0:01

President Joe Biden delivers his assessment

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of where the country's been and where it's going

0:05

later tonight. Our Lisa Desjardins and

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Lara Barron Lopez join me now with more

0:09

on what to expect. And Laura, you've been

0:12

talking to White House officials. What message

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does president Biden hope to convey to

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congress and to the American people

0:17

tonight? WHITAS OFFICIALS TOLD ME TODAY THAT

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THE PRESIDENT IS GOING TO SAY THAT THE COUNTRY NEEDS

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TO FINISH THE JOB THAT HE STARTED

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IN THE FIRST TWO YEARS OF HIS PRESIDENT. HE'S

0:26

ALSO GOING TO BE Excluding a lot of

0:28

optimism and hope they told me, but there are going

0:30

to be some central big themes. Those big

0:32

themes are going to be on foreign

0:34

policy, the continued defense of you

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KRAIN AGAINST RUSSION, AS

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WELL AS COUNTERINE CHINA AND

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THE COMPETITIVES AND U. S. TRYING

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TO COUNTERACK CHINA'S ECONOMIC RISE.

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AS A RIVAL. ALSO ON THE ECONOMY, JOB

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GROWTH, THE PRESIDENT IS GOING TO TOUT THAT LOT.

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HIS -- THE BIPARTISAN INFRASTRUCTURE LAW

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AND THE INVESTMENTS THAT ARE BEING MADE ACROSS THE COUNTRY

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as well as a number of health

0:57

care actions that were taken. And

0:59

then finally, he's going to talk

1:01

about bipartisanship and his attempt

1:03

to try to work across the aisle with Republicans,

1:05

but also contrast himself with the

1:08

GOP, specifically on issues

1:10

like abortion, on police brutality, ON

1:12

GUN CONTROL. AND THEN HE'S GOING TO LOOK FORWARD

1:14

A BIT AS WELL, TRYING TO SAY THAT

1:17

CONGRESS SHOULD ACT ON AREAS

1:19

THAT THEY LEFT on the cutting room

1:21

floor essentially during the first two

1:23

years, like, again, extending the child tax

1:25

credit. So, Lisa, president Biden,

1:27

according to Lara's reporting, is trying to draw

1:29

a contrast night with Republicans, how are Republicans

1:32

prepared to

1:32

respond? There will be some contrast.

1:34

There will also be something different from the new

1:36

speaker Kevin McCarthy. Remember, for Kevin

1:38

McCarthy, this is his first time in that

1:41

kind of national spotlight. He

1:43

told us last night that he plans to be respectful

1:45

to honor the day. I think he's kind

1:47

of trying to be above partisan politics.

1:49

For now, although he's obviously been parties in

1:52

the past, who will be partisan on behalf

1:54

of Republicans, the new governor of Arkansas,

1:56

someone of viewers may be familiar with Sarah

1:58

Huckabee Sanders. She has been governor.

2:00

There she is at inauguration for four

2:03

weeks. She is going to

2:05

contrast herself as the America's

2:07

youngest governor right now at the age of forty

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with president Biden, the America's

2:11

oldest president in history. She

2:14

will also lay out sort of themes we will see

2:16

from the Republicans and how before Things

2:18

they say that president Biden is failing not,

2:20

the border, the economy. I

2:22

believe she may bring up the China

2:24

balloon as well in some way.

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SHE WILL ALSO PRESENT REPUBLICANS AS

2:29

BEING MORE FOR A STRONG

2:31

AMERICA. THAT'S SOMETHING WE'RE GOING TO SEE BOTH

2:33

PEOPLE TALK ABOUT TONIGHT other thing

2:35

Republicans are doing, they will have a Spanish language

2:37

response as they have in the past. This is from Juan Kiskomani,

2:40

a new freshman member of Congress Interesting

2:42

because Sarah Huckabee Sanders used to

2:44

be the spokesperson for

2:45

Trump, then Kisqomani was

2:47

actually with Steve Ducey's office,

2:49

a Trump opponent. And Laura, as is tradition,

2:52

there will be special guests invited

2:54

by the first lady to attend the speech tonight.

2:56

Tell us who they are and what message these

2:58

invitations are meant to convey.

3:00

SO ONE OF THE ONES THAT STOOD OUT TO ME, CUSE

3:02

THERE WILL BE A NUMBER OF GUESTS, INCLUDING THE UCCANIAN

3:05

-- THE AMBESTOR OF UCCRAIN TO UNITED STATES,

3:07

BUT wanted to highlight a few. There's Paul Pelosi

3:10

who's been invited to sit alongside the

3:12

first lady and the White House noted

3:14

specifically when they invited Paul Pelosi

3:17

that he was the subject of a politically

3:19

motivated attack and that the intruder

3:22

chanted where's Nancy when he entered

3:24

their home AND THAT WAS A SIMILAR

3:26

CHANT THAT WOULD THAT RIOTERS US USED DURING THE JANUARY

3:29

SIX RECTION. ALSO BRANDIN

3:31

SAY WHO DISARMED THE MONREY PARK

3:33

shooter during the Lunar New Year celebration

3:36

in Monterrey Park, California. And finally,

3:38

of course, also of note, Robon

3:40

and Rodney Wells. The mother in

3:42

stepfather to Tyree Nichols, the

3:44

twenty nine year old black man who was fatally

3:46

beaten by police in Memphis Tennessee.

3:49

And on that note, also a number of

3:51

other lawmakers. Congressional black lawmakers

3:53

are going to be in the chamber.

3:56

They invited families of the victims

3:58

of police brutality, notably the

4:01

father of Michael Brown, the mother

4:03

of Eric Gardner, and the

4:05

brother of George Floyd. So they are

4:07

really Democrats are trying to

4:09

showcase specifically

4:12

a lot of the police brutality that has been occurring

4:14

in that issue that the country is still reckoning with.

4:16

Yeah. And inject some new urgency into the police

4:19

reform push. So in the minute we have left,

4:21

Lisa, where are you gonna be watching for tonight

4:23

from your perch in the house

4:25

gallery? Right right behind the house or aström?

4:27

Yeah. Very honored and special place to be.

4:29

Very cool. We will not see

4:31

sort of color blocks. As we've seen in the past,

4:34

lots of people wearing white, for example, in the past, We

4:36

will see buttons reflecting what Laura was talking

4:38

about. Members of the congressional block caucus will

4:40

be wearing buttons saying eighteen seventy.

4:43

That is the date of the first known killing

4:45

of a black unarmed black men in this country

4:47

by a police officer, so they will be showing

4:49

that detail. But I'm also going to be looking

4:52

around for this new sense of normal in

4:54

the house, Jeff, because this is going to be the first time

4:56

that everyone in that chamber since the pandemic

4:58

does not have to show a COVID negative

5:00

test to be there. There are no more

5:02

magnetometers, which were also put in

5:04

by the Democrats now taken out.

5:07

Along with this kind of going back to normal, there's

5:09

a new normal outside of the capital,

5:11

which is eight foot tall. Fencing.

5:14

That is something that was not in place for

5:16

state of the unions before January

5:17

sixth. IT IS NOW UP AROUND THE CAPITOL

5:20

TONIGHT. Lisa Desjardins and LARBOROM

5:22

Lopez. Thank you both. Thank you.