(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden’s third State of the Union address, on Thursday, was filled with Democratic applause, Republican jeers and a slew of headline-making moments as he sought to make the case to Americans that he deserves a second term over rival Donald Trump.
Below are some of the most notable parts of his speech, made to a joint session of Congress and watched by an expected audience of millions tuned in at home.
Republicans, responding via Alabama Sen. Katie Britt, had plenty of sharp words for Biden, too.
Biden swings at Trump, ‘insurrectionists’ over Jan. 6
The president never addressed Trump by name, but he still mentioned his predecessor more than a dozen times throughout.
“History is watching,” Biden said early on in his speech. “Just like history watched three years ago on Jan. 6 when insurrectionists stormed this very Capitol and placed a dagger to the throat of American democracy.”
“We must be honest, the threat to democracy must be defended. My predecessor, and some of you here, seek to bury the truth about Jan. 6,” he continued, invoking the 2021 riot when Congress gathered to certify Trump’s loss to Biden. “I will not do that. This is the moment to speak the truth and to bury the lies.”
“Here’s the simple truth: You can’t love your country only when you win,” he said.
Biden also takes aim at justices seated in front row
Biden had a message for the conservative-leaning Supreme Court justices who reversed Roe v. Wade, quoting their own opinion right back to them.
“The Supreme Court majority wrote the following, and with all due respect, justices — ‘Women are not without electoral or political power,"” Biden said.
“You’re about to realize just how much you were right about that,” he said, prompting cheers from Democrats and officials in his administration — some of whom towered over the justices as they rose to their feet to applaud.
The court’s opinion, written by Justice Samuel Alito, also said: “Our decision returns the issue of abortion to those legislative bodies, and it allows women on both sides of the abortion issue to seek to affect the legislative process by influencing public opinion, lobbying legislators, voting, and running for office.”
Since the decision to end Roe’s nationwide guarantees to abortion access, the issue has become a prominent theme on the campaign trail and votes to protect abortion rights have succeed in a number of both red and blue states. Biden has also pushed for Congress to codify Roe’s guidelines into federal law.
The members of the court, in keeping with tradition, did not react to Biden’s comments.
The House Democratic Women’s Caucus also focused on abortion access: They wore all-white outfits, for women’s rights, and “Fighting for Reproductive Freedom” pins.
Biden picks up Laken Riley pin as he expresses condolences
As Biden arrived in the House chamber and greeted lawmakers on his way to the dais, he encountered Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene — a vocal critic — who handed him a pin remembering Laken Riley, a nursing student, whose homicide has become a flashpoint in the immigration debate.
“Say her name,” Greene, clad in a MAGA red baseball cap, told Biden as he passed her.
Biden later picked up the pin as he discussed Riley’s death, noting the suspect is a Venezuelan migrant whom officials say was illegally in the U.S.
“To her parents, I say, my heart goes out to you having lost children myself. I understand,” he said.
Biden went on to call the suspect, Jose Ibarra, an “illegal,” echoing rhetoric that federal officials have moved away from as divisive. That comment quickly drew notice and some criticism of its own from other Democrats.
Republicans and Biden spar — again
Biden’s comments about Riley and his remarks about the border prompted Republican backlash.
In one lengthy back-and-forth, Biden hammered GOP lawmakers for rejecting a bipartisan proposal to make immigration changes and tighten border security alongside billions of dollars in new foreign aid. Republicans like Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson insist the agreement, despite its scope, is insufficient to fix the problem of high illegal immigration.
As Biden listed what the bill would accomplish, and who had supported it, he was met with boos from conservatives in the chamber.
At times his response was sarcastic: “Oh, you don’t like that bill, huh? That conservatives got together and said was a good bill? I’ll be darned, that’s amazing.”
Eventually he concluded with an ultimatum. “I’m ready to fix it. Send me the border bill now.”
It was a déjà vu moment of sorts, as Republicans heckled Biden at last year’s State of the Union — and he quickly responded with ad-libbed remarks.
Father of Marine killed in Afghanistan removed after shouting during speech
Another interruption came not from a member of Congress but from an invited guest.
A man sitting in the upper area of the House chamber appeared to yell about the Marines who were killed in the Abbey Gate bombing at the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, during the U.S. withdrawal in 2021.
After the address was over, the man was identified as Steven Nikoui, the father of a Marine who died in the attack.
Nikoui was arrested for disrupting Congress, according to the U.S. Capitol Police.
ABC News’ Luke Barr contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
