reproductive rights law expert, says that the Trump Administration’s decision to drop the lawsuit is in line with Project 2025, which claimed that “EMTALA requires no abortions” and encouraged the incoming presidential Administration to reverse what it called “distorted pro-abortion ‘interpretations’ added to” the federal law. (Trump distanced himself from Project 2025 during the 2024 election cycle, but some of his closest advisers were involved in drafting the handbook). Flaxman says the change in the presidential Administration’s stance on the issue “is only going to sow confusion among doctors about how to comply with the law,” adding that “it is patients that end up suffering” amid such confusion. Doctors in Idaho have said that the full enforcement of the state’s near-total ban would prevent them from providing standard care in urgent situations. St. Luke’s lawyers said in their complaint that, when Idaho fully enforced its near-total ban on abortion for a few months in 2024, the health system was forced to airlift six patients experiencing medical emergencies out of the state to help them access care. “The St. Luke’s medical providers treating these six patients when the law was fully in effect faced a terrible choice: they could either wait until the risks to the patient’s health became life-threatening or transfer the patient out of state,” St. Luke’s lawyers said in the complaint. “The first option was medically unsound and dangerous because these patients’ conditions could cause serious health complications if untreated, including systemic bleeding, liver hemorrhage and failure, kidney failure, stroke, seizure, and pulmonary edema. Moreover, watching a patient suffer and deteriorate until death is imminent is intolerable to most medical professionals.” At the same time, airlifting patients also puts patients at risk because it can lead to “significant delays in care,” St. Luke’s lawyers pointed out. Dr. Caitlin Gustafson—a family physician, abortion provider, and president of the Idaho Coalition for Safe Healthcare Foundation—says the state’s near-total ban leaves doctors struggling to parse through the laws when they’re trying to provide critical care to patients. When a patient experiences a medical emergency, delays in care can be dangerous and lead to other complications, Gustafson says. For instance, if a pregnant patient is hemorrhaging, and their health deteriorates, the patient’s condition could worsen to a point where their future fertility is at risk. “Without EMTALA, we are forced into a situation where we have to wait. ‘Are they sick enough?’ The law in Idaho says we may intervene with abortion care if it is to prevent the death. Well, that is a continuum, right? There is not a moment in which a patient holds up a sign and says, ‘Now is the moment where this is life-threatening,’” Gustafson says. (Gustafson is a St. Luke’s employee, but gave this interview as a representative of the Idaho Coalition for Safe Healthcare Foundation.) Kayla Smith’s experience with Idaho’s near-total abortion ban was part of the reason she and her family moved out of Idaho to Washington State. In 2022, when Smith was around 18-19 weeks pregnant with her second baby, her ultrasound revealed that her baby had several serious fetal anomalies. Doctors said her baby likely wouldn’t survive birth. They were also concerned that continuing the pregnancy would be dangerous for Smith and put her at risk of developing preeclampsia, since she had experienced the condition while pregnant with her first child. But because Idaho’s near-total ban on abortion had just gone into effect, Smith was forced to travel out of state to Washington to receive abortion care. Smith remembers asking her doctor a series of “what if” questions. What if she carried to term? What would that look like? What if she did develop preeclampsia? “The deciding point for me was during that appointment. I wanted to do the most humane thing for [my baby], but also [I realized] that my life was at risk because [the doctor] looked at me and was like, ‘I don’t know how sick you have to be with preeclampsia before we can induce you,’” Smith says. Smith, who is a plaintiff in a separate lawsuit against Idaho requesting that the court clarify and expand the medical emergency exceptions under the state’s abortion ban, says she knows she was privileged to be able to travel out of state to obtain the care she needed, as that option is not available to others. For Smith—who has since become an advocate for the reproductive rights advocacy nonprofit Free & Just—the reality of the Trump Administration dropping the EMTALA lawsuit is “devastating.” “I’m really afraid for women right now,” she says. “We don’t know what’s going to happen.” Smith, Gustafson, and Wintrow say they are all grateful to St. Luke’s for taking over the case. Wintrow says “it took great courage to do so,” adding that the health system “saw the writing on the wall” with the new Administration and preemptively filed its lawsuit to try and protect pregnant people’s access to emergency abortion care in Idaho. Smith says that if the courts side against St. Luke’s, “women are going to die.” She and Wintrow also say that the Trump Administration dropping the lawsuit has implications beyond Idaho, and fear that it might embolden other states to restrict emergency abortion care. “This is not just going to affect Idaho,” Smith says. “I really feel like this has given the green light to those other red states who have abortion bans to also just dismiss EMTALA completely.”

This article is part of The D.C. Brief, TIME’s politics newsletter. Sign up here to get stories like this sent to your inbox. It’s been a week of searing reversals coming out of the White House, making it difficult to take anything it says at face value. The most conspicuous example of this was the nebulous state of President Donald Trump's tariffs with Canada and Mexico, which seesawed over a matter of days from being unequivocally on, to mostly off, and then maybe, sort of, on again. Amid all that, the President boasted of Elon Musk's free hand to fire thousands of government workers in a speech to Congress that was rife with obfuscations and fabrications. Two days later, after a hastily called Cabinet meeting, Trump announced some new restraints on his fellow billionaire. But even in a truly head-spinning week in this new era in Washington, one Trump remark stands out in how utterly unbelievable it was. “I’m not even looking at the market,” the President said Thursday in a fib that left even his defenders with little response. One top aide in Republican Leadership perhaps summed up all of D.C.’s reaction best when he messaged me back on an encrypted app with an eye-roll emoji. A second Republican who worked in Trump’s first administration suggested we had perhaps fallen into a parallel universe: “We are on Earth 10,000.” This is, after all, a President who spent most of his first term using Wall Street as a proxy for not only the economy’s health, but his overall success as the nation’s leader. “That big Stock Market increase must be credited to me,” Trump insisted in what was then called a tweet in 2019. “If Hillary won - a Big Crash!” So despite what Trump claimed on Thursday when asked about the impact of his confusing tariff policies, this is an administration that lives by the markets and dies by them, and right now that barometer is falling fast. Friday’s jobs report had been expected to help Wall Street recover, after its gains since Trump’s election in November evaporated in short order. Since reaching a peak on Dec. 16, the tech-heavy Nasdaq is now down 10% from its high-record mark that Trump once promoted. The broader Dow is down more than 5%. A panicked investor-class selloff put the markets on pace for the worst week since September. As one political adviser to the financial services sector, here in town for a conference of credit union execs, told me in an exasperated clip: “We are exhausted, and it’s still Q1.” The news in Friday’s jobs report was seen as a decidedly mixed bag. The U.S. economy added 151,000 jobs but unemployment ticked up to 4.1%. The numbers were slightly below expectations, but the real fear came in what wasn’t counted: the bulk of mass firings and downsizing of federal workers that had not yet shown up on the ledger. And the report wasn’t strong enough to mitigate all the tariff turmoil, which is zapping confidence that investments today will be worth more down the line. It’s not especially clever, but it is nonetheless accurate: the so-called “Trump Bump” after he won a second, non-consecutive term in power has become a “Trump Slump.” A whopping $3 trillion in wealth created since Election Day disappeared just this week. The length of that slump is an open question. Friday’s jobs report was just the latest brick in a monument to Trump’s second-term economic record. Whether it’s a dour subbasement or a glass-and-steel office tower is still T.B.D. But investors are losing patience with the ways in which no one in Trump’s orbit can be counted on to know what they’re talking about. Billionaire Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told a business broadcast that the tariffs would stick, only to be humiliated days later by his boss, who said they were going to be booted down the calendar. Then, on Friday, Trump resurrected the tariffs and threatened a 250% tariff on Canadian dairy and timber. Undergirding much of this market turmoil is Trump’s capricious nature, and those he has empowered like Musk. It’s why so many government contractors are spending their days refreshing Musk’s DOGE account to see if they will be paid for work already approved and completed. More to the point, Washington may be slowly adjusting to the on-again-off-again nature of so many things emanating from this White House, but Wall Street is decidedly not. It truly has become an hour-to-hour crisis; market-moving decisions can come between phone calls, and then revert back soon after. And we haven’t yet seen an official jobs report that reflects the cutting across federal agencies, or the way in which the potential degradation of services like food safety inspections or weather forecasting might ripple across the U.S. or world economy. We are all on this merry-go-round watching as the mechanics who keep it lubricated are evicted.

This article is part of The D.C. Brief, TIME’s politics newsletter. Sign up here to get stories like this sent to your inbox. There is one person aside from Donald Trump who could definitely put an end to this economic chaos. His name is Mike Johnson. And the House Speaker would really, really like it if you could keep his name out your mouth. As the President continues to goad a global meltdown unseen in decades, Speaker Johnson is trying to keep the MAGA meltdown away from his fellow House Republicans. Trump has triggered an utter circus that may haunt GOP lawmakers for a generation and retirees into their graves. Even Trump allies like Sens. Rand Paul and Chuck Grassley—for different reasons, sure—are sounding an alarm about the repercussions of these add-ons. Rep. Don Bacon, an Omaha Republican, has legislation teed up in the House to make a move against Trump’s unilateral emergency tariffs. His bill lacks sufficient public support from GOP colleagues for now, but the private frustrations among lawmakers are starting to pile up. For now, most are not willing to defy the President. A similar bill in the Senate has bipartisan backing, and would almost certainly draw more Republicans if they could be sure they weren’t walking the plank only to see Johnson toss it in a desk drawer to die. If Johnson were to give the green light to a measure reasserting Congress’ authority over tariffs, things would change really quickly on Capitol Hill. There would likely be majorities in both chambers for such legislation—perhaps even large enough to override the veto Trump promised on Monday to issue if such a bill reached his desk. But such a bold move could very well lead to Johnson getting a pink slip from his caucus, as his Speakership barely happened, and only then with Trump’s intervention.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday delivered his first joint address to Congress since returning to power, telling lawmakers that “America is back” and touting the flurry of actions he has taken over the first six weeks of his second term, including the deportations of migrants and imposing tariffs against major trading partners. Throughout the 100-minute speech, the longest in at least 60 years, Trump repeatedly assailed the Biden Administration and blamed his predecessor for high prices and illegal border crossings. He also praised the work of billionaire Elon Musk, who was tapped to slash federal spending with his Department of Government Efficiency and was in attendance at the Capitol. But Trump’s speech will perhaps best be remembered for the numerous disruptions that underscored the deep partisan tensions in the chamber, as Democratic lawmakers vocally protested, some ultimately being removed or walking out in defiance. Shortly after Trump began, he was interrupted by Democratic Rep. Al Green of Texas, who was sitting only a few rows in front of the dais. Green shouted: “You have no mandate to cut Medicaid,” a reference to a budget resolution adopted by House Republicans and endorsed by Trump that could jeopardize the health insurance coverage of millions who rely on the program. House Speaker Mike Johnson asked the sergeant at arms to eject Green from the floor. Trump’s speech largely covered the same themes of his campaign: economic revitalization, a crackdown on illegal immigration, and a shift in America’s foreign policy posture. The speech was a moment for Trump to solidify his agenda and push back against any potential resistance within his party. With Republicans holding slim majorities in the House and Senate, Trump framed the speech as an opportunity to rally his party behind his policies, even as tensions simmered within GOP ranks over recent moves on trade and foreign aid. “My fellow Americans, get ready for an incredible future, because the golden age of America has only just begun. It will be like nothing that has ever been seen before,” he vowed, repeating a line that was also a common theme of his inaugural address. These are the key moments from Trump’s 2025 Joint Address to Congress. Trump points the finger at Biden Trump repeatedly name-checked former President Joe Biden, calling him “the worst president in American history” and claiming that Biden used his office to “viciously” prosecute him. Rarely do Presidents mention their political opponents by name during joint sessions of Congress. He went on to blame his predecessor for the uptick in prices of everyday goods, which Trump promised to lower on his first day in office. “Joe Biden especially let the prices of eggs get out of control,” he said, prompting boos from Democrats. “The egg prices are out of control and we’re working hard to get it down. Secretary [Brooke Rollins], do a good job on that.” Trump’s assertion was clearly aimed at exploiting the frustration many voters feel about rising prices. Inflation accelerated last month as the cost of groceries, gasoline and rents rose, and polling shows inflation and high prices remain the top issue for voters. A recent Reuters-Ipsos poll found that 52% of respondents don’t think Trump is doing enough to bring down prices. Trump also blamed Biden for illegal border crossings and violent incidents involving migrants, including the death of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old student from Georgia who was killed by a Venezuelan immigrant who was unlawfully in the U.S. and had been previously apprehended and released by authorities. “Laken was stolen from us by a savage illegal alien gang member who was arrested while trespassing across Biden’s open southern border and then set loose into the United States under the heartless policies of that failed administration,” Trump said. Trump also railed against the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act, a sweeping Biden Administration-era law that sought to boost domestic semiconductor production. “Your CHIPS Act is a horrible, horrible thing,” Trump said before many of the lawmakers who passed it. “We give hundreds of billions of dollars (to semiconductor manufacturers) and it doesn’t mean a thing. They take our money and they don’t spend it,” he said, claiming that overseas chip manufacturers didn’t want to pay tariffs. “You should get rid of the CHIPS Act and whatever is left over, Mr. Speaker, you should use it to reduce debt or any other reason you want to,” Trump added. Democrats shout, walk out, hold signs More than a half dozen Democrats walked out of Trump’s speech, while others held up signs and wore t-shirts in protest of his aggressive actions since returning to power. When Trump called Biden the “worst president in American history,” Democrats made a flurry of audible comments: “Lie after lie after lie after lie,” one said. “Tell the truth,” another shouted. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat, held up a whiteboard that she wrote messages on throughout the speech. At one point, it read “No King!” Rep. Maxwell Frost, a Florida Democrat, walked off the floor after he stood up in a black t-shirt that said, “No Kings Live Here.” During one viral moment, Democratic Rep. Al Green of Texas shouted that Trump has “no mandate” to cut Medicaid, before he was expelled from the floor. Green told the White House press pool afterwards that he doesn’t know whether he will face any formal punishment. “It’s worth it to let people know that there are some people who are going to stand up” to Trump, he said. Prior to the speech, the House Freedom Caucus, a group of far-right Republicans, said it would censure any Democrats who disrupted Trump’s remarks. “Our colleagues are on notice that the heckler’s veto will not be tolerated. You will be censured,” the group posted on X, a sharp reversal after some Republicans repeatedly heckled Biden during his State of the Union addresses. It was unclear how Democrats would respond to Trump’s address. Several Democratic congresswomen were dressed in pink to protest Trump’s policies that “are negatively impacting women and families,” as TIME first reported. Others wore blue and yellow, the colors of Ukraine’s flag. But the interruptions and pointed displays of discontent signaled a broader, if fragmented, resistance to Trump’s rhetoric and policies among Democrats. Several Democrats, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and a handful of Senators, chose not to attend the speech. Trump later addressed his detractors head on: “I look at the Democrats in front of me, and I realize there is absolutely nothing I can say to make them happy or to make them stand or smile or applaud, nothing I can do,” Trump said. “These people sitting right here will not clap, will not stand, and certainly will not cheer for these astronomical achievements.” Trump pushes for more border security funding Trump once again painted a grim picture of the state of the U.S. border, blaming the Biden Administration for what he described as “less safe” immigration policy. He called on Congress to increase border security funding, particularly for his mass deportations agenda—a campaign promise that remains at the forefront of his policy goals. “I have sent Congress a detailed funding request laying out exactly how we will eliminate these threats, protect our Homeland, and complete the largest deportation operation in American history, larger even than current record holder President Dwight D. Eisenhower—a moderate man but someone who believed very strongly in borders,” Trump said. In attendance in the chamber as guests of the First Lady were the families of two young women who were murdered by Venezuelan immigrants in the U.S. unlawfully that had been previously apprehended and released by authorities. Trump defends his tariffs amid trade war Trump vowed to impose reciprocal tariffs on the nation’s trading partners, arguing that countries such as China, India, and South Korea have long imposed unfair trade barriers on American goods. He said the new levies—set to take effect on April 2—would match the tariffs and trade restrictions other nations place on U.S. exports, marking a sharp escalation in his protectionist trade agenda. “Other countries have used tariffs against us for decades, and now it’s our turn,” he declared. “Whatever they tariff us, we tariff them,” he added. “Tariffs are about making America rich again and making America great again. And it’s happening, and it will happen rather quickly. There’ll be a little disturbance, but we’re okay with that. It won’t be much.” The announcement follows a directive Trump issued last month ordering federal agencies to study the feasibility of the plan. It also comes after Trump imposed controversial tariffs against three of the nation’s biggest trading partners, which amounted to 25% tariffs on Mexican and Canadian imports and 20% on Chinese products. The measure launched a trade war as China retaliated with tariffs of up to 15% on U.S. farm exports and Canada announced it would plaster tariffs on more than $100 billion of American goods in the next three weeks. Elon Musk gets a warm welcome from Republicans During his speech, Trump singled out the billionaire SpaceX founder who has become a central figure in the Administration’s effort to reshape the federal government. “DOGE—perhaps you've heard of it,” Trump said as he touted the Department of Government Efficiency. “Thank you, Elon. You’re working very hard. He didn’t need this. He didn’t need this. We appreciate it,” the President added. He then gestured to the Democratic side of the chamber and said: “Everybody here, even this side, appreciates it, I believe. They just don’t want to admit that.” Musk had a prominent seat in the House gallery near the First Lady, even as some Democratic lawmakers brought guests who were directly impacted by his DOGE initiatives, including fired federal workers and others who have felt the effects of a government funding freeze. Several Democrats held up signs that read “Elon Steals.” Trump referencing Musk during the first high-profile speech of his second term underscored the billionaire’s outsize influence in the Administration, despite conflicting statements about his official role. While the White House has maintained that Amy Gleason is the acting administrator of DOGE, Trump appeared to suggest otherwise, telling lawmakers it is “headed by Elon Musk.” Trump warns federal workers who resist ‘will be removed’ Trump delivered a warning to federal workers: those who resist his administration’s policies will be removed immediately. Framing his second term as a mandate for sweeping reform, Trump railed against bureaucratic delays and regulatory hurdles, defending the work of DOGE, which has rapidly slashed spending and cut staff at federal agencies. Trump also took aim at what he called widespread absenteeism in the federal workforce, claiming that “hundreds of thousands” of employees have failed to return to the office following the rollback of pandemic-era remote work policies. His push to bring workers back has been fraught with logistical challenges, with reports of agencies struggling to accommodate the shift. Nevertheless, Trump signaled his intent to press forward, declaring that his administration would reclaim power from what he described as an unaccountable bureaucracy. “The days of rule by unelected bureaucrats are over,” he proclaimed, as Democrats scoffed and pointed to Musk. Trump criticizes transgender athletes The President used part of his speech to spotlight Payton McNabb, a former high school volleyball player whose athletic career was derailed after sustaining a traumatic brain injury in a match against a team that included a transgender woman. Invited as a guest of First Lady Melania Trump, McNabb’s presence underscored one of Trump’s key policy initiatives—his recent executive action banning transgender women from competing in women’s sports. “It’s demeaning for women and it’s very bad for our country,” Trump said of transgender athletes, reiterated his longstanding promise to “get men out of women’s sports”, a message that resonated strongly with his base. The issue, a staple of Trump’s campaign rhetoric, drew some of the night’s loudest applause. Trump makes 13-year old with brain cancer an honorary Secret Service agent In a heartwarming moment, Trump introduced 13-year-old DJ Daniel, who was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2018 and given only five months to live. Despite the grim prognosis, DJ defied the odds and, over six years later, is still fighting. Trump shared DJ’s dream of becoming a police officer and revealed that, in honor of his perseverance, DJ had been sworn in as an honorary law enforcement officer. Trump then directed the newly appointed director of the U.S. Secret Service, Sean Curran, to officially make DJ an agent. The chamber erupted in cheers as DJ was handed his badge, and lawmakers chanted “DJ! DJ!” in celebration. Later, Trump highlighted the story of Jason Hartley, a high school senior who wants to attend the U.S. Military Academy at West Point like his father. Trump revealed that Hartley’s application has been accepted and he will be joining the corps of cadets. Trump defends approach to Ukraine After a heated Oval Office confrontation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last week, Trump signaled that he is “working tirelessly to end the savage conflict” between Ukraine and Russia. “Millions of Ukrainians and Russians have been needlessly killed or wounded in this horrific and brutal conflict, with no end in sight,” Trump said. “The United States has sent hundreds of billions of dollars to support Ukraine’s defense, with no security, with no anything.” He added: “When [Russian President Vladimir] Putin saw what happened, I guess he said, ‘Well, maybe this is my chance.’ That’s how bad it was. Should have never happened. Grossly incompetent people,” Trump said of the Biden Administration. As a result, Trump recently paused aid to Ukraine, which has sparked a fierce debate in Congress. Some conservatives who were formerly staunch supporters of aid to Ukraine began praising Trump’s more isolationist stance after the meeting last week. During that meeting, Trump told Zelensky that “you don’t have the cards right now” while Vice President J.D. Vance insisted Ukraine should express more gratitude for U.S. support and agree to a ceasefire with Russia, even without clear security guarantees from the U.S. Trump suggested that the minerals deal between the two countries is still a possibility, despite the fallout between the two leaders. Trump said he got a letter from Zelensky that said Ukraine was ready to sign a minerals deal with the U.S. and come to the negotiating table. “I appreciate that he sent this letter—just got it a little while ago,” Trump said. “We do really value how much America has done to help Ukraine maintain its sovereignty and independence. Regarding the agreement on minerals and security, Ukraine is ready to sign it at any time that is convenient for you,” he said Zelensky wrote. Read More: In Speech to Congress, Trump Defends His Handling of Ukraine and Russia Trump still wants Greenland Trump reiterated his desire to take control of Greenland and escalated his rhetoric towards the self-governing Danish territory. “One way or the other, we’re going to get it,” Trump declared. “We will keep you safe. We will make you rich. And together, we will take Greenland to heights like you have never thought possible before.” Trump has long been fixated on the glacier, viewing it as strategically important for national security. Officials in Denmark and Greenland have said that the island is not for sale. However, Trump added that it would be Greenland’s choice: “We strongly support your right to determine your own future, and if you choose, we welcome you into the United States of America. We need Greenland for national security and even international security, and we’re working with everybody involved to try and get it, but we need it really for international world security, and I think we’re going to get it,” Trump said. Trump makes Abbey Gate announcement Trump announced that the U.S. has apprehended a key figure involved in the 2021 bombing at Kabul’s Abbey Gate, which claimed the lives of 13 U.S. service members and at least 170 Afghan civilians during the American withdrawal from Afghanistan under the Biden Administration. The individual, identified as Mohammad Sharifullah, is facing charges of providing material support for terrorism, including his role in the deadly attack during the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. According to Trump, Sharifullah was a member of ISIS-K, a branch of the terrorist group ISIS, and he had been involved in planning and executing multiple lethal attacks for the organization.

President Donald Trump struck a conciliatory tone toward Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during his speech to Congress on Tuesday night and—despite a shouting match in the Oval Office just days before—seemed open to restarting talks over access to Ukraine’s minerals in exchange for continued U.S. security assistance. In the House chamber, Trump read from a letter Zelensky had recently sent him saying Ukraine is ready to sign the minerals agreement and work with Trump toward peace. “I appreciate that he sent this letter,” Trump said The shift in tone came nearly a week after Trump cut short his meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and kicked him out of the White House, canceling a lunch and a planned joint press conference. In a tense scene that unfolded as cameras rolled, Zelensky appeared to irk Trump by not showing as much gratitude for U.S. assistance as Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance wanted to hear and for refusing to accept Trump’s premise that Russian President Vladimir Putin could be trusted to uphold Russia’s end of a ceasefire. Trump also bristled that Zelensky refused to wear a suit for the meeting instead of his wartime black sweater and cargo pants. Over the weekend, Zelensky told reporters over the weekend that the end of the war is still “very, very far away.” Trump on Monday described Zelensky’s response on Truth Social as “the worst statement” and said the U.S. would “not put up with it for much longer.” Later that day, things got worse for Ukraine and Zelensky as Trump froze U.S. military aid, just as Ukrainian forces are entering their fourth year of fighting back Russian military efforts to seize their territory. Trump’s rocky relationship with Zelensky goes back five years—to when Trump first held up military assistance Congress had authorized for Ukraine to coerce Zelensky into investigating his political rival Joe Biden. That phone conversation led to Trump’s first impeachment. Speaking to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night, Trump said his administration has continued to talk to Russia about ending the war. “We’ve had serious discussions with Russia and have received strong signals that they are ready for peace. Wouldn’t that be beautiful?” Trump explained his willingness to talk to Putin by saying, “If you want to end wars, you have to talk to both sides.” Trump added: “It’s time to stop this madness.” As he described his approach to the conflict, Trump inflated how much the U.S. has given Ukraine. Trump said the U.S. has spent “hundreds of billions of dollars to support Ukraine’s defense.” Congress has appropriated $174 billion in assistance to Ukraine since 2022, according to the Congressional Research Service. Going off script, Trump asked, “Do you want to keep it going for another 5 years?” He looked at Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts in the audience, who was clapping for Ukraine. “Pocahontas says ‘yes,’” Trump said, using an epithet he gave Warren during the 2016 campaign. “Two thousand people are being killed every single week. They’re Russian young people, they’re Ukrainian young people. They’re not Americans. I want it to stop,” Trump said.

Fired federal workers. Medicaid recipients who could lose their health care under proposed budget cuts. A small business owner who may be affected by new tariffs. These are some of the people who will attend President Donald Trump’s address to Congress on Tuesday night, brought as guests by Democratic lawmakers seeking to highlight the human cost of the administration’s sweeping policy changes. For decades, lawmakers have used invited guests to put a human face on policy debates, underscoring the real-world consequences of decisions made in Washington. This year, as Trump touts what he calls a “historic transformation” of the federal government, Democrats are countering with stories of disruption and hardship—stories they hope will resonate beyond the chamber’s walls. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D, N.Y.) and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries have urged Democrats to invite fired federal employees and average Americans who have been negatively affected by DOGE’s cuts, according to a source familiar with the matter. Since taking office, Trump has moved aggressively to reshape the federal bureaucracy, slashing jobs, consolidating agencies, and asserting unprecedented executive control. With Republicans in control of both chambers of Congress, Democrats have few legislative tools at their disposal. But by elevating the voices of those affected, they are aiming to use Trump’s speech to focus on the impacts of his second-term policies. Republicans will also utilize guests to send a message about their priorities. First Lady Melania Trump announced she would bring January Littlejohn, a Florida mother and parents’ right advocate who sued her school board after her child socially transitioned to a different gender identity. The First Lady also invited recently released prisoner Marc Fogel, an American history teacher who was held hostage by Russia and whose release came thanks to President Trump. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) shared a partial list of his invitees, including ‘border czar’ Tom Homan and natural gas executive Ben Dell. Fired federal workers Alissa Ellman, a disabled veteran who was recently fired from her position at the Buffalo Veterans Affairs Office, and Tiffany Ramos, who was fired from her position at the Department of Agriculture, will be attending as guests of Schumer. Michael Missal, the former Inspector General for the Department of Veterans Affairs who was dismissed by Trump (along with 16 other inspectors generals), will be attending as a guest of Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D, Conn.), the ranking member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee. Jason King, a disabled veteran recently fired from the Federal Aviation Administration’s safety division, will be a guest of Sen. Tim Kaine (D, Va.). Andrew Lennox, a Marine veteran and former administrator officer at a VA hospital in Ann Arbor who was fired as part of the Trump Administration’s cuts, was invited by Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D, Mich.), who will be delivering the Democratic rebuttal to Trump’s speech. Medicaid recipients Jessica Martinez and Ana Medina Garcia, cancer survivors and recipients of Medicaid, and Emma Larson, who received a lifesaving treatment for her spinal muscular atrophy due to a reimbursement from the National Institutes of Health, were also invited by Schumer. Cheri Byer, a Medicaid recipient who previously battled addiction and was able to access residential addiction treatment in part because she was eligible for Medicaid, will be a guest of Sen. Maggie Hassan (D, N.H.). Firefighters and other first responders Frank Lima, a Los Angeles City fire captain and firefighter union leader who was on the front lines and helped defend the Pacific Palisades wildfire in January, will be a guest of Sen. Alex Padilla (D, Calif.). Vincent Culliver, the captain of the Vandenberg Fire Department who was also on the front lines and helped fight the January wildfires, will be a guest of Sen. Adam Schiff (D, Calif.). Dave Williams, the fire chief of Chino Valley Fire District, will be a guest of Rep. Norma Torres (D, Calif.), to highlight planned cuts to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Small business owners impacted by Trump’s tariffs Allison Hope, the executive director of the Vermont Maple Sugar Makers Association, will be a guest of Sen. Peter Welch (D, Vt.). Hope says that Vermont’s maple industry is bracing for the economic fallout of Trump’s 25% tariff on Canada, which goes into effect on Tuesday. Rebecca Hamilton, a small business owner who runs a manufacturer of natural personal care products and can’t afford to budget for Trump’s tariffs, will be a guest of Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D, N.H.). Israel-Hamas war victims Orna Neutra and Ruby Chen, the parents of two Israeli-American hostages from New York who were murdered by Hamas, will be guests of Schumer. Omer Neutra, 22, and Itay Chen, 19, were both taken hostage during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack. Victims of illegal immigration Olivia Hayes, a young widow from Louisiana whose husband Wesley was killed by an undocumented immigrant in a drunk driving accident, will also be a guest of Speaker Johnson. Scott Root, the father of Sarah Root, who was killed the night of her college graduation by an undocumented immigrant in a drunk driving accident, will be a guest of Sen. Joni Ernst (R, Iowa). Allyson and Lauren Phillips, the mother and sister of Laken Riley. Riley, 22, was murdered by an undocumented immigrant. Her name is on the first immigration bill Trump signed this year. They will be guests of the First Lady. Alexis Nungaray, a Texas mother whose 12-year-old daughter was killed by two undocumented immigrants who were released from Border Patrol custody before their attack. She will be a guest of the First Lady. Roberto Ortiz, a Border Patrol worker who has been shot by cartel members in Texas. Ortiz will also be a guest of the First Lady. Conservative personalities Ben Shapiro and Matt Walsh, conservative political commentators with the Daily Wire, are expected to attend as guests of Speaker Johnson. Riley Gaines, a conservative activist and former swimmer who has advocated against allowing transgender women to compete in women’s sports, will be a guest of Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R, Iowa). Trump recently signed an executive order banning transgender women from participating in women’s sports. Ross Ulbricht, who operated Silk Road, the dark web marketplace where illegal drugs were sold, was invited by Rep. Thomas Massie (R, Ky.), according to Semafor. Ulbricht was pardoned by Trump last month after he was sentenced in 2015 to life in prison. Victims of violence The Comperatore Family, the family of the firefighter who was fatally shot by the gunman during the assassination attempt against President Trump in July 2024. Corey Comperatore is survived by his wife and two daughters, who will be a guest of the First Lady. Stephanie Diller, the widow of NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller, who was killed at a traffic stop in Queens, will be a guest of the First Lady. Students Haley Ferguson, a senior at Middle Tennessee State University who was the recipient of the Fostering the Future scholarship. The educational funds come from the First Lady’s Be Best initiative. Ferguson will be a guest of the First Lady. Elliston Berry, a 15-year-old victim of deepfakes from Texas. She will be a guest of the First Lady, who on Monday called on the House to pass the Take it Down Act—which aims to protect against non-consensual intimate images. Payton McNabb, a high school athlete who suffered from a brain injury due to an accident during a volleyball match. The blow that caused McNabb’s injury came from a transgender athlete. McNabb is a guest of the First Lady. Skipping the address While there does not appear to be a widespread push among Democrats to boycott Trump’s address, a few Democratic members are planning to skip it. Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon, Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, and Patty Murray of Washington will not be in attendance. Wyden will instead host an online town hall for his constituents to ask questions, share their ideas and offer their views. Murray said in a statement that she will be “meeting with constituents who have been harmed by this administration’s reckless firings and its illegal and ongoing funding freeze across government.” A handful of House Democrats, including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Don Beyer and Gerry Connolly of Virginia, Becca Balint of Vermont, Kweisi Mfume of Maryland and Diana DeGette of Colorado, announced that they would skip the address. Democratic Sens. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Brian Schatz of Hawaii, Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland are planning to join other Democratic officials and progressive media figures for a “prebuttal” and live watch-along hosted by Democratic advocacy group MoveOn.