Look at the us capitol. Beautiful evening, actually, here in washington as we jue just moments awas. Capity fm President Biden and tonights state of the Union Address. Y frompresidengood evening from. Im brad there. Good evening, everybody. Im martha maccallum. Any moment now President Biden will be announced on the house floor with the familiar callilia of the house sergeant of arms. He will make his way down cate, greeted by lawmakers all along the way. There you see mitt romney talking to joe awmakers manchin. Seems like theyre pretty engaged in some conversation ses that happens on the sidelines as you have a lot of lawmakersnh waiting a long time in the chamber. A lot of folkse chambe, you knos expressing themselves different ways. Republicans, some of the more in buttons, die of about the bo. Others dressed in white on the democratic sidemocratic in solidarity. Lets set the stage now with White House CorrespondentI Peter Doocy with a preview of the president s speech. Good evening, peter. A thegood evening, bret. Officials here at the white house think that most people that are going to watch t tonight havent been very politically active so far this cycle. So bee very they see it as a clean slae to tell what they describe as unamericane. Comeback story where President Biden will talk up how many Jobback Sto S have been createdn since 2021. He will blame Republicancrd SFh Border Problems and he will suggest his age shouldnt Ble Donalde Becaus Trump is roughly the same age. The president has also been practicing dealing with hecklers when he talks. Gosar possiblyhecklersks from progressives in his own party right. Okay. Were waiting for President Biden to get into position. Peter, thank r you. We have the walk down and theyve timed all of this w out, but we also have the walk w out after the speech. We expect the speech to be about an hour,o be but withu nee applause lines, you never know. A state of the Union Address. The i do know. Who knows . Dana perino has been around the block. She coanchor of americasthe fi newsroom, cohost of the five herald for junior. Former tennesseeve congressman, cohost of the five. John roberts, not cohost of the fightererts. Of coanchor of the America Reports and fox news chief Political Analys ft brit hume joins us remotely. Brit, you weve covered so many of these,. What do you think about tonight . Well, i think unlike a lot of these speeches where were preoccupied or what the president will say about this, this issue or that issue and what Programnt Willis I He Y announce or what steps he may now hes taking to do, for thee taking the border. E bord what the Big Focus Tonight really is on his demeanoerr, how he seems, does he seem energetic and Authoritativ Hem D will he be smooth and polished . You know, weve seenooth so many stumbles and, you know, so many awkward moment s now and falling down is getting caught in the middle of sentences, losinettino his Train Of Thought and all that. I would not discount the possibility at all that the president will come in here tonight being very well rehearsed, very well preparee t very well rested, and will deliver a speech with a lot of energy and claritdelivea speh which, of course, we can. We will watch. While the hosannas from rimocrats and their allies in the media will ring down upon him, saying that is that puts the senility and theo age and acuity issue to rest. It doesnt, but thats what i. Expect well hear. But one of the things tonight is a contrast. F ththe white house is sayinge between President Biden and his likely challenger. Soon to wrap that all up, former President Trump, who is taking to true social already saying, quote, the president is very substantially late. Not a good start , but lets give him the benefit of the doubt. Im sure he had very important things to do, but he is noe hadw just getting into the car. They will have to drive very, very quickly. Nd to you just dont want to be late to the State Of The Union. They need mari the unio andrett at the wheel of the limo. I think its going to beof a pll by play all night long. So, ye thep, were going to wait for the commentary. Dana, one of the thingse im watching for is that president bush used to remind us that Everee Watchiy speech ye multiple audiences. One of the audiences for eent President Biden tonight is his own party, the disaffected members of his partyn toni own, who voted not willing to commit, those who wanted to maybe see him do somethintotg else. Se in is and israel, though, hes i mean, what more could he do fo terms of bendin coug over backwards for ten voters in michigan . And they still protest in himup tonight and wanted to disrupt his speech. But it was the speech might tell us if the concerns about the problems within his own party are a Minor Annoyance or a genuine crisiann john, its always interesting storylines. One of them is expelled. Gop congressman George Santos is on the floostorylinr. At its a privilege that formermber bimbers have, and He Decideds Ha to take it. Thats just a bizarre thing thats happening. But your thoughts on the speecz tonight . I think a little bit of a minor story in the overall i think Overale Tonightpeningr is opening salvo in the main general election campaign. And theres indications that the democrats are going to be fighting this around indic , we abortion very hard. Theyve got a couple of guests there in the first ladys box, the maria beasley. She was an Ivf Patienttien in alabama who is just about to go. Her embryoalabama transfer andy to delay it because they shut down ivf. Another was kate cox, who had a baby with trisomy 18. She could not get an abortionsha in texas. She had to go out of the state. And ind to his speech, this is x an excerpt. So were talking about thits. This is what the president was saying. Clearly, theres bragging about Overturnint Will G roe v. Wade, and no have no clue about the power of Women In America. Thisou will be a five minutemi applause line. But they found out when Reproductive Freedom Wasse Flo on the ballot and won in 2022, 2023, and they will find out wi again in 2024. Fiutso while the republicans may be putting immigration front and center, watch for the democratpublicans to put roe v. Wade and the president s anedge, if w he gets a second term and they get Democratic Congress to instill federall pr protections for abortion. Haroldotec ford jr. N issu you know, its an issue that he doesnt like to talkdoes not aba whole lot, President Biden, but he is basically wedged into having to speak about this tonight. He doesnt usually use the word abortiong when he talks about it. Hes catholic. All those Issues Arouns T Itd t. But it is something that he needs to and he needs to digto h into this issue. Its one of the contrastsst you speak of between the two parties. I think overarching in allal of this, people around the country, americans are fed up with the rancor, with the divisionl. And most recent Congressional Elections saw a democrat elected tom suozzi. Rece democrad George Santos wins in his district, that suozzi was elected and hes come on showshows all across this networks and people want us to work together. Across t sami hope president bi, weve said it all along, be cheerful, not e said contentious, be optimistic, not ominous, be it American Peoplcontene Wan their president to talk about how were going to get things done. And finally, to those in the chambeabhow thl r is someone that had the blessing and a privilege to serve in that chamber. Singi hope Members Of Congress M and chamber guests show the respect the President Emberssss he deserves, show the respect the country deserves. Lets not deal with the gimmicks thates and some ofa outbursts that this speech play out and let katie britt give heryt speech. And if President Trump wants to respond afterwards, well let him do that. As a great point. I mean, you know, people do look to these speeches. They are opportunities to liftto l up the country. And what we see in theseift up numberhat s, 70 think the couny is going in the wrong directio7n. Its really astonishing how down people are downis how about the economy, very down about whats going on at the border. Down abos like theres a los of control in the country. And so, you know, Wefeel Lik Tak about the low bar of just getting through the speech. But, dana, there is anlow bat if opportunity here, if he sees it, thats able to d io it. I think that the low bar i its interesting that you say at because the mood in the country is pretty dark. And i feel like in a way, people sort of tuned out. Dar but they dont think wil its going to help them. They dont see or hear frohelpm washington like how things are going to get better for theml or the. Chao and also the chaoss that President Biden talks about when the trump years. I think that whe wn you see people say 72 of people say the country is going in the wrong direction, thats because they feel like their livestrvesr are chaotic. Now, let me bring in thee ti former house speakernow. , r kevi kevin mccarthy. He joinsn us. Mr speak the speaker, youve been in this position. Youve been in that chair behinden i. As the president delivers speeches, you have to control your faciaas he l remarks and hw you react to things. Your thoughts on this night . Nigh do you miss thist, moment . Yeah, i miss any opportunity to be there. Isits a unique moment becausemr for members themselves, its such a great privilege. But very seldom do you gett th the house and senate. You geet the Cabinet Members, you got the joint chiefs, youve got the Supreme Court. So its a time to interact with one another. The Parto Vianothe that the listeners and the viewers really dont know is whatever somebody says in that chamber, as you can hear, but you dont get a pick up on television when you sitn behind the president , its actually hard to hearsion s when he speaks there. And it is a moment in time for whoever is president to really have a bully pulpi to reallt to lay out and speak to the American Public. Now, if im going to tald speaky former members of the republican conference, i wouldme say dont take the bait. If he wants to Say Something negativehe wants , you to get to react,e, lis be polite, listen to it and goto through, because that never plays well on television. And whats interesting, before this night starts, there will be a wholg Ise Groupgrou of republicans and democrats who will go greet the president beforehand. Anand the chambers to the side and escort him in. And thenn and as the speech bes youll see whether hes going to lay outee and this is ano president , this is an election year. So i know this is going to be an Electio Thise ann speech with theelecti election. Yes. And foon guestr republicans, li, be respectful and get through it. See senator mark kelly there in the distance, the chief seee and justice sotomayor. Interesting then obviously in the background of allan legal of this are the legal cases, some of them at the Supreme Court, including immunit ay. Thatll be decided soon. I think we have the first lady, jill biden, arriving, joe bidenr arriving in the chamber, and she is joined as johthe chn pointed out before, by two women who have had experiencesdi with ivf and with abortion. Also a cancer nurse is joiningts her this evening. Several gaffes. I mean, this whole tradition used to be maybe one or but n two people. Now the list from the white house is about 20 people long. Theres nancy pelosi, the former speaker of thow tfros house. You know, hard to say how muchar of an impact these guests have ,t but lets listen in. Mr. Speaker, the president s binet and so the cabinet walks in. Speaker mccarthy, we see Bo SecretarthtWalky Blinken and bd him, secretary austin, the defense secretary, secretarwho obviously at all off controversy about not telling the president when t he was in the hospital. So this cabinets been a lot around the block here with ae bloc number of different controversies, but theyre Als O Dealing with war in ukraine and israel. How much of the speech Dden Oll B You think is going to be aimed at the goals of of the electionth and laying out a vision for his next terelectim . I think hes going to trying to be talking to his own base. He wants to motivate them to get behind him because that is a place that the President Biden currently ha i real has a real problem with. He wants to talk about successet s and it would be smart of him to talk about where they can work together. Art of tthis is a one chance toe a very big audience in america to control exactly what youre going to say without being asked the question and tat lay out why you deserve to be reelected again in the process h and what have you achieved . You know, this election is different when youre when i he ran for the office, it was open. Now its a Report Cardhe H on the job that he has done. So hes going to try to check off and say,aso he i kept this i promise, this promise, this promise. And if you elect me agaiise annh these this is further will be able to go. Speaker mccarthisfurthey peo, judge entering the room, we just saw Denis Sullivan on veterans affairs. A he had a difficult week over the famous world war ii kiss photographus world, which some underling had hoped to cancel from all of the va hospitals and get rid of that photo. And this Marcus Obviouslhat Phoy the man who is in charge of the department of homeland security, and heres the next message from former president donald trump. Theres nothing he cany re is th sayn say tonight that can absolve himwi from lettingll 15 Million People into our country illegally. Hell probably blame me, but i have the safest border in theisy history of our country, so that wont go very or far, he says. All kinds of different numbers over how many people have l kinds m into the country. T is that one is a very high number. The one of the Cabinet Members is always the designated survivor. K its not kiefer sutherland. And that show, it is theie education secretary, cardona, tonight who is not in the chambe its ret is r in case, continuity of government, someplace else. Nee were going to wait as the Cabinet Members come through here and Thentinuity N we will get the announcement from william mcfarland. The announ. At arms i want to bring in the panel. Harold, your thoughts on this tonight as were setting the table here. The former president ithe tas r. The president is behind schedule here. Usually these thingsbehindule hp to the minute, but this is a big moment for tthis president n. Shamelessly, President Biden may be saying, look, everybody thinks im old. They joke about how i go to bed early, ill show on. Ill show up a little late. Beill speak a little longer and ill stay in the chamber a little longer than some somead do. I think weve all framed that right. Hes got a couple of things that he Calongere Dokn deal with he can talk about the issues and he can talk about the things he wants to do. Hankthe one thing he cant do is reverse his age. So hes got to show strength tonigh ag. Hes got to show hes ino command tonight. And he, too, cant be baited sde by some of the things some in the chamber may say and how bated bym. Ckle hi i think hes going to be up to the task tonight. The bar is a little low for him orw they t i should say lower th is for most president s. So i think hell exceeded. And i think what Speaker Mccarthy was saying, hes got to not juspresidenkt reach out e base, hes got to show hes seeking answers and not acrimonyt bas in as someone in his panel says quite well, hes got to seek a Little Common ground s on some of the important issues if hes able to express that. If hitll be a big success for m tonight. But one area where common helpfuls on be very is on the border, john roberts, that wbordere heard earlier todo that we shouldnt expect any executive ordedaer, that he wont pull the levers that are at his disposal as president. United statee rss to do remain in mexico to end catch and release. Hes